All About Nickel: History, Invention, Some Critical Applications, Characteristics And Importance

For several thousands of years, men have used nickel in many of their needs. Back then, they weren't conscious of the chemical properties of the element and that they could use nickel alloys in a variety of applications as well.

What is nickel?

Nickel is a versatile metal, a chemical component, with an atomic number of 28 and chemical symbol Ni. It is shiny and sometimes silvery-white in appearance. It is a ferromagnetic element that can exist in room temperature. There are just three other components which possess the same characteristic: gadolinium, iron and cobalt.

How was nickel discovered?

It is believed that man has used nickel as early as 3500 BC. However, it was only in 1751 that it was classified and recognized as a chemical component by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt who, for the first time, thought it was a copper mineral. From then, essential nickel ore minerals have been discovered, such as limonite, pentlandite and garnierite.

What are the properties of nickel?

The properties of nickel are divided into atomic, physical, isotopes, and chemical. Its atomic properties include its electronic configuration, electron structure, and other electron-related stuff.

Its physical characteristics include its color (that is silvery-white), magnetic abilities (like what was stated earlier, it is among the four elements that have magnetic abilities at room temperature, but is non-magnetic when exposed to temperature greater than that), and unit cell structure (nickel has a face centered cubic unit cell). It's also ductile and rigid.

Nickel has 5 stable isotopes, all of which has an unique set of properties and characteristics. And when we speak of nickel's chemical properties, it occurs in several oxidation states. The most typical among them all is +2.

Where is nickel used?

Plenty of industries these days use nickel in their operations. Many of the products that use nickel are rechargeable batteries, stainless steel, coinage, electric guitar strings, magnets, nickel alloys and other types of alloys, including bronze, copper, lead, silver, gold, cobalt, aluminum and chromium. It's also used to make nickel cast irons and nickel steels.

Nickel alloys are usually used in power plants, gas and oil plants, and any other processing factories. They're good at corrosion resistance and heat regulation. They are also utilized in nuclear reactors and solar engineering. In our household, nickel alloys are found in our electrical heaters, cookers and other domestic device.

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