Nickel
Uploaded by sbcalimbas on Dec 01, 1999
Nickel is one of the most important elements on the periodic table. It has plenty of history, as well as a huge importance to society. Its has unique chemical, physical, and geological properties. Nickel is used commercially in abundance, as it is used anywhere from simple art products such as ceramics to complex structures such as tubing for desalination plants. It is even used in the American five-cent coin, the "nickel".
Nickel was discovered by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, in Sweden, during the year 1751. Mr. Cronstedt discovered nickel in a mineral called niccolite. He originally planned to extract copper from this new mineral but got none at all. This is why nickel, at first, was called "false copper". Instead, Cronstedt got a silvery-white metal, which was eventually used for other things. The origin of the name "nickel" is a derivative from the German word "kupfernickel", meaning "Devil's Copper" or "St. Nicholas's Copper".
The chemical properties of nickel are as follows: Nickel has the atomic number of twenty-eight. The atomic symbol of nickel, "Ni". It has the atomic weight (mass) of 58.70, to be exact, 58.693. It occurs in five stable isotopes. Physically, nickel is a lustrous silvery-white and takes on a hard polish. It is a hard metal, malleable, ductile, and slightly ferromagnetic. Its melting point is at 2651 degrees F, and its boiling point is at 5275 degrees F. Also, nickel is a fairly good conductor of heat and electricity. Nickel belongs in the iron-cobalt group of metals and is chiefly valuable for the metallic alloys it forms. Biologically, nickel is a trace element for many species, including the human species. A human body contains 0.0000454 grams of nickel for every one pound.
Nickel is not found in too many places around the world. It is found mainly, and obtained commercially from pentlandite and pyrrhotite, in the Dudbury region of Ontario, Canada. The Dudbury region of Ontario produces roughly thirty percent of all the nickel used in the free world. Other nickel deposits are also found in New Caledonia, Australia, Cuba, Indonesia, and in small doses, various parts around the world.
Nickel occurs naturally in the places listed above, as well as in most meteorites that fall to the earth. Nickel is used as one of the most important criteria for distinguishing a meteorite, or remnants of one, from other minerals in the earth. Meteorites and siderites may contain a minimum...