![]() COBALT WAS NAMED AFTER SUBTERRANEAN GERMAN GOBLINS.Ĭenturies ago, miners in the mountains of Germany had a great deal of trouble trying to melt down certain ores for useful metals like silver and copper, and even dealt with poisonous fumes released from the rock, which could make them very sick or even kill them. The only mine in the world where it's the primary product is in Morocco. COBALT MAY NOT BE RARE, BUT IT IS VALUABLE.ĭespite being relatively common, it's considered a critical raw material by the European Union because there are few places where it's abundant enough to be mined in larger quantities. Though you can find cobalt just about everywhere-in the soil, in mineral deposits, and even in crusts on the seafloor-it's always combined with other elements like nickel, copper, iron, or arsenic, such as in the bright crimson arsenate mineral erythrite. It's usually collected as a byproduct of mining for other metals-especially nickel and copper-and, once purified, is a burnished gray color. PURE COBALT DOES NOT NATURALLY EXIST ON EARTH. Here are ten curious facts about this element. With its 27 protons, cobalt is sandwiched between iron and nickel in the middle portion of the periodic table with the other "transition" metals, which bridge the main group elements located on either side. We've used it for millennia, even before the common era, but it didn't get proper credit until the 18th century. ![]() How well do you know the periodic table? Our series The Elements explores the fundamental building blocks of the observable universe-and their relevance to your life-one by one.Ĭobalt hides out in everyday objects and happenings around us, from batteries and blue paint to medical procedures.
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