Knowra Cadmium Cadmium Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metallic element with atomic number 48. It occurs mainly in zinc ores and is used in batteries, pigments, and protective coatings.
Nickel–cadmium battery : A rechargeable battery that uses cadmium as its negative electrode and nickel oxyhydroxide as its positive electrode. This battery is cadmium’s major electrochemical use, though it faces restrictions because of toxicity.
Zinc smelting : The industrial extraction of zinc from ores and concentrates by thermal or electrolytic processes. Cadmium is commonly separated as a by-product during zinc production.
Friedrich Stromeyer : A German chemist who discovered cadmium in 1817 while investigating zinc compounds. Stromeyer identified the element in an impurity found during zinc-oxide testing.
Itai-itai disease : A disease caused by chronic cadmium exposure, marked by severe bone pain, fractures, and kidney damage. This outbreak in Japan demonstrated the human cost of cadmium contamination from mining and industry.
Cadmium pigments : A family of vivid, lightfast pigments made from cadmium compounds, especially cadmium sulfide and cadmium selenide. These pigments exploit cadmium compounds’ intense yellow, orange, and red colors.
Cadmium sulfide : An inorganic cadmium compound with the formula CdS, used as a pigment and semiconductor. This compound supplies cadmium’s characteristic yellow pigment and forms part of some optoelectronic materials.
William Hyde Wollaston : An English chemist and physicist whose early work helped establish cadmium as a distinct element. Wollaston independently investigated cadmium soon after Stromeyer’s discovery.
Minamata Convention on Mercury : An international treaty adopted in 2013 to protect human health and the environment from mercury pollution. It is often confused with cadmium regulation, but it addresses mercury rather than cadmium.
Cadmium plating : An electroplated cadmium coating that protects steel and other metals from corrosion. The coating uses cadmium’s corrosion resistance, especially in aerospace and marine components.
Cadmium selenide : A cadmium compound with the formula CdSe, used as a semiconductor and in quantum dots. Its optical and electronic behavior underlies several cadmium-based materials.
Show all 21