Today is the last post of this 2015 AtoZAprilChallenge, and it’s about this marvellous element Zinc, symbol Zn, and number 30 on the elements periodic table. Zinc has many fantastic properties, and is a major component of living things.
“Zinc, in commerce also spelter, is a chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element of group 12 of the periodic table. In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in Earth’s crust and has five stable isotopes. The most common zinc ore is sphalerite (zinc blende), a zinc sulfide mineral. The largest mineable amounts are found in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Zinc production includes froth flotation of the ore, roasting, and final extractionusing electricity (electrowinning).
Brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, has been used since at least the 10th century BC in Judea[2] and by the 7th century BC in Ancient Greece.[3] Zinc metal was not produced on a large scale until the 12th century in India and was unknown to Europe until the end of the 16th century. The mines of Rajasthan have given definite evidence of zinc production going back to the 6th century BC.[4] To date, the oldest evidence of pure zinc comes from Zawar, in Rajasthan, as early as the 9th century AD when a distillation process was employed to make pure zinc.[5] Alchemistsburned zinc in air to form what they called “philosopher’s wool” or “white snow”.
The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German word Zinke. German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is credited with discovering pure metallic zinc in 1746. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Voltauncovered the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800. Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of iron (hot-dip galvanizing) is the major application for zinc. Other applications are in batteries, small non-structural castings, and alloys, such as brass. A variety of zinc compounds are commonly used, such as zinc carbonate and zinc gluconate (as dietary supplements), zinc chloride (in deodorants), zinc pyrithione (anti-dandruff shampoos), zinc sulfide (in luminescent paints), and zinc methyl or zinc diethyl in the organic laboratory.
Zinc is an essential mineral perceived by the public today as being of “exceptional biologic and public health importance”, especially increasingly regarding prenatal and postnatal development.[6] Zinc deficiency affects about two billion people in the developing world and is associated with many diseases.[7] In children it causes growth retardation, delayed sexual maturation, infection susceptibility, and diarrhea.[6] Enzymes with a zinc atom in the reactive center are widespread in biochemistry, such as alcohol dehydrogenase in humans.[8] Consumption of excess zinc can cause ataxia, lethargy and copper deficiency…
Various isolated examples of the use of impure zinc in ancient times have been discovered. Zinc ores were used to make the zinc–copper alloy brass many centuries prior to the discovery of zinc as a separate element. Judean brass from the 14th to 10th centuries BC contains 23% zinc.[2]
Knowledge of how to produce brass spread to Ancient Greece by the 7th century BC, but few varieties were made.[3] Ornaments made of alloys containing 80–90% zinc, with lead, iron, antimony, and other metals making up the remainder, have been found that are 2,500 years old.[17] A possibly prehistoric statuette containing 87.5% zinc was found in a Dacian archaeological site.[49]
The oldest known pills were made of the zinc carbonates hydrozincite and smithsonite. The pills were used for sore eyes and were found aboard the Roman ship Relitto del Pozzino, which wrecked in 140 BC.[50][51]
The manufacture of brass was known to the Romans by about 30 BC.[52] They made brass by heating powdered calamine (zinc silicate or carbonate), charcoal and copper together in a crucible.[52] The resulting calamine brass was then either cast or hammered into shape for use in weaponry.[53] Some coins struck by Romans in the Christian era are made of what is probably calamine brass.[54]
Strabo writing in the 1st century BC (but quoting a now lost work of the 4th century BC historian Theopompus) mentions “drops of false silver” which when mixed with copper make brass. This may refer to small quantities of zinc that is a by-product of smelting sulfide ores.[55] Zinc in such remnants in smelting ovens was usually discarded as it was thought to be worthless.[56]
The Berne zinc tablet is a votive plaque dating to Roman Gaul made of an alloy that is mostly zinc.[57]
The Charaka Samhita, thought to have been written between 300 and 500 AD,[58] mentions a metal which, when oxidized, produces pushpanjan, thought to be zinc oxide.[59]Zinc mines at Zawar, near Udaipur in India, have been active since the Mauryan period. The smelting of metallic zinc here, however, appears to have begun around the 12th century AD.[60][61] One estimate is that this location produced an estimated million tonnes of metallic zinc and zinc oxide from the 12th to 16th centuries.[19] Another estimate gives a total production of 60,000 tonnes of metallic zinc over this period.[60] The Rasaratna Samuccaya, written in approximately the 13th century AD, mentions two types of zinc-containing ores: one used for metal extraction and another used for medicinal purposes.”
About Zinc and health: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/
Zinc in food: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=115
Image: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=10228&picture=1943-zinc-penny&large=1
