Who Discovered Calcium

The fifth most abundant element present in the Earth's crust, Calcium is found in nature in the form of various minerals including limestone, gypsum and fluorite. But who proved the existence of this mineral?..

Discovery of Calcium - Who Did it and When?

It was Sir Humphrey Davy, in the year 1808. He was a British chemist and an inventor. He made the discovery of Calcium by electrolyzing a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide. His studies based on electrolysis made way for him to discover magnesium, boron and barium, as well. Later he became a well-known public figure for electrolysis, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, barium, boron and Davy lamp.

Facts About Calcium

Calcium has an atomic number of 20 and an atomic mass of 40.078 amu (atomic mass unit) in the Mendeleev's periodic table, and this element derived its name from a Latin word, 'calcis', which means lime. Since calcium is found in the Earth's crust, it is characterized under the Group 2 elements of the periodic table, i.e., Alkaline Earth Metals. About 3.5% of the Earth's crust is composed of this metal and it is only found in living organisms.

Calcium has a cubical structure and it is a silvery, moderately hard metallic element. Its melting point is 1112.15°K (839.0 °C) and 1757.15 °K (1484.0 °C) is its boiling point.

After these few basic properties of Calcium, let's know about its different uses and applications.

The first use or you may call it need of calcium is for our body. Apart from its requirement for the growth and development of the bones, calcium is also required for keeping the muscles and the nerves working properly. It also helps blood clot and so also keeps a check on the various functions of the heart. Deficiency of this essential nutrient, as most of us must be aware of, invites bouts of illness and several medical conditions such as osteoporosis (brittle bones) and hypocalcemia (abnormally low level of calcium in the blood; associated with hypoparathyroidism or kidney malfunction or vitamin D deficiency).

The rigidity of the skeleton living beings is derived from Calcium and so eggs of birds and shells of mollusks are comprised calcium carbonate. Even for the growth of plants, this nutrient is needed, apart from the various other types.

Now let's come to the use of calcium in different industrial applications. Nonferrous alloys require cleansing and this is done with the help of calcium, as it has a strong affinity for oxygen and sulfur. For various ferrous and nonferrous alloys, it is employed as deoxidiser, desulphuriser and decarburiser. Apart from being used for hardening lead, it is used as an alloying agent for aluminum, beryllium, copper, lead and magnesium alloys. The making of substances like lime, bricks, cement, glass, paint, paper, sugar, glazes, etc., has Calcium as one of its prime constituents.

Various compounds of Calcium find their uses in several food, pharmaceutical and medical industries. You may find it common to find oyster shells as an important source for animal feeds, as these are rich sources of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A rich source of Calcium is milk and it is use for various food products in dairy industry. In pharmaceutical industries, calcium lactobionate is used as a white powder. This is considered to contain 4.94% of calcium.

Other common calcium compounds and their uses are as follows

• For bleaching paper pulp and textiles, calcium sulfate (CaSO3.2H2O) is used.
• Various flat paints comprise calcium metasilicate (CaO.SiO3). It is used for paper coatings, as a filler plastic or as a coating for welding rods and for electrical insulators.
• As a reinforcing agent in rubber, people make use of calcium silicate (CaO.SiO2).
• Dolomite is a popular calcium compound that is used as a flux in melting iron.

Various experiments involving the metal, when done, would help in presenting a physical interpretation of its properties. So, keep reading and learning more!