Zinc 

is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle

metal at room temperature and has a silvery-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is
the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic table. In some respects, zinc is chemically similar
to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn2+ and
Mg2+ ions are of similar size.[note 1] Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in Earth's crust and has
five stable isotopes. The most common zinc ore is sphalerite (zinc blende), a zinc sulfide mineral.
The largest workable lodes are in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Zinc is refined by froth
flotation of the ore, roasting, and final extraction using electricity (electrowinning).
Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc in various proportions, was used as early as the third
millennium BC in the Aegean area and the region which currently includes Iraq, the United Arab
Emirates, Kalmykia, Turkmenistan and Georgia. In the second millennium BC it was used in the
regions currently including West India, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Israel.[3][4]
[5]
 Zinc metal was not produced on a large scale until the 12th century in India, though it was
known to the ancient Romans and Greeks.[6] The mines of Rajasthan have given definite evidence
of zinc production going back to the 6th century BC.[7] To date, the oldest evidence of pure zinc
comes from Zawar, in Rajasthan, as early as the 9th century AD when a distillation process was
employed to make pure zinc.[8] Alchemists burned zinc in air to form what they called
"philosopher's wool" or "white snow".
The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German
word Zinke (prong, tooth). German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is credited with
discovering pure metallic zinc in 1746. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta uncovered
the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800. Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of iron (hot-dip
galvanizing) is the major application for zinc. Other applications are in electrical batteries, small
non-structural castings, and alloys such as brass. A variety of zinc compounds are commonly
used, such as zinc carbonate and zinc gluconate (as dietary supplements), zinc chloride (in
deodorants), zinc pyrithione (anti-dandruff shampoos), zinc sulfide (in luminescent paints),
and dimethylzinc or diethylzinc in the organic laboratory.
Zinc is an essential mineral, necessary for prenatal and postnatal development.[9] Zinc
deficiency affects about two billion people in the developing world and is associated with many
diseases.[10] In children, deficiency causes growth retardation, delayed sexual maturation, infection
susceptibility, and diarrhea.[9] Enzymes with a zinc atom in the reactive center are widespread in
biochemistry, such as alcohol dehydrogenase in humans.[11] Consumption of excess zinc may
cause ataxia, lethargy, and copper deficiency.

Contents

 1Characteristics
o 1.1Physical properties
o 1.2Occurrence
o 1.3Isotopes
 2Compounds and chemistry
o 2.1Reactivity
o 2.2Zinc(I) compounds
o 2.3Zinc(II) compounds
o 2.4Test for zinc
 3History
o 3.1Ancient use
o 3.2Early studies and naming
o 3.3Isolation
o 3.4Later work
 4Production
o 4.1Mining and processing
 o 4.2Environmental impact
 5Applications
o 5.1Anti-corrosion and batteries
o 5.2Alloys
o 5.3Other industrial uses
o 5.4Organic chemistry
o 5.5Dietary supplement
 5.5.1Gastroenteritis
 5.5.2Common cold
 5.5.3Weight gain
 5.5.4Other
o 5.6Topical use
 6Biological role
o 6.1Enzymes
o 6.2Signalling
o 6.3Other proteins
o 6.4Nutrition
 6.4.1Dietary recommendations
 6.4.2Dietary intake
o 6.5Deficiency
o 6.6Soil remediation
o 6.7Agriculture
 7Precautions
o 7.1Toxicity
o 7.2Poisoning
 8See also
 9Notes
 10Citations
 11Bibliography
 12External links

Characteristics[edit]
Physical properties[edit]
Zinc is a bluish-white, lustrous, diamagnetic metal,[12] though most common commercial grades of
the metal have a dull finish.[13] It is somewhat less dense than iron and has a hexagonal crystal
structure, with a distorted form of hexagonal close packing, in which each atom has six nearest
neighbors (at 265.9 pm) in its own plane and six others at a greater distance of 290.6 pm.[14] The
metal is hard and brittle at most temperatures but becomes malleable between 100 and 150 °C.[12]
[13]
 Above 210 °C, the metal becomes brittle again and can be pulverized by beating.[15] Zinc is a
fair conductor of electricity.[12] For a metal, zinc has relatively low melting (419.5 °C) and boiling
points (907 °C).[16] The melting point is the lowest of all the d-block metals aside
from mercury and cadmium; for this reason among others, zinc, cadmium, and mercury are often
not considered to be transition metals like the rest of the d-block metals.[16]
Many alloys contain zinc, including brass. Other metals long known to form binary alloys with zinc
are aluminium, antimony, bismuth, gold, iron, lead, mercury, silver, tin, magnesium, cobalt, nickel, 
tellurium, and sodium.[17] Although neither zinc nor zirconium is ferromagnetic, their alloy ZrZn
2 exhibits ferromagnetism below 35 K.
[12]

Occurrence[edit]
See also: Zinc minerals
Zinc makes up about 75 ppm (0.0075%) of Earth's crust, making it the 24th most abundant
element. Typical background concentrations of zinc do not exceed 1 μg/m3 in the atmosphere;
300 mg/kg in soil; 100 mg/kg in vegetation; 20 μg/L in freshwater and 5 μg/L in seawater.[18] The
element is normally found in association with other base metals such as copper and lead in ores.
[19]
 Zinc is a chalcophile, meaning the element is more likely to be found in minerals together
with sulfur and other heavy chalcogens, rather than with the light chalcogen oxygen or with non-
chalcogen electronegative elements such as the halogens. Sulfides formed as the crust solidified
under the reducing conditions of the early Earth's atmosphere.[20] Sphalerite, which is a form of
zinc sulfide, is the most heavily mined zinc-containing ore because its concentrate contains 60–
62% zinc.[19]
Other source minerals for zinc
include smithsonite (zinc carbonate), hemimorphite (zinc silicate), wurtzite (another zinc sulfide),
and sometimes hydrozincite (basic zinc carbonate).[21] With the exception of wurtzite, all these
other minerals were formed by weathering of the primordial zinc sulfides.[20]
Identified world zinc resources total about 1.9–2.8 billion tonnes.[22][23] Large deposits are in
Australia, Canada and the United States, with the largest reserves in Iran.[20][24][25] The most recent
estimate of reserve base for zinc (meets specified minimum physical criteria related to current
mining and production practices) was made in 2009 and calculated to be roughly 480 Mt.[26] Zinc
reserves, on the other hand, are geologically identified ore bodies whose suitability for recovery is
economically based (location, grade, quality, and quantity) at the time of determination. Since
exploration and mine development is an ongoing process, the amount of zinc reserves is not a
fixed number and sustainability of zinc ore supplies cannot be judged by simply extrapolating the
combined mine life of today's zinc mines. This concept is well supported by data from the United
States Geological Survey (USGS), which illustrates that although refined zinc production
increased 80% between 1990 and 2010, the reserve lifetime for zinc has remained unchanged.
About 346 million tonnes have been extracted throughout history to 2002, and scholars have
estimated that about 109–305 million tonnes are in use.[27][28][29]

Sphalerite (ZnS)

Isotopes[edit]
Main article: Isotopes of zinc
Five stable isotopes of zinc occur in nature, with 64Zn being the most abundant isotope
(49.17% natural abundance).[30][31] The other isotopes found in nature are 66
Zn (27.73%), 67
Zn (4.04%), 68
Zn (18.45%), and 70
Zn (0.61%).[31]
Several dozen radioisotopes have been characterized. 65
Zn, which has a half-life of 243.66 days, is the least active radioisotope, followed by 72
Zn with a half-life of 46.5 hours.[30] Zinc has 10 nuclear isomers. 69mZn has the longest half-life,
13.76 h.[30] The superscript m indicates a metastable isotope. The nucleus of a metastable isotope
is in an excited state and will return to the ground state by emitting a photon in the form of
a gamma ray. 61
Zn has three excited metastable states and 73
Zn has two.[32] The isotopes 65
Zn, 71
Zn, 77
Zn and 78
Zn each have only one excited metastable state.[30]
The most common decay mode of a radioisotope of zinc with a mass number lower than 66
is electron capture. The decay product resulting from electron capture is an isotope of copper.[30]
n

30Zn
 + 
e−
 → n
29Cu

The most common decay mode of a radioisotope of zinc with mass number higher than 66
is beta decay (β−), which produces an isotope of gallium.[30]
n

30Zn
 → n
31Ga

 + 
e−
 + 
ν
e

Compounds and chemistry[edit]

Main article: Compounds of zinc

Reactivity[edit]
See also: Clemmensen reduction
Zinc has an electron configuration of [Ar]3d104s2 and is a member of the group 12 of
the periodic table. It is a moderately reactive metal and strong reducing agent.[33] The
surface of the pure metal tarnishes quickly, eventually forming a
protective passivating layer of the basic zinc carbonate, Zn
5(OH)

6(CO3)

2, by reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide.

[34]

Zinc burns in air with a bright bluish-green flame, giving off fumes of zinc oxide.[35] Zinc
reacts readily with acids, alkalis and other non-metals.[36] Extremely pure zinc reacts only
slowly at room temperature with acids.[35] Strong acids, such as hydrochloric or sulfuric
acid, can remove the passivating layer and the subsequent reaction with the acid
releases hydrogen gas.[35]
The chemistry of zinc is dominated by the +2 oxidation state. When compounds in this
oxidation state are formed, the outer shell s electrons are lost, yielding a bare zinc ion
with the electronic configuration [Ar]3d10.[37] In aqueous solution an octahedral
complex, [Zn(H
2O)6]
2+

 is the predominant species.[38] The volatilization of zinc in combination with zinc chloride

at temperatures above 285 °C indicates the formation of Zn
2Cl

2, a zinc compound with a +1 oxidation state.  No compounds of zinc in positive

[35]

oxidation states other than +1 or +2 are known.[39] Calculations indicate that a zinc

compound with the oxidation state of +4 is unlikely to exist.[40] Zn(III) is predicted to exist
in the presence of strongly electronegative trianions;[41] however, there exists some doubt
around this possibility.[42] But in 2021 another compound was reported with more evidence
that had the oxidation state of +3 with the formula ZnBeB11(CN)12.[43]
Zinc chemistry is similar to the chemistry of the late first-row transition metals, nickel and
copper, though it has a filled d-shell and compounds are diamagnetic and mostly
colorless.[44] The ionic radii of zinc and magnesium happen to be nearly identical.
Because of this some of the equivalent salts have the same crystal structure,[45] and in
other circumstances where ionic radius is a determining factor, the chemistry of zinc has
much in common with that of magnesium.[35] In other respects, there is little similarity with
the late first-row transition metals. Zinc tends to form bonds with a greater degree
of covalency and much more stable complexes with N- and S- donors.[44] Complexes of
zinc are mostly 4- or 6- coordinate, although 5-coordinate complexes are known.[35]

Zinc(I) compounds[edit]
Zinc(I) compounds are very rare. The [Zn2]2+ ion is implicated by the formation of a yellow
diamagnetic glass by dissolving metallic zinc in molten ZnCl2.[46] The [Zn2]2+ core would be
analogous to the [Hg2]2+ cation present in mercury(I) compounds. The diamagnetic nature
of the ion confirms its dimeric structure. The first zinc(I) compound containing the Zn–Zn
bond, (η5-C5Me5)2Zn2.

Zinc(II) compounds[edit]

Zinc acetate

Zinc chloride

Binary compounds of zinc are known for most of the metalloids and all

the nonmetals except the noble gases. The oxide ZnO is a white powder that is nearly
insoluble in neutral aqueous solutions, but is amphoteric, dissolving in both strong basic
and acidic solutions.[35] The other chalcogenides (ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnTe) have varied
applications in electronics and optics.[47] Pnictogenides (Zn
3N

2, Zn

3P

2, Zn

3As

2 and Zn

3Sb

2),  the peroxide (ZnO

[48][49]

2), the hydride (ZnH

2), and the carbide (ZnC

2) are also known.  Of the four halides, ZnF

[50]
2 has the most ionic character, while the others (ZnCl
2, ZnBr
2, and ZnI

2) have relatively low melting points and are considered to have more covalent character.
[51]

In weak basic solutions containing Zn2+

 ions, the hydroxide Zn(OH)
2 forms as a white precipitate. In stronger alkaline solutions, this hydroxide is dissolved to

form zincates ([Zn(OH)4]2−

).[35] The nitrate Zn(NO3)
2, chlorate Zn(ClO 3)

2, sulfate ZnSO

4, phosphate Zn

3(PO4)

2, molybdate ZnMoO

4, cyanide Zn(CN)

2, arsenite Zn(AsO2)

2, arsenate Zn(AsO4)

2·8H

2O and the chromate ZnCrO

4 (one of the few colored zinc compounds) are a few examples of other common

inorganic compounds of zinc.[52][53]

Organozinc compounds are those that contain zinc–carbon covalent bonds. Diethylzinc
((C
2H5)

2Zn) is a reagent in synthetic chemistry. It was first reported in 1848 from the reaction of

zinc and ethyl iodide, and was the first compound known to contain a metal–
carbon sigma bond.[54]
Test for zinc[edit]
Cobalticyanide paper (Rinnmann's test for Zn) can be used as a chemical indicator for
zinc. 4 g of K3Co(CN)6 and 1 g of KClO3 is dissolved on 100 ml of water. Paper is dipped
in the solution and dried at 100 °C. One drop of the sample is dropped onto the dry paper
and heated. A green disc indicates the presence of zinc.[55]

History[edit]
Ancient use