Editing Cadmium (section)

==History==
[[File:Friedrich Stromeyer.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Friedrich Stromeyer]]]]
Cadmium ([[Latin]] ''cadmia'', [[Greek language|Greek]] ''καδμεία'' meaning "[[Calamine (mineral)|calamine]]", a cadmium-bearing mixture of minerals that was named after the Greek mythological character Κάδμος, [[Cadmus]], the founder of [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]]) was [[discovery of the chemical elements|discovered]] in contaminated zinc compounds sold in pharmacies in Germany<ref name="Roloff">{{cite journal | journal =Journal des practischen Arzneykunde und Wundarzneykunst (Hufelands Journal) | url = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011938910&view=1up&seq=224 | issue= 2 Februar Stück| pages = 110| title = Wichtige Nachricht für Aerzte und Apoteker – Entdeckung eines Arsenikgehalts in der Zinkblume und des Zinkvitriols in Tartarus vitriolis| last = Rolof|year = 1795}}</ref> in 1817 by [[Friedrich Stromeyer]].<ref>

{{cite journal
 |last=Hermann |first=C. S.
 |date=1818
 |title=Noch ein schreiben über das neue Metall
 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k150680/f125.chemindefer
 |journal=[[Annalen der Physik]]
 |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=113–116
 |bibcode=1818AnP....59..113H
 |doi=10.1002/andp.18180590511
}}</ref> [[Karl Samuel Leberecht Hermann]] simultaneously investigated the discoloration in zinc oxide and found an impurity, first suspected to be [[arsenic]], because of the yellow precipitate with [[hydrogen sulfide]]. Additionally Stromeyer discovered that one supplier sold zinc carbonate instead of zinc oxide.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Stromeyer found the new element as an impurity in [[zinc carbonate]] (calamine), and, for 100 years, Germany remained the only important producer of the metal. The metal was named after the Latin word for calamine, because it was found in this zinc ore. Stromeyer noted that some impure samples of calamine changed color when heated but pure calamine did not. He was persistent in studying these results and eventually isolated cadmium metal by [[Roasting (metallurgy)|roasting]] and reducing the [[cadmium sulfide|sulfide]]. The potential for cadmium yellow as pigment was recognized in the 1840s, but the early scarcity of cadmium limited this application.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1=Waterston |first1=W.
 |last2=Burton |first2=J. H.
 |date=1844
 |title=Cyclopædia of commerce, mercantile law, finance, commercial geography and navigation
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84VAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA122
 |page=122
 |publisher=[[H. G. Bohn]]
 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last1=Rowbotham |first1=T.
 |last2=Rowbotham |first2=T. L.
 |date=1850
 |title=The Art of Landscape Painting in Water Colours
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-cHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA10
 |page=10
 |publisher=Windsor and Newton
 }}</ref><ref name="Cadold">
{{cite book
 |last1=Ayres |first1=R. U.
 |last2=Ayres |first2=L.
 |last3=Råde |first3=I.
 |date=2003
 |title=The Life Cycle of Copper, Its Co-Products and Byproducts
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGHOz1G3AqwC&pg=PA135
 |pages=135–141
 |publisher=[[Springer (publisher)|Springer]]
 |isbn=978-1-4020-1552-6
}}</ref>

Even though cadmium and its compounds are toxic in certain forms and concentrations, the [[British Pharmaceutical Codex]] from 1907 states that [[cadmium iodide]] was used as a [[medication]] to treat "enlarged joints, [[scrofulous]] glands, and [[chilblains]]".<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Dunglison |first=R.
 |date=1866
 |title=Medical Lexicon: A Dictionary of Medical Science
 |url=https://archive.org/details/medicallexicona02dunggoog
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/medicallexicona02dunggoog/page/n162 159]
 |publisher=[[Henry C. Lea]]
 }}</ref>

In 1907, the [[International Astronomical Union]] defined the international [[ångström]] in terms of a red cadmium spectral line (1 wavelength = 6438.46963&nbsp;Å).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thesciencedictionary.org/international-angstrom/ |title=International Angstrom |website=Science Dictionary |date=2013-09-14 |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118101806/http://thesciencedictionary.org/international-angstrom/ |archive-date=18 November 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sizes.com/units/angstrom.htm |title=angstrom or ångström |website=Sizes.com |date=2010-10-28 |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709193325/https://www.sizes.com/units/angstrom.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> This was adopted by the 7th [[General Conference on Weights and Measures]] in 1927. In 1960, the definitions of both the [[metre]] and ångström were changed to use [[krypton]].<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last=Burdun |first=G. D.
 |date=1958
 |title=On the new determination of the meter
 |journal=Measurement Techniques
 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=259–264
 |doi=10.1007/BF00974680
|bibcode=1958MeasT...1..259B
 |s2cid=121450003
 }}</ref>

After the industrial scale production of cadmium started in the 1930s and 1940s, the major application of cadmium was the coating of iron and steel to prevent corrosion; in 1944, 62% and in 1956, 59% of the cadmium in the United States was used for [[plating]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="YB1956">
{{cite book
|last=Lansche |first=A. M.
|date=1956
|chapter=Cadmium
|title=Minerals Yearbook, Volume I: Metals and Minerals (Except Fuels)
|chapter-url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/EcoNatRes/EcoNatRes-idx?type=turn&entity=EcoNatRes.MinYB1956v1.p0289&id=EcoNatRes.MinYB1956v1&isize=XL&q1=cadmium
|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]
|access-date=21 April 2008
}}</ref> In 1956, 24% of the cadmium in the United States was used for a second application in red, orange and yellow pigments from sulfides and selenides of cadmium.<ref name="YB1956" />

The stabilizing effect of cadmium chemicals like the carboxylates cadmium laurate and cadmium stearate on [[polyvinyl chloride|PVC]] led to an increased use of those compounds in the 1970s and 1980s. The demand for cadmium in pigments, coatings, stabilizers, and alloys declined as a result of environmental and health regulations in the 1980s and 1990s; in 2006, only 7% of total cadmium consumption was used for plating, and only 10% was used for pigments.<ref name="ReferenceA" />
At the same time, these decreases in consumption were compensated by a growing demand for cadmium for nickel–cadmium batteries, which accounted for 81% of the cadmium consumption in the United States in 2006.<!--The overall consumption of cadmium has decreased by more than 90% from the 1970s till 2008.--><ref name="usgs">{{cite web
 |url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cadmium/
 |title=USGS Mineral Information: Cadmium
 |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]
 |access-date=8 August 2009
 |archive-date=9 January 2019
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109055157/https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cadmium/
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref>