Knowra Nickel Nickel Nickel is a silvery-white chemical element with atomic number 28. Its resistance to corrosion and ability to form useful alloys make it important in steelmaking, batteries, and plating.
Stainless steel : Steel containing chromium, often with nickel, that resists corrosion through a protective surface layer. Nickel stabilizes common stainless-steel structures and improves their toughness and formability.
Transition metal : An element whose atoms or ions have an incomplete d subshell. Nickel’s d electrons underpin its variable chemistry and many alloying properties.
Axel Fredrik Cronstedt : A Swedish mineralogist and chemist who identified nickel as a distinct element in 1751. Cronstedt isolated the metal while investigating an ore miners had mistaken for copper ore.
Nickel mining : The extraction of nickel-bearing ores from the ground and their preparation for metal production. Expanding battery demand has intensified mining in laterite-rich regions and sulfide districts.
Cobalt : A hard, ferromagnetic transition metal with atomic number 27, used in alloys and battery materials. Cobalt resembles nickel in alloy and battery uses but differs in supply, chemistry, and applications.
Lithium-ion battery : A rechargeable battery that moves lithium ions between electrodes during charging and discharging. Nickel-rich cathodes store substantial energy, making nickel central to many electric-vehicle batteries.
Ferromagnetism : A form of magnetism in which aligned atomic magnetic moments produce persistent bulk magnetization. Nickel is one of the few elemental metals that is ferromagnetic near room temperature.
Kupfernickel : A nickel-bearing mineral historically mistaken by miners for copper ore that resisted smelting. The misleading ore name, meaning roughly “copper demon,” gave nickel its name.
Nickel smelting : The thermal processing of nickel ores to produce metal or an intermediate nickel-rich product. Smelting can release sulfur dioxide and other pollutants unless emissions are controlled.
Copper : A reddish, highly conductive metal with atomic number 29, widely used in wiring and plumbing. Copper was the metal miners sought in kupfernickel ore, but nickel is less conductive and more corrosion-resistant.
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