Chromium :: essays research papers

chromiumChromium is a very hard, brittle, patriarchal alloy, which is sometimesrefer going to as Siberian red lead. It does not rusty advantageously and becomes shiny andbright when it is polished. The shiny trim on our automobile bumpers and approachhandles is usually electroplated chromium.Most chromium comes from something called chromite which is a mixtureof chromium , iron, and oxygen. Chromite is a common rather ordinary blackmineral that no wizard really noticed until more recent times. Nearly all theworlds supplying of chromite comes from Zimbabwe, Russia, Turkey, South Africa,Cuba, and the Philippines. The United States imports almost all its chromite.Chromium is added to other metals to denounce them harder and moreresistant to chemicals. Small quantities mixed with steel gift the metalstainless. Stainless steel is used to make cutlery and kitchen equipmentbecause it does not rust easily and takes a mirror-like polish. This steelcontains close 13 percentage ch romium and 0.3 percent carbon. The hardness of steelcan be increased by adding small quantities of chromium to it. Chromium steelalloys (mixtures containing one or more metals) are used to make armor platingfor tanks and warships. They are similarly used for ball bearings and the hardcutting edges of postgraduate-speed machine tools. atomic number 28 is highly resistant to electric current and is often added tochromium steels to make them easier to work. For example, stainless steelsinks can be pressed out from now sheets of steel that can contain 18 percentchomium and 8 percent nickel.When nickel is mixed with chromium, the resulting metal can standvery high temperatures without corroding. For example, the heating elements oftoasters can be do from an alloy that is 80 percent nickel and 20 percentchromium. This metal operates at a temperature of about 1380 degreesFahrenheit (750 degrees Celsius).Chromium was discovered in 1798 by the French pharmacist NicolasVauquelin. He chose the name chromium from the Greek word chroma, which meanscolor. Chromium was a good choice of name, many chromium compounds are brilliantlycolored. Rubies are red and emeralds are green because they contain chromiumcompounds. both(prenominal) of the brightest colors in the artists palette contain chromium.Chrome yellow is made from a substance which contains chromium, lead, andoxygen. Zinc yellow contains zinc, chromium and oxygen. Chrome red is anotherchromium compound. Chrome green is used in paints and in printing cotton