Cobalt [Co] (CAS-ID: 7440-48-4) locate me
An: 27 N: 32 Am: 58.933200
Group No: 9  Group Name: (none)
Period: 4
State: solid at 298 K
Colour: lustrous, metallic, greyish tinge Classification: Metallic
Boiling Point: 3143K (2927'C)
Melting Point: 1768K (1495'C)
Density: 8.90g/cm3
Shell Structure diagram | Atomic Radius diagram
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Discovery Information
Who: George Brandt
When: 1737
Where: Sweden
Name Origin
German: kobalt or kobold (evil spirit); Greek: cobalos (mines).
Sources
Occurs in compounds with arsenic, oxygen and sulfur as in cobaltine (CoAsS) and linneite (Co3S4).
Uses
Used in many hard alloys; for magnets, ceramics and special glasses. Also used in permanent magnets, razor blades and catalitic converters.
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).
Cobalt-60 is used in cancer therapy, food sterilization and industrial radiography (to detect structural flaws in metal parts).
Notes
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.
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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