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

What is nickel?

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

How was nickel discovered?

It is believed that man has used nickel since 3500 BC. But, it was only in 1751 that it was classified and recognized as a chemical element 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 characteristics of nickel are divided into atomic, physical, isotopes, and chemical. Its atomic characteristics include its electronic configuration, electron structure, and other electron-related stuff.

Its physical properties 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 open in temperature more than that), and unit cell structure (nickel has a face centered cubic unit cell). It is also ductile and hard.

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 many oxidation states. The commonest among them all is +2.

Where is nickel used?

Lots of industries nowadays 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 sorts of alloys, together with bronze, copper, lead, silver, gold, cobalt, aluminum and chromium. It is also used to make nickel cast irons and nickel steels.

Nickel alloys are commonly 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 home, nickel alloys are found in our electric heaters, cookers and other appliance.

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