Facts about Cobalt

Cobalt in small amounts is essential to many living organisms, including humans.

The radioactive isotope cobalt-60 (Co-60 or 60Co) is used in radiotherapy.

In 1938, John Livingood and Glenn Seaborg discovered the radioisotope cobalt-60.

Naturally occurring cobalt is composed of one stable isotope, 59Co.

Cobalt compounds are used in the production of inks, paints, and varnishes.

Metallic cobalt commonly presents a mixture of two crystallographic structures: "hcp" and "fcc."

The world's major producers of cobalt are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China, Zambia, Russia, and Australia.

Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to glass, glazes, and ceramics.

The word cobalt is derived from the German kobalt, from kobold meaning "goblin."

Cobalt is frequently associated with nickel, and both are characteristic ingredients of meteoric iron.

Cobalt(II) salts form the red-pink 2+ complex in aqueous solution.

Cobalt is not found as a free metal but is generally found in the form of ores.

Cobalt-60 is useful as a gamma-ray source partially because it can be produced—in known quantity and large amounts—by simply exposing natural cobalt to neutrons in a reactor for a given time.

Ingestion of 60Co leads to incorporation of some cobalt into tissues, which is released very slowly.

Swedish chemist Georg Brandt (1694–1768) is credited with isolating cobalt sometime between 1730 and 1737.

In chemistry, cobalt is a member of a group of transition metals.

The +2 and +3 oxidation states are most prevalent, but cobalt(I) complexes are also fairly common.

Cobalt (chemical symbol Co, atomic number 27) is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal.

Cobalt is a central component of the vitamin cobalamin, or vitamin B-12.

Powdered cobalt in metal form is a fire hazard.

The isotopes of cobalt range in atomic weight from 50 amu (50Co) to 73 amu (73Co).

Such a weapon is sometimes called a dirty bomb or cobalt bomb, which a leading scientist predicted as being capable of wiping out all life on earth.

During the nineteenth century, cobalt blue was produced at the Norwegian Blaafarvevжrket (70-80 percent of world production), led by the Prussian industrialist Benjamin Wegner.

Cobalt compounds should be handled with care due to cobalt's slight toxicity.

Miners used this term for the ore of cobalt, because they thought it worthless and found that it was poisonous and degraded other mined elements.

Like iron, cobalt can be magnetized and converted into a permanent magnet.

The presence of 0.13 to 0.30 mg/kg of cobalt in soils markedly improves the health of grazing animals.