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- Name : Nickel
- Symbol : Ni
- Atomic # : 28
- Atom weight: 58.69
- Melting P. : 1453
- Boiling P. : 2732
- Oxidation : +2, +3
- Pronounced : NIK-'l
- From : German kupfernickel, "Old Nick's copper" (Seriously!)
- Identified : Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt in 1751
- Appearance : Hard, malleable, silvery-white metal
- Note : An United States five-cent piece is made of 25% nickel.
-
- [Properties]
-
- Nickel is a hard, malleable, and ductile metal. It has a silvery white
- appearance, and it can be polished to a lustrous finish. Corrosion under
- normal environmental conditions is practically nonexistent, making nickel
- a natural choice for a coinage material.
- Nickel is a group-VII transition metal on the periodic table of elements.
- Unlike neighboring copper, nickel is only a fair conductor of electricity
- (copper is an excellent conductor). Like its neighbor on the other side,
- cobalt, nickel possesses outstanding magnetic properties. Nickel alloyed
- with cobalt and iron is a combination that accounts for most powerful kinds
- of permanent magnet.
- Nickel is unusually resistant to corrosion by alkalis. For this reason,
- industrial-strength sodium and potassium hydroxide are shipped and stored
- in nickel containers. Nickel reacts with most acids to produce hydrogen
- gas and the Ni ion.
-