Chemical Element: cadmium
(Modern Latin: chemical element; from Greek and Latin, cadmia, earthy or earth; metal)
Chemical-Element Information
Symbol: CdAtomic number: 48
Year discovered: 1817
Discovered by: Friedrich Strohmeyer (1776-1835), a German chemist.
- Cadmium was discovered by Friedrich Stromeyer in 1817 from an impurity in zinc carbonate.
- He analyzed a bottle in an apothecary’s shop that contained zinc caronate.
- He noted that these particular samples turned yellow when heated, while pure zinc carbonate does not.
- He was persistent enough to follow this observation through and he eventually isolated some cadmium metal.
- Storage batteries using cadmium as one element have much longer lives than those using lead elements; and they have other advantages with respect to weight and the ability to be stored in a discharged condition.
Name in other languages:
French: cadmium
German: Cadmium
Italian: cadmio
Spanish: cadmio
Information about other elements may be seen at this Chemical Elements List.
A special unit about words that include chemo-, chem- may be seen here.