ElementsWhat is germanium?
Germanium is a grey-white, brittle element that is a semiconductor. Mendeleev predicted it years before it was found. The first transistors were made from it.
What is germanium used for?
Fibre-optic cables, lenses for infrared cameras, and some solar cells and chips.
Where the name comes from
From Germania, the Latin name for Germany, the home country of its discoverer.
Key facts
- Symbol
- Ge
- Atomic number
- 32
- Atomic mass
- 72.63 u
- Family
- Metalloid
- Period
- 4
- Group
- 14
- Block
- p
- State at room temperature
- Solid
- Melting point
- 938.3 °C (1,211 K, 1,721 °F)
- Boiling point
- 2,833 °C (3,106 K, 5,131 °F)
- Density
- 5.32 g/cm³
- Electrons per shell
- 2, 8, 18, 4
- Electron configuration
- [Ar]4s2 3d10 4p2
- Common oxidation states
- +4, +2
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 2.01
- First ionisation energy
- 7.9 eV
- Electron affinity
- 1.35 eV
- Atomic radius (van der Waals)
- 211 pm
- Discovered
- 1886
Place in the periodic table
Germanium is element number 32. It sits in period 4 (row 4) of the periodic table, in group 14 (column 14), and belongs to the p-block. Just before it comes gallium (31), and just after it comes arsenic (33). In the same column, silicon is above it and tin is below it. Elements in one column tend to behave alike.
Family: Metalloids.
Physical properties
At room temperature germanium is a solid. It melts at 938.3 °C and boils at 2,833 °C, so it stays liquid over a range of 1,895 degrees. Its density is 5.32 grams per cubic centimetre, so a one-litre block would weigh about 5.32 kilograms. By density it ranks 61st among the 96 elements with a measured value.
Inside the atom
An atom of germanium has 32 protons in its nucleus and, when neutral, 32 electrons around it. The electrons are arranged in 4 shells: 2, 8, 18, 4. The outermost shell holds 4 electrons. Written in full, the electron configuration is [Ar]4s2 3d10 4p2.
Its electronegativity on the Pauling scale is 2.01. This number shows how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons towards itself: fluorine, the strongest, is 3.98. Removing one electron from an atom takes 7.9 electronvolts (about 762 kilojoules per mole). One mole of germanium weighs 72.63 grams, so a single gram contains about 8.29 × 1021 atoms.
The ring picture is a simple model that only counts the electrons in each shell. Real atoms do not look like this.
Next steps
- Work out the weight of a compound that contains germanium with the molar mass calculator.
- Compare it with every other element in the sortable list.
- Test yourself with the symbol quiz.
Figures on this page are from PubChem (U.S. National Library of Medicine), as downloaded on 11 November 2026. See About and data sources.