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What the name
means: The name nickel comes from
the German word for goblin, nickl or
nickel. Minerals containing nickel
were called kupfernickel, or Devil’s
copper, by German miners.
Who identified
nickel? Nickel has been used since
ancient times. It is found, in small
amounts, in bronze statues, originating
from Syria and made around 3500BC. Two
thousand years ago the Chinese used a
mineral they called paktong (white
copper) to make coins. In 1654, miners in
Saxony, Germany, mistook nickel ores for
ores containing silver. Since nickel
compounds were often accompanied by arsenic
compounds, the “devil’s copper”, as it was
known, caused illness. Nickel was first
recognised as a metal by the Swedish
chemist, Axel Fredrik Cronstedt in 1751.
Cronstedt’s results were verified by Torben
Olaf Bergmann. It was Antoine Lavoisier
who, in his 1789 publication, identified
nickel as an element.
About nickel:
Nickel compounds have been used to
produce green dyes since ancient times.
Nowadays, nickel is mostly used with other
metals to make alloys. Nickel alloys are
used to produce steel, coins and magnets. |
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