Discovery Information
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Who: George Brandt |
When: 1737 |
Where: Sweden |
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Name Origin
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German: kobalt or kobold (evil spirit); Greek: cobalos (mines). |
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Sources
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Occurs in compounds with arsenic, oxygen and sulfur as in cobaltine (CoAsS) and linneite (Co3S4).
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Uses
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Used in many hard alloys; for magnets, ceramics and special glasses. Also used in permanent magnets, razor blades and catalitic
converters.
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Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue colour to glass, glazes, and ceramics. Cobalt has been
detected in Egyptian sculpture and Persian jewelry from the third millennium BC, in the ruins of Pompeii (destroyed AD 79),
and in China dating from the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) and the Ming dynasty (AD 1368-1644).
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Cobalt-60 is used in cancer therapy, food sterilization and industrial radiography (to detect structural flaws in metal parts). |
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Notes
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Powdered cobalt in metal form is a fire hazard. Cobalt compounds should be handled with care due to cobalt's slight toxicity.
60Co is a powerful gamma ray emitter and exposure to it is therefore a cancer risk.
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Cobalt in small amounts is essential to many living organisms, including humans. Having 0.13 to 0.30 mg/kg of cobalt in soils
markedly improves the health of grazing animals. Cobalt is a central component of the vitamin cobalamin, or vitamin B-12.
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