Chromium- Element of the Week from 3/8 -3/16

             

            Chromium is element number 24 and, appropriately, the 24th most abundant element on Earth. It is a solid, hard metal and its name is derived from the Greek word for color, "chroma." It is malleable, tasteless, and odorless, as well as gray in color. Seeing as how its color is gray, the name doesn’t seem to make sense. But the Greek word was chosen due to the fact that many compounds involving chromium are intensely colored.

            A French pharmacist and chemist, whose name was Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, discovered chromium in 1797. Vauquelin also discovered the element Beryllium in 1798. He initially produced a chromium oxide, but after further testing was eventually able to isolate solid chromium. The method used to achieve this was by hearing chromium oxide in a charcoal oven. Chromium metal is still today obtained primarily through a similar heating method.

            Chromium is commonly used to coat other metals, as it is extremely corrosion resistant. Chromium is also what is added to steel to make it harder and create stainless steel. Chromium as a anti-corrosion agent is the most prominent use of the metal, though some others exist. Several compounds containing chromium are used as intense dyes and pigments, the tanning of leather, and chromic acid is used to destroy any trace of organic molecules in laboratory glassware.

            There are many forms of chromium. Hexavalent chromium or Cr (VI) the most toxic of these and is a known carcinogen. It makes me happy to know that I was just using this in Physical chemistry lab.