Antimony Contracts Upon freezing

There was a debate about whether antimony contracted or expanded during solidification for much of the 1900s. Reports ranged from a 1% expansion to 1.4% contraction. It is thought that these discrepancies were due to two main factors. First, testing was done on antimony samples that lacked sufficient purity. The colligative aspects of the impurities unduly influenced any resulting data. Second, the testing equipment used during these experiments were not reliable. Furthering the false notion that antimony expanded upon solidification was anecdotal evidence gathered from print cast. It was suggested that the fine detail retained from lead-antimony alloy print casts was due to expansion. In 1962, Kirshenbaum and Cahill settled the debate with their careful work. They determined that antimony does, in fact, contract by 0.79 ± 0.14% during solidification.