What does zn mean on the periodic table

It is found in group IIb of the periodic table. It is a fairly reactive metal that will combine with oxygen and other non-metals, and will react with dilute acids to release hydrogen. It is used for the negative plates in some electric batteries and for roofing and gutters in building construction. Zinc is the primary metal used in making American pennies, is used in die casting in the automobile industry.

Zinc oxide is used as a white pigment in watercolours or paints, and as an activator in the rubber industry. As a pigment zinc is used in plastics, cosmetics, photocopier paper, wallpaper, printing inks etc, while in rubber production its role is to act as a catalyst during manufacture and as a heat disperser in the final product. Zinc metal is included in most single tablet, it is believed to possess anti-oxidant properties, which protect against premature aging of the skin and muscles of the body.

Zinc is a very common substance that occurs naturally. Many foodstuffs contain certain concentrations of zinc. Drinking water also contains certain amounts of zinc, which may be higher when it is stored in metal tanks. Industrial sources or toxic waste sites may cause the zinc amounts in drinking water to reach levels that can cause health problems. Zinc occurs naturally in air, water and soil, but zinc concentrations are rising unnaturally, due to addition of zinc through human activities.

Most zinc is added during industrial activities, such as mining, coal and waste combustion and steel processing. Some soils are heavily contaminated with zinc, and these are to be found in areas where zinc has to be mined or refined, or were sewage sludge from industrial areas has been used as fertilizer. Zinc is the 23rd most abundant element in the Earth's crust. In the s, Gladys Reid — a farmer, dental nurse and citizen scientist living in Te Aroha — discovered that putting zinc salts in water troughs was the best prevention for facial eczema in livestock.

Gladys recognised the importance of evidence and used control groups to test her ideas. Zinc is an essential trace element for most forms of life.

Human adults, on average, have 2—4 grams of zinc in their bodies. Most people get enough zinc from the foods they eat — meat, shellfish, eggs, legumes, pumpkin and sesame seeds, cashew nuts, potatoes and dairy products are good sources of zinc. Our bodies do not store zinc, so it is important to eat a wide variety of foods every day to replace it.

Zinc plays an important role in our immune systems and helps to heal wounds. There is evidence that zinc can help with the common cold if used within 24 hours of the symptoms appearing. Experts say more research is needed to determine the dose.

Not having enough zinc in our bodies can slow growth, interfere with our ability to reproduce, lower our immunity and interfere with our sense of smell. Read the news release Realistic exposure study supports the use of zinc oxide nanoparticle sunscreens. Read about citizen scientist Gladys Reid and her efforts to prevent facial eczema. The National Institutes of Health website has a zinc health information fact sheet. LiveScience Facts about zinc has information about the role of zinc in human reproduction.

Glossary Group A vertical column in the periodic table. Fact box. Group 12 Melting point Glossary Image explanation Murray Robertson is the artist behind the images which make up Visual Elements. Appearance The description of the element in its natural form.

Biological role The role of the element in humans, animals and plants. Natural abundance Where the element is most commonly found in nature, and how it is sourced commercially. Uses and properties. Image explanation. An alchemical symbol for zinc is against an abstract background inspired by zinc roofing materials.

A silvery-white metal with a blue tinge. It tarnishes in air. Most zinc is used to galvanise other metals, such as iron, to prevent rusting.

Galvanised steel is used for car bodies, street lamp posts, safety barriers and suspension bridges. Large quantities of zinc are used to produce die-castings, which are important in the automobile, electrical and hardware industries. Zinc is also used in alloys such as brass, nickel silver and aluminium solder. Zinc oxide is widely used in the manufacture of very many products such as paints, rubber, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastics, inks, soaps, batteries, textiles and electrical equipment.

Zinc sulfide is used in making luminous paints, fluorescent lights and x-ray screens. Biological role. Zinc is essential for all living things, forming the active site in over 20 metallo-enzymes. The average human body contains about 2. Some foods have above average levels of zinc, including herring, beef, lamb, sunflower seeds and cheese. Zinc can be carcinogenic in excess. Natural abundance. Zinc is found in several ores, the principal ones being zinc blende zinc sulfide and calamine zinc silicate.

The principal mining areas are in China, Australia and Peru. Commercially, zinc is obtained from its ores by concentrating and roasting the ore, then reducing it to zinc by heating with carbon or by electrolysis.

World production is more than 11 million tonnes a year. Help text not available for this section currently. Elements and Periodic Table History. Zinc was known to the Romans but rarely used. It was first recognised as a metal in its own right in India and the waste from a zinc smelter at Zawar, in Rajasthan, testifies to the large scale on which it was refined during the period to the Zinc refining in China was carried out on a large scale by the s.

An East India Company ship which sank off the coast of Sweden in was carrying a cargo of Chinese zinc and analysis of reclaimed ingots showed them to be almost the pure metal. In , a Flemish metallurgist, P. Moras de Respour, reported the extraction of metallic zinc from zinc oxide, but as far as Europe was concerned zinc was discovered by the German chemist Andreas Marggraf in , and indeed he was the first to recognise it as a new metal.

Atomic data. Glossary Common oxidation states The oxidation state of an atom is a measure of the degree of oxidation of an atom. Oxidation states and isotopes. Glossary Data for this section been provided by the British Geological Survey. Relative supply risk An integrated supply risk index from 1 very low risk to 10 very high risk.

Recycling rate The percentage of a commodity which is recycled. Substitutability The availability of suitable substitutes for a given commodity. Reserve distribution The percentage of the world reserves located in the country with the largest reserves. Political stability of top producer A percentile rank for the political stability of the top producing country, derived from World Bank governance indicators. Political stability of top reserve holder A percentile rank for the political stability of the country with the largest reserves, derived from World Bank governance indicators.

Supply risk. Relative supply risk 4. Young's modulus A measure of the stiffness of a substance. Shear modulus A measure of how difficult it is to deform a material. Bulk modulus A measure of how difficult it is to compress a substance. Vapour pressure A measure of the propensity of a substance to evaporate.

Pressure and temperature data — advanced. Listen to Zinc Podcast Transcript :. You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World , the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry. This week the chemical behind calamine lotion for itchy skin, anti dandruff shampoo for a flaky scalp and underarm deodorant for - well, I think we've probably all stood next to someone whom we wish knew a bit more about the chemistry of zinc.

Here's Brian Clegg. There aren't many elements with names that are onomatopoeic. Say 'oxygen' or 'iodine' and there is no clue in the sound of the word to the nature of the element. But zinc is different. Zinc - zinc - zinc - you can almost hear a set of coins falling into an old fashioned bath. It just has to be a hard metal. In use, Zinc is often hidden away, almost secretive.

It stops iron rusting, soothes sunburn, keeps dandruff at bay, combines with copper to make a very familiar gold-coloured alloy and keeps us alive, but we hardly notice it. This blue-grey metal, known commercially as spelter, is anything but flashy and attention-grabbing. This white powder shows up in everything from sunscreens to solar cells to nuclear reactors, where it helps prevent corrosion. Zinc also has a role in health.

It's an essential mineral that keeps the body's enzymes humming. Zinc deficiency can slow growth and hamper the immune system, according to the National Institutes of Health. Some of the weirdest side effects of zinc deficiency involve abnormalities of smell and taste, because the metal is crucial to these processes.

Zinc's role in life can't be understated. In fact, the element appears to be a crucial component of the meeting between sperm and egg. A December video , published alongside a study in the journal Nature Chemistry, shows the fireworks of fertilization as an egg releases "sparks" of zinc after enveloping a sperm.

Researchers are still exploring this phenomenon, but they have discovered that without the zinc eruptions, the egg cannot develop. Zinc "might even be working as a master switch to tell the cell when to divide," study co-author Thomas O'Halloran, a chemist at Northwestern University in Chicago, told Live Science.

Cells typically concentrate zinc until there are about as many zinc atoms in the cell as there are base pairs in the organisms' genome, O'Halloran said.