Zinc (Zn)
Zinc (Zn)
Before zinc was identified as an element, it was used to make brass. The metal was rediscovered in Europe in 1746.
As a bluish-white, lustrous metal, zinc is brittle at ambient temperatures and, above 100 °C, becomes malleable and displays superplasticity. A fair conductor of electricity, it burns in air at high heat.
Principal sources of zinc are sphalerite (sulfide), smithsonite (carbonate), calamine (silicate), and franklinite (zinc, manganese, iron oxide) ores. Naturally occurring zinc includes five stable isotopes, and sixteen other unstable isotopes are known.
Zinc is also used to galvanize other metals to prevent rusting.
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