Chemical Element: chromium
(Modern Latin: chemical element; from Greek, chroma, color; because many of its compounds are colored; metal)
Chemical-element Information
Symbol: CrAtomic number: 24
Year discovered: 1797
Discovered by: Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin (1763-1829), a French chemist; Count Antoine-Fransois de Klein, French chemist; and René-Just Haüy (1743-1822), a French mineralogist.
- In a mid 18th century analysis of “red lead” (crocoite) from Siberia showed that it contained a great deal of lead, but there was also another material that was eventually identified as chromium oxide.
- Chromium oxide was discovered in 1797 by Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin, who produced the metal itself in the following year.
- Starting from crocoite, the procedure was to powder the mineral and to precipitate the lead out through its reaction with hydrochloric acid. The residue was chromium oxide.
- Heating this oxide in an oven resulted in the metal itself.
Name in other languages:
French: chrome
German: Chrom
Italian: cromo
Spanish: cromo
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.