News tagged with nickel
Scientists shed light on magnetic mystery of graphite
The physical property of magnetism has historically been associated with metals such as iron, nickel and cobalt; however, graphite an organic mineral made up of stacks of individual carbon sheets has baffled ...
Jan 26, 2012 |
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Graphene reveals its magnetic personality
(PhysOrg.com) -- Can organic matter behave like a fridge magnet? Scientists from The University of Manchester have now shown that it can.
Jan 08, 2012 |
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Battery-powered Christmas carol: A trip down memory (effect) lane
(PhysOrg.com) -- As consumers anticipate unwrapping the latest electronic gadget during the holidays, they may not give much thought to how long their shiny devices will last. But it's a topic under significant ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Dec 22, 2011 |
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High bodily levels of nickel and selenium may lower pancreatic cancer risk
High bodily levels of the trace elements nickel and selenium may lower the risk of developing the most common type of pancreatic cancer, finds research published online in Gut.
Dec 20, 2011 |
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Closing in on an ulcer- and cancer-causing bacterium
A research team led by scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is releasing study results this week showing how a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, that causes more than half of peptic ulcers worldw ...
Dec 07, 2011 |
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Carbon foam: The key ingredient of a better battery?
(PhysOrg.com) -- A lighter, greener, cheaper, longer-lasting battery. Who wouldnt want that?
Nov 18, 2011 |
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High speed charging device - success in high capacity graphene-based supercapacitors
Professor Jie Tang, Group Leader of the 1D Nanomaterials Research Group of the Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, and Mr. Qian Cheng, a doctoral student and NIMS Junior Researcher in the ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 21, 2011 |
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Hot nickel nudges graphene: Study simplifies manufacture of semiconducting bilayer graphene
(PhysOrg.com) -- By heating metal to make graphene, Rice University researchers may warm the hearts of high-tech electronics manufacturers.
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 16, 2011 |
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Nickel nanoparticles may contribute to lung cancer
All the excitement about nanotechnology comes down to this: Structures of materials at the scale of billionths of a meter take on unusual properties. Technologists often focus on the happier among these newfound capabilities, ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Aug 23, 2011 |
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World's fastest nickel-based complex
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis and Villanova University designed a nickel-based complex that more than doubled previously reported ...
Jul 25, 2011 |
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Green chemistry: Getting nickel back
In Southeast Asia, palm oil is used both as an ingredient for cooking and a raw material for biodiesel production. To stabilize the oil against decomposition, it has to be hydrogenated in the presence of a ...
Jul 07, 2011 |
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Researchers map the physics of Tibetan singing bowls
Researchers have been investigating the connection between fifth century Himalayan instruments used in religious ceremonies and modern physics.
Jul 01, 2011 |
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New production process for NiO/Ni nanocomposite electrodes for supercapacitors
(PhysOrg.com) -- Conversion to renewable energy sources like wind and sun is only a question of time. Because wind and solar radiation vary in strength, the increase in renewable energy sources will cause ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jun 07, 2011 |
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A new dimension in materials research
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the future, physicists will be able to follow a new lead in their search for new materials for electronic components, for example. An international team of researchers headed by scientists ...
May 26, 2011 |
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Movement without muscles
A group of scientists headed by Michael Nickel of Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) gives new answers to the question: Which cells in the sponges are contracting? They were able to show that the ...
May 12, 2011 |
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Nickel
Nickel ( /ˈnɪkəl/) is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile. Pure nickel shows a significant chemical activity, though larger pieces of the metal are slow to react with air at ambient conditions due to the formation of a protective oxide surface. However, nickel is reactive with oxygen to the extent that native nickel is rare on Earth's surface, and is mostly confined to the interiors of larger nickel iron meteorites, which were protected from oxidation in space. Such native nickel is always found on Earth alloyed with iron, in keeping with the element's origin as a major end-product of the nucleosynthesis process, along with iron, in supernovas. An iron-nickel alloy is thought to compose the Earth's core.
The use of nickel (as a natural meteoric nickel-iron alloy) has been traced as far back as 3500 BC. Nickel was first isolated and classified as a chemical element in 1751 by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who initially mistook its ore for a copper mineral. Its most important ore minerals are laterites, including limonite, garnierite, and pentlandite. Major production sites include Sudbury region in Canada (which is thought to be of meteoric origin), New Caledonia and Norilsk in Russia.
Because of nickel's slow rate of oxidation at room temperature, it is considered corrosion-resistant. Historically this has led to its use for plating metals such as iron and brass, to its use for chemical apparatus, and its use in certain alloys that will retain a high silvery polish, such as German silver. About 6% of world nickel production is still used for corrosion-resistant pure-nickel plating. Nickel was once a common component of coins, but has largely been replaced by cheaper iron for this purpose, especially since the metal has proven to be a skin allergen for some people.
Nickel is one of the four elements that are ferromagnetic around room temperature. Alnico permanent magnets based partly on nickel are of intermediate strength between iron-based permanent magnets and rare earth magnets. The metal is chiefly valuable in the modern world for the alloys it forms; about 60% of world production is used in nickel-steels (particularly stainless steel). Other common alloys, as well as some new superalloys, make up most of the remainder of world nickel use, with chemical uses for nickel compounds consuming less than 3% of production. As a compound, nickel has a number of niche chemical manufacturing uses, such as a catalyst for hydrogenation. Enzymes of some microorganisms and plants contain nickel as an active center, which makes the metal an essential nutrient for them.
For more information about Nickel, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.