 Discovery Information |
| Who:
Andreas Marggraf
|
| When: 1764 |
| Where: Germany |
|
| Name Origin |
| German: zin (German for tin). |
|
| Sources |
| Found in the minerals zinc blende (sphalerite) (ZnS), calamine, franklinite, smithsonite (ZnCO3), willemite, and zincite (ZnO). The largest producers are Australia, Canada, Peru and the USA. |
|
| Uses |
| Used to coat other metals (galvanizing) to protect them from rusting. Used in alloys such as brass, bronze, nickel. Also in solder, cosmetics and pigments. |
|
| Notes |
| Zinc is an essential element, necessary for sustaining all life. It is estimated that 3000 of the hundreds of thousands of proteins in the human body contain zinc. |
