Page 74 - The Periodic Table Book

30
Zn Zinc

30 30 35 State: Solid
Discovery: 1746
Smithsonite
Transition Metals Sphalerite forms rough nodules
Forms

This zinc mineral
inside cracks.

This ore is
the main source
of zinc.

Hard, shiny metal
Laboratory sample
of pure zinc

Zinc was used in India and China The mineral sphalerite, containing zinc sulfide,
hundreds of years before the German is the major source of pure zinc. Another
chemist Andreas Marggraf identified it principal mineral, hemimorphite, contains
as a new element in the 18th century. This zinc and silicon. Zinc is essential in our diet.
element is a rare transition metal that is never We consume it from food such as cheese and
72 pure in nature, but is found in many minerals. sunflower seeds. Zinc compounds have a wide

072-073_Zinc.indd 72 12/12/16 5:38 pm