Billings: 'Bismuth is a very, very, very interesting, magical material'

During Science L!VE with Roger Billings last week, Billings shared information about the special element, bismuth.

Bismuth, element 83 on the periodic table, is similar to lead because it's heavy, but it's special because it can be used in many different ways. Billings said bismuth is diamagnetic, which also makes it unique.

"Bismuth is a very, very, very interesting, magical material," Billings said during the Nov. 18 broadcast, noting that being diamagnetic, it is able to levitate magnets.

"A lot of you know bismuth, in fact, this is one of the reasons you know it — Pepto Bismol," Billings said, holding up a bottle of the stomach relief medication manufactured by Proctor & Gamble. The medication is made from bismuth. 

Billings said one interesting thing about bismuth is its melting point.

"If you take a piece of metal called bismuth and put it on your stove in a pan, turn on the heat and it heats up to about 550 degrees, it melts," Billings said. "It’ll melt on just a regular burner on your stove, which is pretty neat when you think about it." 

Billings said it is also interesting because as it cools when exposed to oxygen it changes colors.

"After you melt bismuth, and you let it cool down it’ll go back into the metal form," he said. 

Billings said the levitating properties of bismuth are exciting and unique.

"If I have a big piece of bismuth here and I take a very strong magnet and set on top of it it will actually push the magnet up so it will float in midair — no electricity, no batteries, it will just float," Billings said. 

The scientist noted that although diamagnetism in bismuth is a weak force, it will still be floating in another 100 years. He said it will always float, just not very high.

Scientists also learned recently about the element's radioactive properties.

"We learned not too many years ago that this element, bismuth, is actually radioactive," Billings said, adding that because it is such a slow process, no one knew it was radioactive.

"But the interesting thing is if we will leave this crystal here, very very slowly one atom will decay, give off energy, and then another will," Billings said. "And in just about 150 trillion years, it’ll be gone. It’ll just all disappear." 

Science L!VE, broadcast live on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. (CST), is part of the Roger Billings Scholarship Program at Acellus Academy. It is also freely available to the public.