Nickel was discovered in 1751. However long before that Saxon miners were familiar with the rock which resembled the Copper ore and was of value for colouring glass green. All attempts to separate Copper from it failed. That was the reason why in the end of 18th century this ore was named German word "kupfernickel" meaning Devil's copper or St Nicholas's (Old Nick's) copper. In 1751, Swedish mineralogist Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt was attempting to extract copper from kupfernickel (now called niccolite), and obtained instead a white metal that he called nickel. When Bergman isolated purified nickel, he found out that it is a metal with properties close to Iron. Since that time nickel was the research object for all chemists starting from Proust.
Nickel is miners' swear-word. It originated from Nicolaus and bears various meanings, such as a double-faced man or goblin. |
Nickel is deposited in the depth of the Earth. Its concentration in ultrabasic mantle layers is 0.2%. Most of the nickel on Earth is postulated to be concentrated in the Earth's core. Average Earth abundance is approximately 3%. The crustal abundance is 5.8x10-3%, mostly in deep basaltic layer. Nickel is associated with Iron and Magnesium, intercrystallised in their ores because of the same valence (II) and ionic radii. 53 nickel minerals are known, most of them originated at high temperatures and under high pressure from magma or hot water solutions. Nickel deposits are associated with magma and residual soil. Workable deposits (sulphide ores) consist of nickel and copper ores. Nickel is not abundant in the surface waters and biological substances. It is abundant in the soil of the areas rich by ultrabasic rocks.
Nickel plays a significant biological role as an important microelement. Its concentrations are: 5.0x10-5% in plants, 1.0x10-5% in organisms of terrestrial animals and 1.6x10-5% in sea creatures. Nickel is found in liver, skin and endocrine glands; it is deposited in keratinous tissues such as feathers. In fact arginase contains nickel. It is an important part of oxidizing process as well as some enzymatic reactions in plants. |