# Talk:Thallium

The page currently states that the metal reacts with water to form thallium "hydride". This seems very unlikely to me. Perhaps it should say "hydroxide" instead?

See Wikipedia:Reference desk#Reaction of thallium with water. --Smack (talk) 05:31, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

His murder was the subject of an episode of "Diagnosis Unknown" on Discovery Health.

In the Notable Characteristics area, the image of thallium causes an odd break in the text. I don't know how to fix it so the text shows up as a complete paragraph under the picture.

Thallium for health testing  and terrosim ?
Implications of this real life story.
A nurse was stopped at the border by anti-terroist measures when his car and his body was found to have high levels of Thallium...suspected as a terroist weapon.
It was later determined that the nurse had been given a mistakenly high level of Thallium for a heart stress test resulting in high readings of Thallium.
The good news, is that this nurse was complaining of numbness in his legs for weeks and was seeking medical attention for the symptoms.  
The anti=terroist procedure at the border solved his problem.

Salatic, D; Deusic, S (1988). "The possibility of concentrating thallium minerals from the Allchar deposit". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 301. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90173-8.
Subotic, K. M.; Pavicevic, M. K. (1998). "Status of the LOREX: Geochemical": 912. doi:10.1063/1.57378. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Lazaru, A; Ilić, R.; Skvarč, J.; Krištof, E.S.; Stafilov, T. (1999). "Neutron induced autoradiography of some minerals from the allchar mine". Radiation Measurements. 31: 677. doi:10.1016/S1350-4487(99)00170-5.
Stafilov, T; Todorovski, T; Grozdanova, B; Spandzeva, L (1988). "Determination of thallium in ore samples from Allchar by atomic absorption spectrometry". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 321. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90178-7.
Pavicevic, M (1988). "Lorandite from Allchar — A low energy solar neutrino dosimeter". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 287. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90171-4.
Pavicevic, M; Elgoresy, A (1988). "Crven Dol Tl deposit in Allchar: Mineralogical investigation, chemical composition of Tl minerals and genetic implications". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 297. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90172-6.
Cvetković, Lj.; Boronikhin, V. A.; Pavićević, M. K.; Krajnović, D.; Gržetić, I.; Libowitzky, E.; Giester, G.; Tillmanns, E. (1995). "Jankovićite, Tl5Sb9(As, Sb)4S22, a new TI-sulfosalt from Allchar, Macedonia". Mineralogy and Petrology. 53: 125. doi:10.1007/BF01171951.
Ljubicic, A; Krcmar, M; Kaucic, S; Logan, B (1988). "Experimental determination of uranium and thorium in Allchar ore". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 262. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90164-7.
Jankovic, S (1988). "The Allchar Tl_As_Sb Deposit, Yugoslavia and its specific metallogenic features". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 286. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90170-2.
Ljubicic, A; Kekez, D; Zlimen, I; Logan, B (1993). "Nondestructive method for identification of 205Pb at very low concentrations". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 325: 545. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(93)90403-5.
Bugarski, P; Veselinovic, D; Pavicevic, M (1988). "A chemical treatment of ore from the Crven Dol deposit from Allchar". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 320. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90177-5.
Libowitzky, Eugen; G; T (1995). "The crystal structure of jankovicite, Tl 5 Sb 9 (As,Sb) 4 S 22". European Journal of Mineralogy. 7 (3): 479.
Palme, H; Pavicevic, M; Spettel, B (1988). "Major and trace elements in some minerals and ore from Crven Dol, Allchar". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 314. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90176-3.
Pavicevic, M; Elgoresy, A (1988). "Crven Dol Tl deposit in Allchar: Mineralogical investigation, chemical composition of Tl minerals and genetic implications". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 271: 297. doi:10.1016/0168-9002(88)90172-6.
Balkans Mystery Tour: The Mine of Alshar
Natural Values of the Alshar area 

Kovalenker, V. A.; Laputina, I. P.; Yevstigneyeva, T. L.; Izoitko, V. M. (1977). "Thalcusite, Cu3-xTl2Fe1+xS4, a new thallium sulfide from copper-nickel ores of the Talnakh deposit1". International Geology Review. 19: 108–112. doi:10.1080/00206817709471002.
Alderton, D. H. M.; Serafimovski, T.; Mullen, B.; Fairall, K.; James, S. (2005). "The Chemistry of Waters Associated with Metal Mining in Macedonia". Mine Water and the Environment. 24: 139–149. doi:10.1007/s10230-005-0085-z.
"Thallium: A Poison And More ... Much More".
Zhou, T.F.; Fan, Y.; Yuan, F.; Wu, M.A.; Hou, M.J.; Voicu, G.; Hu, Q.H.; Zhang, Q.M. (2005). "Xiangquan: The World's first reported sediment-hosted thallium-only deposit, northeastern margin of the Yangtze Block, eastern China": 515–517. doi:10.1007/3-540-27946-6_133. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Pekov, I. V.; Agakhanov, A. A. (2009). "Thallium-rich murunskite from the Lovozero pluton, Kola Peninsula, and partitioning of alkali metals and thallium between sulfide minerals". Geology of Ore Deposits. 50: 583–589. doi:10.1134/S107570150807009X.
Xiao, T.; Guha, J.; Boyle, D. (2004). "High thallium content in rocks associated with Au–As–Hg–Tl and coal mineralization and its adverse environmental potential in SW Guizhou, China". Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis. 4: 243. doi:10.1144/1467-7873/04-204.

This review is transcluded from Talk:Thallium/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: TFOWRpropaganda 11:05, 29 May 2010 (UTC)
I've copied the following from Wikipedia:Good article criteria#What is a good article? - I'll add comments as I work through the GA review. TFOWRpropaganda 14:41, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Well-written:
(a) the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and
In general, spelling (U.S.) is correct and grammar looks good. A few additional comments:
Thallium#Isotopes: the half-life of 204Tl is stated twice - I'd suggest the second time is redundant.
Removed the one in the brackets.--Stone (talk) 19:22, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
Thallium#Historic uses: "Since 1975, this use in the United States  and many other countries is prohibited due to safety concerns" - I'm not sure the comma is necessary, but this may be an WP:ENGVAR issue (I'm used to non-U.S. English). I'd like to see some inidication why 1975 is important - what happened in 1975? - or the year removed.
Nice catch! The President issued Executive Order 11643 regulated the use as as poison on the 8 February 1972 USGS Yearbook 1972. I will change it accordingly.--Stone (talk) 19:22, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
Y I don't regard the above comments as "show stoppers", and consider the GA criteria for "Well written (a)" has been passed.
(b) it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.
Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lead section) Y
Wikipedia:Manual of Style (layout) Y
I'd like to see a periodic table footer (see, e.g., at Oxygen) but don't regard this as a problem.
...and I also note that there is a periodic table in the infobox.
Wikipedia:Manual of Style (words to watch) Y
Wikipedia:Manual of Style (embedded lists) Y (not applicable)
Wikipedia:Manual of Style (writing about fiction) Y (not applicable)
Y "Well written (b)" has been passed.
Verifiable with no original research:
(a) it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline;
Y Inline citations used extensively, with references listed in the "References" section.
(b) reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose); and
Y Footnotes are used exclusively (no parenthetical citations).
(c) it contains no original research.
Y No evidence of WP:OR.
Broad in its coverage:
(a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and
Y I compared the topics covered by the article with topics at Mercury (element) and Lead. Coverage is similar, and very satisfactory.
(b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).
Y Article stays focussed, and uses "Main article" and "See also" links where appropriate.
Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each.
Y It's probably difficult to slip bias into an article about a chemical element! I considered the history section in some detail, and consider that it covered the discovery of thallium (by two separate scientists) fairly.
It is very common to have a problem with POV pushing in the right articles, for example germanium and its use as dietary supplement or the arsenic in Bangladesh groundwater or the selenium effect against cancer or the pollonium poisoning of Litvinenko or the super bicycles made of scandium alloy. So care has to be taken!--Stone (talk) 19:22, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
The "Occurrence and production" section mentions the United States Geological Survey, and the "Thallium pollution" section mentions the US EPA. I'd like to see more international sources, but I wouldn't personally consider placing a Template:Globalize/North America tag on the article, nor do I feel that this (minor) concern affects the article.
As the US have limited resources and have been for a very long time the most resource hungry country they provide a fairly well global perspective on most raw materials by the USGS Yearbook and Commodity summary. For the pollution you only have a handful possibilities and most US organizations have a better web access and therefore I use them. The EU should have something on thallium to and the british Geological Survey also gives good numbers for the world wide concurrence.
Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.
Y Article history appears stable. Nothing on talk page to indicate any ongoing content disputes, etc.
Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
(a) media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and
Y Four images, all from commons. I'll defer to commons' editors here, except to note that the images have, by and large, either been on commons for several years or, in the case of the most recent been permitted and verified via OTRS.
(b) media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.


### Response to Comments
Thanks for starting the review! I will try to adress all comments soon!--Stone (talk) 20:57, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

There are too many isotopes listed in the infobox. 18.111.7.117 (talk) 00:15, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
I don't get it. For example with iron there are more instable ones (4) but also more stable ones (3) making overall 7 isotopes in the list . There are three in numbers 3 isotopes listed in the thallium article. This is neither to few nor too many, this is exactly the right number.  Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, ..... ;-) --Stone (talk) 20:58, 6 June 2010 (UTC)
Not a chemist, so can't comment on the IP's "too many isotopes" comment - sorry! There's been enough rabbiting on from me, anyway... TFOWRidle vapourings 14:49, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

This OSHA webpage is attached to the following sentence but doesn't appear to contain anything that supports it: Thallium(I) compounds have a high aqueous solubility and are readily absorbed through the skin, and care should be taken to avoid this route of exposure, as cutaneous absorption can exceed the absorbed dose received by inhalation at the permissible exposure limit (PEL). XOR'easter (talk) 19:54, 22 May 2023 (UTC)