Discovery date : Identified as an element in 1746,
but known to the Greeks and Romans before 20BC.
Discovered by: Andreas Marggraf
Origin of the name: The name is derived from the German, 'zinc',
which may in turn be derived from the Persian word 'sing', meaning stone.
Allotropes :
~>ZINC is a chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn^2+ and Mg^2+ ions are of similar size.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 12 | Melting point | 419.527°C, 787.149°F, 692.677 K |
| Period | 4 | Boiling point | 907°C, 1665°F, 1180 K |
| Block | d | Density (g cm−3) | 7.134 |
| Atomic number | 30 | Relative atomic mass | 65.38 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 64Zn |
| Electron configuration | [Ar] 3d104s2 | CAS number | 7440-66-6 |
| ChemSpider ID | 22430 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Zinc was known to the Romans but rarely used. It was first recognised as a metal in its own right in India and the waste from a zinc smelter at Zawar, in Rajasthan, testifies to the large scale on which it was refined during the period 1100 to the 1500.
Zinc refining in China was carried out on a large scale by the 1500s. An East India Company ship which sank off the coast of Sweden in 1745 was carrying a cargo of Chinese zinc and analysis of reclaimed ingots showed them to be almost the pure metal.
In 1668, a Flemish metallurgist, P. Moras de Respour, reported the extraction of metallic zinc from zinc oxide, but as far as Europe was concerned zinc was discovered by the German chemist Andreas Marggraf in 1746, and indeed he was the first to recognise it as a new metal.