Sulfur is familiar as a yellow solid, but its compounds extend into proteins, plaster, fertilizers, and rubber manufacture. Sulfur-containing compounds added to natural gas provide a detectable smell. These examples distinguish the properties of elemental sulfur from those of substances in which sulfur is bonded.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
How can sulfur links change rubber's mechanical response?
Sulfur incorporated into vulcanised rubber
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Start with polymer chains
Rubber contains long molecular chains whose movement contributes to its deformation; the relation between chains matters alongside the chemical identity of each chain.
Explore the model (optional)
SFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Sulfur was known through volcanic deposits and combustion long before modern chemistry. Early explanations placed it within alchemical theories of metals. Its elemental status still faced challenges in the nineteenth century, when impurities confused interpretations of heated samples. Gay-Lussac and Thénard's work in 1809 helped establish a more precise chemical identity for this ancient and familiar material.
Antiquity
Sulfur put to use
Sulfur served uses including fumigation and bleaching.
1809
Elemental identity clarified
Gay-Lussac and Thénard helped establish sulfur’s elemental identity.
Sulfur occurs as native deposits and within many and sulfate . Examples include iron pyrite and gypsum, which place sulfur in different chemical environments. Sulfur-bearing substances also occur in petroleum and natural gas, allowing industrial recovery to connect energy processing with supplies for chemical manufacture.
Elemental sulfur is typically a yellow, solid, but it can adopt several structural forms. Many crystalline forms contain rings of eight sulfur atoms. Its chemistry also spans sulfides and sulfates, so a mineral's behavior depends on sulfur's bonding and its partner elements rather than its presence alone.
Each section links its supporting references. Descriptions and diagrams were authored for this atlas. Source checks completed. Source checks dated 2026-09-06.
CITE THIS PAGE
Family labels and the group-3 layout are teaching conventions. A table position does not establish an unknown bulk property. Electronic configurations refer to neutral atoms; ions and material environments require their own account.
Read each reference property together with its units, conditions and the reference information below.
Not yet recorded: electron affinity, second ionization energy, ground-state term symbol, van der waals radius, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, electrical resistivity, crystal structure, lattice parameter a, space group, abundance in seawater, abundance in the universe, annual production, supply-risk listing, hazard classification, biological role, cas registry number, pubchem cid, wikidata item. These families are declared and awaiting an ingestion run against the source each names; they are listed here rather than shown as empty rows.
Physical
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Phase at 20 °C
solid
293.15 K, 101.325 kPa
Melting point in K
388.36 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
717.8 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
2.07 g/cm³
solids and liquids at 293 K; gases at 273 K and 101.325 kPa
Atomic and electronic
Intended reference: Pauling electronegativity scale · Widely tabulated; original in The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Electronegativity in Pauling
2.58 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
999.6 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
105 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
-2, +2, +4, +6
states met in ordinary compounds; not exhaustive
Occurrence and identity
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Abundance in the crust in mg/kg
350 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year
Not recorded
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 3
S 2.58 Pauling · Sulfur
Electronegativity across period 3. Exact values.
Na
0.93
Mg
1.31
Al
1.61
Si
1.9
P
2.19
S
2.58
Cl
3.16
Electronegativity down group 16
S 2.58 Pauling · Sulfur
Electronegativity down group 16. Exact values.
O
3.44
S
2.58
Se
2.55
Te
2.1
Po
2
The trend uses the same reference-property values as the periodic table. Elements with no recorded value are left out of the line rather than drawn at zero.
