Introduction and Occurrence
- Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28.
- It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge.
- Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal.
- It forms a passivation layer of nickel oxide to prevent corrosion.
- Nickel is commonly found in combination with sulfur and iron in minerals like pentlandite and millerite.
- It is also found with arsenic in minerals like nickeline and nickel galena.
- Nickel is present in iron meteorites as kamacite and taenite alloys.
Production and Uses
- 68% of world production of nickel is used in stainless steel.
- 10% is used for nickel-based and copper-based alloys.
- 9% is used for plating.
- 7% is used for alloy steels.
- 4% is used in other applications such as rechargeable batteries.
Properties
- Nickel is a silvery-white metal with a slight golden tinge.
- It is ferromagnetic at or near room temperature.
- It has a high compressive strength of 34 GPa.
- Nickel has a face-centered cubic crystal structure.
- It has relatively high electrical and thermal conductivity.
Atomic and Physical Properties
- Nickel has a Curie temperature of 355°C (671°F).
- It has a lattice parameter of 0.352nm.
- Nickel is hard, malleable, and ductile.
- It has high electrical and thermal conductivity.
- The crystal structure of nickel is stable under high pressures.
Isotopes and Compounds
- Nickel has isotopes ranging in atomic weight from 48u to 82u.
- It has five stable isotopes, with Ni-58 being the most abundant.
- Nickel-62 has the highest binding energy per nucleon.
- There are at least 26 characterized nickel radioisotopes.
- The most common oxidation state of nickel is +2, but it can also have oxidation states of +3, +4, and exotic states like +1 and +5.
- Nickel compounds include nickel tetracarbonyl, bis(cyclooctadiene)nickel(0), and various tetracoordinate nickel(II) complexes.
- Nickel tetracarbonyl is a volatile and highly toxic liquid used in the Mond process for purifying nickel.
- Nickel(III) compounds can form simple salts and can be stabilized by σ-donor ligands.
- Nickel(IV) compounds are rare, with the mixed oxide BaNiO containing Ni(IV).
History
- Nickel was unintentionally used as early as 3500 BCE.
- Ancient Chinese manuscripts suggest the use of cupronickel around 1700-1400 BCE.
- Coins made of nickel-copper alloy were minted in the 2nd century BCE.
- The mineral nickeline was mistaken for copper ore in medieval Germany.
- Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt extracted a white metal from kupfernickel and named it nickel.
Nickel Data Sources
| Reference | URL |
|---|---|
| Glossary | https://harryandcojewellery.com.au/blogs/glossary/nickel |
| Wikipedia | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel |
| Wikidata | https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q744 |
| Knowledge Graph | https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/m/025s4r7 |