Nickel

What is Nickel?

Nickel is the 28th element in the periodic table of elements. Discovered in 1751 by Axel Cronstedt of Sweden, nickel is currently believed to be the Earth's second most abundant element, after iron. Nickel is a very hard white metal, and it needs to be polished often to be kept intact. 

Mixed with other elements, it is not dangerous, but any given person should not be exposed to pure nickel for too long as some of its compounds are toxic. Many people are allergic to nickel metal, so many in fact that nickel was named the 2008 Contact Allergen of the Year by the American Contact Dermatitis Society.

The word origin of nickel actually comes from the word kupfernickel, which means Old Nick's Copper or Devil's Copper. It got this name because German miners seeking copper would occasionally come across a red ore with flecks of green. Believing they had found copper ore, they would mine it and take it in for smelting. They would then find the ore produced no copper. They named the ore 'kupfernickel', or Devil's copper, since the Devil switched out the useful metal to confound the miners.

What is it used for?

Nickel is used in and for many things, including:

Raw Nickel

• Nickel is a main component in stainless steel
• Nickel forms very useful alloys
• Used for making corrosion resistant alloys
• Coinage (DUH)
• Armor plating
• Applied to other metals to provide protective coating
• Used in ceramics, magnets, and batteries.