Discovery Of Calcium Research Paper

History of Calcium- Calcium is a very interesting element that has a lot to tell about itself. There is much history to be learned about calcium. Calcium was actually discovered by Humphry Davy in 1808. Calcium’s name happens to come from the latin ‘calx’ meaning lime. Lime (calcium oxide, CaO) was a useful material that was created by heating limestone. Before the discovery of calcium, a man named Antoine Lavoisier classified the lime as “earth” because it was very difficult, almost impossible to reduce it further, he felt that it was the oxide of an unknown element. But in 1808, that is when Humphry Davy tried to reduce moist lime by a process called electrolysis. Humphry Davy tried the same process again but this time with
Calcium was put to good use, after it’s discovery , for centuries it was used to make plaster and mortar [Emsley]. Besides the creation and some of the many uses of calcium, the element has much to tell about it’s family and classification. Calcium happens to be apart of the Alkali Earth Metals. The element has 20 electrons, 20 protons, and the number of neutrons in the most abundant isotope is 20. The element belongs to period number 4, and is apart of group number 2, and out of there being non-metals, metals, and metalloids, calcium happens to be a metal[Emsley].

Characteristics of Calcium-

Calcium has much to tell about it’s history and family, but there is also a lot to know about the element’s characteristics. Calcium is actually reactive and, for a metal it is soft, and with some effort you can actually cut it with a sharp knife. The metal has a silver color, it is soft but hard, and is prepared by electrolysis of fused chloride and calcium fluoride-this is done to lower the melting point[Emsley]. The Atomic weight of this element is 40.078 and
Calcium can be found in many places he universe, sun, oceans, humans, etc. Calcium is a metallic element that happens to be 5th in abundance in the earth’s crust( it forms more than 3%) [Alamos]. Calcium also happens to be an essential constituent of leaves, bones, teeth, and shells[nof]. Calcium was never found in nature uncombined, and occurs abundantly as limestone, gypsum, and fluorite [Alamos]. Since calcium is used as a reducing agent in preparing other metals, some examples are thorium, uranium, and zirconium, etc [Alamos]. Calcium is also used as a deoxidizer, desulfurizer, or decarburizer for various ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Calcium also happens to be an alloying agent for aluminum, beryllium, copper, lead, and magnesium alloys, and it also serves as a “getter” for residual gases in vacuum tubes, etc [Alamos]. All the uses calcium has are good to be used in the manufacturing and processing industries. Calcium is used in industries such as paper, plastic, agriculture, building and construction, and pharmaceutical [Sudip]. One major product calcium is used for is supplements. Calcium is a major supplement because calcium is a mineral that is necessary for life. Calcium is