Cadmium is the chemical element with atomic number 48 and symbol . It is a metal. Its common oxidation state is . Compounds such as cadmium sulfide have optical and semiconductor properties that differ from elemental cadmium, illustrating the need to distinguish an element from a specific material containing it.[ref]
The +2 oxidation state of cadmium. The actual aqueous species can depend on pH, hydrolysis and ligands; a bare ionic formula is an analytical shorthand.
