Name       : Selenium
Symbol     : Se
Atomic #   : 34
Atom weight: 78.96
Melting P. : 50 (amorphous form) or 217 (gray form)
Boiling P. : 685
Oxidation  : -2, +4, +6
Pronounced : si-LEE-ni-em
From       : Greek selene, "moon"
Identified : Jons Jacob Berzelius in 1818
Appearance : A soft metalloid similar to sulfur
Note       : The degree to which its electrical conductivity increases
             in response to light shining onto it.

[Properties]

  Selenium is a soft metalloid, or semimetal. It is quite similar to sulfur
in a number of respects, but overall it is more like tellurium. It is
difficult to describe the physical appearance of selenium because it can
exist in several allotropic forms that range from a gray metallic appearance
to a red glassy appearance.
  Selenium is in the VIA, or oxygen, group of elements on the period table.
It is a metalloid, or semimetal. This means it has some characteristics of
metals and some of nonmetals.
  Some of the most important properties - heat conductivity and density, for
example - change dramatically with the allotropic form and only small 
amounts of impurities.
