Zinc, like copper, is a metal which was in use from ancient times. This bluish-silver coloured metal is crucial to life today as it is important in many industrial processes that often go unseen. Zinc is mostly used as an anti-corrosion agent.
The element was probably named by the 16th century Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus. Zinc is used in the production of brass alloying with copper. There are many other alloys of the metal too. Zinc has non-corrosive properties; and therefore, it is used in plating iron.
After copper, iron and aluminium, zinc is the most required metal in industry. It is zinc that is used in lithium batteries as anode. It is used in paints, fire safety equipment, wood preservatives, clocks, farming etc.
The element, in its pure form, was discovered by Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, a German chemist, in 1746. Zinc is the 25th most abundant element in the earth’s crust.
The element burns with a blue-green flare. Thirty per cent of the production of zinc is done through recycling and the rest by mining. It has an atomic number of 30, and the symbol is Zn.
Pictures credit: google