Note 43 — Chapter XIX · PHOSPHORUS AND THE OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE FIFTH GROUP

Metallic bismuth is very easily obtained when the compounds of the oxide are reduced by powerful reducing agents, but when less powerful reducing agents—for example, stannous oxide—are taken, bismuth suboxide is formed as a black crystalline powder. It is a compound of the type BiX2, its composition being BiO; it is decomposed by acids into the metal and oxide, which passes into solution.