Freezing point of gallium

Abstract

The temperature of equilibrium between liquid and solid gallium was found to be 29.780 ±0.005° C. Four determinations on two different lots of metal all yielded the same result. Difficulties ascribed to the undercooling and low thermal conductivity of the gallium prevented a satisfactory determination from ordinary heating and cooling curves. The temperature of equilibrium between the liquid and solid phases of the metal was obtained by measuring the temperature of an intimate mixture of the solid and the liquid. It was found that the presence of the oxide did not affect the freezing temperature, indicating that the oxide is not appreciably soluble in the metal.