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Indium

The colour of the brightest line in indium's spectrum is indigo, which gave rise to its name. In its pure form, silvery-white indium metal has a brilliant lustre. The element is fairly soft, but interestingly, when bent, indium metal produces a high-pitched "scream."

Indium has the ability to lower the melting point of its alloys that are used for solder. Another application of indium is in the automobile industry where the element is used in bearings to improve moisture resistance and anti-seizure properties. Along with arsenic and antimony, indium also acts as a doping agent for the production of transistors in the semiconductor industry.

Its electrolytic properties have led to indium's use in plating applications. Researchers at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) are investigating compound semiconductors, such as indium gallium arsenide grown on indium phosphide, for nanometre-scale electronics.