Who Discovered Sulfur

There are some unanswered questions regarding the discovery of sulfur. The truth is shrouded in the annals of history that a concrete and reliable origin of sulfur's use cannot be safely pointed out. Still, this article does its best to provide you information about the person responsible for discovering sulfur and when it was discovered.

Facts About Sulfur

Sulfur carries atomic number 16, with symbol S, and can be categorized as a non-metal element. In its pure element form, it is found to be made of lemon yellow crystals. Sulfide and sulfate minerals which are a rich source of sulfur, commonly occur underground. Countries like United States, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Canada, etc. are the major producers of sulfur. Also known as brimstone, it is commercially utilized in making fungicides, insecticides, gunpowder and matches. As sulfuric acid is the main byproduct of sulfur, it is primarily used in making fertilizers, petroleum industry, making storage batteries, and so on. Other sulfuric acid uses include making explosives, in paper and plastic industry, copper ore treatment, etc.

Discovery of Sulfur

The word sulfur is believed to be taken from Sanskrit sulvere. The natives of Campania, an ancient country which included Vesuvius containing rich sulfur deposits, called it sulpur in Latin and hence the name. The primitive man used sulfur to hone his artistic skills on the walls of the caves. This is because of its quality of illuminating in the dark. Sulfur even has biblical references as quoted by The Book Of Genesis where it has been specifically cited that God punished evildoers in Sodom and Gomorrah by raining brimstone (ancient name of sulfur) and fire upon them. In Egyptians religious ceremonies, sulfur played a significant role and was also used for its medicinal properties particularly for treating granular eyelids.

Even though the usage of sulfur was quite prevalent among the alchemists circle since time immemorial, it was in the year 1777, when Antoine Lavoisier an investor and administer of a bank in France, convinced the world at large that sulfur is not a compound but an element. When burned, sulfur melts down into red color liquid. It's not surprising that Romans and Greeks were fascinated by this yellowish crystal stone and used it for igniting a blue flame and for the fireworks displays in their circuses and carnivals. During 6th century B. C. in Zhou dynasty, Chinese called the natural form of sulfur as shiliuhuang and were curious about flammable properties particularly its reactions of other metals. In Confucian era, they figured it out that by mixing potassium nitrate, charcoal along with sulfur, the resultant product was gunpowder which was packed into bamboo tubes, to be used as a primitive flame thrower.

With the advent of Industrial Revolution, the demand for sulfur increased tremendously across the world, especially in the European continent. Since the ores of sulfur in its pure form are a scarcity, the sulfide, sulfate ores are extracted through a process called Frasch process which enabled the miners to drill through the exterior surface to reach to the sulfur deposits. Sulfuric acid, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, etc. made up for the dearth of sulfur. In United States, almost 90% of the sulfur production is converted into sulfuric acid because of its widespread industrial and agricultural usage.

The credit for discovering sulfur is given to Hennig Brand (1669) and it was identified by Antoine Lavoisier in 1777. But scholars believe that no single person was responsible for discovering this non-metallic element because it has been used since ancient times for alchemy and other purposes.