Discovered | Name | Characteristics | Uses | Minerals

Zinc is a metal in Group IIB and the 4th period. Other members of the group are cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg).

Agricola mentions "zincum" in his treatise on metallurgy published in 1556. The origin of the name is obscure but is probably German. The symbol Zn is an abbreviation of the name.

Zinc is a bluish-white lustrous metal. It is brittle at ordinary temperatures but malleable at 100-150°C. It is a fair conductor of electricity, and burns in air at high red heat with evolution of white clouds of the oxide.

Metallic zinc was produced in the 13th Century A.D. in India by reducing calamine (zinc carbonate) with organic substances, such as wool. The metal was rediscovered in Europe in 1746 by Marggraf, who prepared the metal by reducing calamine with charcoal.

Zinc ores were used for making brass centuries before zinc was recognized as a distinct element. An idol made of an alloy containing 87% zinc has been found in prehistoric ruins in Transylvania.

The metal is used to form numerous alloys with other metals. Brass, nickel silver, typewriter metal, commercial bronze, spring brass, German silver, soft solder and aluminum solder are some of the more important alloys.

Large quantities of zinc are used to produce die castings, used extensively by the automotive, electrical, and hardware industries. Zinc is also extensively used to galvanize other metals, such as iron, to prevent corrosion.

Zinc oxide (zinc white) is a unique and very useful material to modern civilization. It is widely used in the manufacture of paints, rubber products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, floor coverings, plastics, printing inks, soap, textiles, electrical equipment, and other products.

A common dry cell battery has a Zn metal anode, carbon cathode, and contains MnO2 and NH4Cl as well.

Lithopone, a mixture of zinc sulfide and barium sulfate, is an important pigment.

Zinc sulfide is used in making luminous dials, X-ray and TV screens, and fluorescent lights.

Zinc chloride is used as a wood preservative, in soldering fluxes, as a mordant (substance that fixes the dye color in a fabric) in dyeing textiles, and in adhesives and cements.

The chromate, zinc yellow, is an important pigment. Sodium zincate is used as a water softener and as a flocculating agent in water purification.

Zinc is essential to the growth of many kinds of organisms, both plant and animal.

The principal zinc-containing minerals are sphalerite or blende (sulfide), and smithsonite or calamine (carbonate). Zinc can be obtained by roasting its ores to form the oxide and by reduction of the oxide with coal or carbon, with subsequent distillation of the metal. Zinc ores are widely and abundantly distributed throughout the world.