Zinc
Zinc (Zn, Z=30)
- Date
- 1746 · confidence medium
- Place
- Berlin, Germany
- Credited to
- Andreas Sigismund Marggraf
- People
- 👤 Andreas Sigismund Marggraf1709–1782
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Marggraf obtained metallic zinc by reducing calamine with charcoal in closed vessels and recognised it as a distinct metal; in India (Zawar), zinc had been distilled since the 12th century.
Paracelsus had already called it 'zincum'; Champion patented its production in Bristol in 1738.
What it led to
- Galvanising of steel
- The Voltaic pile (zinc-copper)
- Brass of controlled composition
Built on
- Zinc smelting by downward distillation (Zawar)c. century IX
- Zinc distillation at Zawar (India)
- Ancient brass
Made possible
- Voltaic pile1800
- Hot-dip galvanizing1836-1837
- Galvanisation