Everything About Nickel: History, Invention, Some Critical Applications, Characteristics & Importance

For several thousands of years, men have used nickel in a lot of their needs. Previously, they weren't aware of the chemical characteristics of the element and that they could use nickel alloys in many different applications as well.

What is nickel?

Nickel is a versatile metal, a chemical element, with an atomic number of 28 and chemical symbol Ni. It's glossy and often silvery-white in look. It is a ferromagnetic element which can exist in room temperature. There are only 3 other components that have the same characteristic: gadolinium, iron and cobalt.

How was nickel discovered?

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

What are the properties of nickel?

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

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

Where is nickel used?

Lots of industries today use nickel in their operations. Some of the products which use nickel are rechargeable batteries, stainless steel, coinage, electric guitar strings, magnets, nickel alloys and other kinds of alloys, including bronze, copper, lead, silver, gold, cobalt, aluminum and chromium. It is 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 are excellent at corrosion resistance and heat regulation. They are also utilized in nuclear reactors and solar engineering. In our home, nickel alloys are found in our electrical heaters, cookers and other appliance.

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