Indium facts for kids

Indium wire

Indium is a special kind of material called a chemical element. Think of elements as the basic building blocks of everything around us! Indium has the chemical symbol In and its atomic number is 49. This number tells us how many tiny particles called protons are in each atom of indium.

Indium is a metal, but it's quite rare. It's also very soft and can be easily shaped, which we call malleable. It looks a bit like zinc, another metal. What's cool about indium is that you can often join two pieces together just by pushing them! Indium's chemical behavior is similar to aluminium and gallium, which are also metals.

Where Does Indium Come From?

Indium is not found by itself very often. Instead, it's usually found mixed in with other metals. The main place we get indium from is ores that contain zinc. Ores are rocks that have valuable metals inside them. So, when people mine for zinc, they often find indium too!

How is Indium Used?

Indium might be rare, but it's super useful!

In Your Screens

One of the most important uses for indium is in the screens of your phones, tablets, and computers. It's a key part of a special material called Indium tin oxide. This material is used to make liquid crystal displays, or LCDs. It's transparent, meaning you can see through it, but it also conducts electricity. This combination is perfect for making touchscreens and clear displays work!

Other Uses

Indium can also be used in very thin layers as a lubricant. Lubricants help things move smoothly and reduce friction, like oil in an engine. During World War II, indium was used a lot to coat parts called bearings in aircraft. This helped the aircraft engines run better and last longer.

Images for kids

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  Indium wetting the glass surface of a test tube

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  InCl3 (structure pictured) is a common compound of indium.

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  A magnified image of an LCD screen showing RGB pixels. Individual transistors are seen as white dots in the bottom part.

See also

In Spanish: Indio (elemento) para niños