Calcium is an alkaline earth metal represented by Ca. Its atomic number is 20. It is a reactive metal that reacts with air to form a dark oxide layer on its surface. It shows similar physical and chemical properties as that of strontium and bariunm, which are heavier elements that fall in the same group. They are all homologous in nature.
Calcium is the fifth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. It is also the third most abundant metal after iron and aluminium. In the human body, calcium is the most abundant metal and the fifth-most abundant element.
Calcium carbonate, which is found in limestone and fossils of early sea life, is the most common calcium compound. Gypsum, anhydrite, fluorite, and apatite are some other sources of calcium. The name calcium is in fact derived from the Latin term ‘calx’ which means lime that was obtained from heating limestone.
Although our ancestors knew some calcium compounds, they did not know the chemistry of it until the seventeenth century. Pure calcium was isolated in 1808 by Humphry Davy, who named the element. He used the process of electrolysis to isolate the element. The major uses of calcium compounds are in foods and pharmaceuticals industries for calcium supplementation, in the paper industry as bleaches, and as components in cement and electrical insulators. It is also used in the manufacture of soaps. In its pure form, calcium has few applications due to its highly reactive nature. But it is used in small quantities in steel-making to form alloys. It is also used in automotive batteries as calcium-lead alloys.
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