Nickel Facts
Nickel is a transition metal that can be alloyed with many other metals.
It has had a number of different uses over the years including jewelry and coins.
So although we do not use is a base metal at SMFUK, we thought we would inform you about it anyway..
- Nickel is a chemical element with the symbol Ni and an atomic number of 28.
- In Germany during medieval times, a red mineral was found that looked like copper ore (rock). When miners couldn’t extract any copper from it, they blamed a mischievous sprite of German mythology, Nickel. They decided to call this ore Kupfernickel, with the German word for copper being Kupfer.
- In 1751, Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt discovered nickel while trying to extract copper from the ore kupfernickel. He named the white metal substance nickel after the spirit that had given its name to the ore.
- Unintentional use of nickel has taken place since ancient times around 3500BC.
- Based on writings the alloy cupronickel is believed to have been used by the Chinese from 1400BC and exported to Britain in the 17th century.
- Nickel is a transition metal that is hard and ductile. It is a silvery-white shiny metal with a slight golden tinge.
- Nickel has a melting point of 2,651 °F (1,455 °C) and a boiling point of 5,275.4 °F (2,913 °C).
