What is Zinc ?

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30. This is the first row of the transition metals of group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is approximately 75 ppm (0.007%) of the crust, so the 24 most abundant element there. The seawater is only 30 ppb zinc, and the atmosphere contains 0.1 to 4 ng/m³.

The main application of zinc corrosion resistant galvanized steel. Other applications of the batteries and alloys such as brass. Sphalerite, zinc is the most important zinc ore. Including the production of zinc roasting, leaching, and in the finals to win pyrometallurgic winning or electriowinning.

Sphalerite (ZNS), usually in combination with other metals such as copper and lead ores. Therefore, the phase in the zinc sulfide minerals. Sphalerite, which is a form of zinc is the most heavily mined ore containing zinc, 60-62% as zinc.

A variety of zinc compounds to find industrial applications, such as zinc chloride (in deodorants), zinc Pyrithione (Anti-dandruff shampoos), zinc (in luminescent paints), zinc and organic methyl or zinc diethyl in the laboratory. Approximately one quarter of the production of zinc in the form of zinc compounds.

Zinc, in the context, the plaintext is a blue-white shiny metal diamagnetic, although most commercial varieties of metal with a metal mat finish.The hard and brittle, but the temperatures in most malleable will be 100 to 150 ° C. Zinc is a good conductor of electricity. The melting point is the lowest of all transition metals, except mercury and cadmium.

Many zinc alloys, including brass, an alloy of zinc and copper. Other metals, such as the binary zinc alloys, aluminum, antimony, bismuth, gold, iron, lead, mercury, silver, tin, magnesium, cobalt, nickel, sodium and tellurium.

Other minerals, zinc, due to smithsonite (zinc carbonate), hemimorphite (zinc silicate), Wurtzite (excluding zinc) and sometimes hydrozincite (basic zinc carbonate).

Zinc is an essential mineral necessary for the preservation of all life. Enzymes in a zinc atom in the center of the reaction in biochemistry, such as alcohol in humans. The consumption of higher concentrations of zinc can lead to ataxia, lethargy and a lack of copper.

Read More

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color. Gold, caesium and copper are the only metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or white. It is used as a thermal conductor, an electrical conductor, a building material, and a constituent of various metal alloys.
Copper compounds are known in several oxidation states, usually 2+, where they often impart blue or green colors to natural minerals such as turquoise and have been used historically widely as pigments. Copper as both metal and pigmented salt, has a significant presence in decorative art.
Copper 2+ ions are soluble in water, where they function at low concentration as bacteriostatic substances and fungicides. For this reason copper metal can be used as an anti-germ surface that can add to the anti-bacterial and antimicrobial features of buildings such as hospitals.
Copper has a reddish, orangish, or brownish color because a thin layer of tarnish (including oxides) gradually forms on its surface when gases (especially oxygen) in the air react with it. But pure copper, when fresh, is actually a pinkish or peachy metal. When copper is burnt in oxygen it gives off a black oxide.
Copper can be found as native copper in mineral form (for example, in Michigan's Keewenaw Peninsula). Minerals such as the sulfides: chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), bornite (Cu5FeS4), covellite (CuS), chalcocite (Cu2S) are sources of copper, as are the carbonates: azurite (Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2) and malachite (Cu2CO3(OH)2) and the oxide: cuprite (Cu2O).
Copper is easily worked, being both ductile and malleable. The ease with which it can be drawn into wire makes it useful for electrical work in addition to its excellent electrical properties. Copper can be machined, although it is usually necessary to use an alloy for intricate parts, such as threaded components, to get really good machinability characteristics. Good thermal conduction make it useful for heatsinks and in heat exchangers. Copper has good corrosion resistance, but not as good as gold. It has excellent brazing and soldering properties and can also be welded, although best results are obtained with gas metal arc welding.
Copper is normally supplied, as with nearly all metals for industrial and commercial use, in a fine grained polycrystalline form. Polycrystalline metals have greater strength than monocrystalline forms, and the difference is greater for smaller grain (crystal) sizes. The reason is due to the inability of stress dislocations in the crystal structure to cross the grain boundaries.
Copper is malleable and ductile and is a good conductor of both heat and electricity Read More

Pyrite

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold due to its resemblance to gold. Pyrite is the most common of the sulfide minerals.
Pyrite is usually found associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, as well as in coal beds, and as a replacement mineral in fossils. Despite being nicknamed fool's gold, small quantities of gold are sometimes found associated with pyrite. Gold and arsenic occur as a coupled substitution in the pyrite structure. In the Carlin, Nevada gold deposit, arsenian pyrite contains up to 0.37 wt% gold. Auriferous pyrite is a valuable ore of gold.
Pyrite exposed to the atmosphere during mining and excavation reacts with oxygen and water to form sulfate, resulting in acid mine drainage. This acidity results from the action of Acidithiobacillus bacteria, which generate their energy by oxidizing ferrous iron (Fe2+) to ferric iron (Fe3+) using oxygen. The ferric iron in turn attacks the pyrite to produce ferrous iron and sulfate. The ferrous iron is then available for oxidation by the bacterium; this cycle continues until the pyrite is depleted.
Pyrite is used commercially for the production of sulfur dioxide, for use in such applications as the paper industry, and in the manufacture of sulfuric acid.
During the early years of the 20th century, pyrite was used as a mineral detector in radio receivers, and to this day is so used by 'crystal radio' hobbyists. Until the vacuum tube matured, the crystal detector was the most sensitive and dependable detector available- with considerable variation between mineral types and even individual samples within a particular type of mineral. The most sensitive mineral was galena, which was very sensitive also to mechanical vibration, and easily knocked off the sensitive point; the most stable were perikon mineral pairs; and midway between was the pyrites detector, which is approximately as sensitive as a modern 1N34A diode detector.
Pyrite has been proposed as an abundant inexpensive material in low cost photovoltaic solar panels. Read More