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For coins.
| Atomic Number: |
28 |
| Atomic Symbol: |
Ni |
| Atomic Weight: |
58.70 |
| Electron Configuration: |
[Ar]4s23d8 |
History
(German Nickel, Satan or Old Nick's and from kupfernickel, Old Nick's copper) Cronstedt
discovered nickel in 1751 in kupfernickel (niccolite).
Sources
Nickel is found as a constitutent in most meteorites and often serves as one of the
criteria for distinguishing a meteorite from other minerals.
Iron meteorites, or siderites, may contain iron alloyed with from 5 percent to nearly
20 percent nickel. Nickel is obtained commercially from pentlandite and pyrrhotite of the
Sudbury region of Ontario, a district that produces about 30 percent of the world's supply
of nicke.
Other deposits are found in New Caledonia, Australia, Cuba, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
Properties
Nickel is silvery white and takes on a high polish. It is hard, malleable, ductile,
somewhat ferromagnetic, and a fair conductor of heat and electricity. It belongs to the
iron-cobalt group of metals and is chiefly valuable for the alloys it forms.
Uses
It is extensively used for making stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant alloys
such as Invar(R), Monel(R), Inconel(R), and the Hastelloys(R). Tubing made of
copper-nickel alloy is extensively used in making desalination plants for converting sea
water into fresh water.
Nickel, used extensively to make coins and nickel steel for armor plates and
burglar-proof vaults, and is also a component in Nichrome(R), Permalloy(R), and
constantan.
Nickel gives glass a greenish color. Nickel plating is often used to provide a
protective coating for other metals, and finely divided nickel is a catalyst for
hydrogenating vegetable oils. It is also used in ceramics, in the manufacture of Alnico
magnets, and in the Edison(R) storage battery.
Isotopes
The sulfate and the oxides are important compounds. Natural nickel is a mixture of five
stable isotopes; nine other unstable isotopes are known.
Handling
Exposure to nickel metal and soluble compounds (as Ni) should not exceed 0.05 mg/cm3 (8-hour time-weighted average
- 40-hour work week). Nickel sulfide fume and dust is recognized as being potentially
carcinogenic.
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