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  Home >> Inorganic Chemistry Dictionary >> Chromium, Close packing

Chromite
FeCr2O4, brownish-black mineral with the spinal structure used as a source of Cr and its compounds


Chromium
symbol Cr, a hard silvery transition element: a.n. 24; r.a.m. 52,000; r.d. 7.18; m.p. 1900°C; b.p. 2640°C. The main ore has been chromite (FeCr2O4). The metal is extracted by heating chromite with sodium chromate, from which chromium can be obtained by electrolysis. Alternatively, chromic can be heated with carbon in an electric furnace to give ferrochrome, which is used in making alloy steels. The metals is also used as a shiny decorative electroplated coating and in the manufacture of certain chromium compounds. The element was discovered in 1797 by Vauquelin.

Chromium (ii) oxide
a black insoluble powder, CrO which is prepared by oxidizing chromium amalgam with air. At high temperatures, hydrogen reduces it to the metal.

Chromium (III) oxide
chromic oxide, chromium sesquioxide, (Cr2O3), a green powder that is isomorphous with iron (III) oxide and aluminium (III) oxide.

Chromium (IV) oxide
(chromium dioxide, CrO2) a black solid which is prepared by heating chromium (III) hydroxide in oxygen at a temperature of 300°-350°C. Chromium (IV) oxide has been very unstable.

Chromium hydroxide
it seems unlikely that a true chromium (III) hydroxide exists but hydroxy complexes, e.g. [Cr(H2O)5OH]2+, [(H2O)4 Cr(m-OH)2 Cr(H2O)4]4+, are formed by addition of base to aquacomplexes and polymeric species and ultimately gels are formed by addition of further base.

Close packing
the arrangement of particles in crystals (solids) in which each particle has 12 nearest neighbours in such a way that 6 are in the same layer (or plane) as itself and three each in the layer above and below, e.g., cubic and hexagonal close packings.

Chromosomes
they are the bio-molecules that are stored in the nucleus of a cell. They are a mixture of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and protein. The nucleus stores the genetic information that enables the cell to replicate itself and to synthesize the various proteins that are needed for further biological activity.

Claude process
a process for the liquefication of air.

Cleavage
the splitting of a crystal along plants of atoms, to form smooth surfaces.
 
Cleveite
a variety of uraninite (UO225) containing up to 10% lanthanides and also appreciable quantities of He.

Cobalt
a transition metal occurring in Canada in association with nickel. It is used in alloys for magnets, cutting tools, and electrical heating elements.

Cobalt carbonate (CoCo3),
a bright red precipitate obtained by adding a solution of sodium bicarbonate saturated with carbon dioxide to a solution of a cobalt salt.\

Cobalt hydroxide [Co(OH)2]
obtained as a brownish black precipitate when cobalt slat solution is treated with sodium hypochloride or bleaching powder.

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