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Zinc

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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Zn

Atomic Number: 30

Atomic Weight: 65.38(2) g/mol

Isotopes and Abundances: Five stable isotopes: 64Zn, 49.17(75)%; 66Zn, 27.73(98)%; 67Zn, 4.04(16)%; 68Zn, 18.45(63)%; 70Zn, 0.61(10)%

1 Atm Melting Point: 419.6 °C

1 Atm Boiling Point: 907 °C

Common Valences: +2

Ionic Radii: 60 pm (4-fold) and 0.74 pm (6-fold)

Pauling Electronegativity: 1.65

First Ionization Energy: 906.4 kJ mol−1

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 312 ppm

Silicate Earth Abundance: 55 ppm

Crustal Abundance: 70 ppm

Seawater Abundance: 35 ppb

Core Abundance: <5 ppm (?)

Properties

Zinc is a bluish-white, rather soft metal. Zinc has atomic number 30 and is the first of the group IIB elements in the periodic table. It has atomic mass 65.38(2) g/mol, density 7.14 g/cm3; its melting point of 419.6 °C is the lowest melting point of any transition metal aside from the other group IIB elements, Hg and Cd.

History and Use

Isolated examples of the use of impure zinc in ancient times have been...

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Correspondence to Joël Brugger .

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Brugger, J. (2018). Zinc. In: White, W.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_212

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