Rough Draft of my Chemistry Paper (extremely slight edits after my teacher looked over it)

Prompt: The entire universe is composed of about 115 elements. Some are found naturally all around us while others are man-made. Yet many people know very little about these building blocks of matter. Your assignment for this project is to become the element. How does one do this? It actually requires very little... you will not morph into a little chunk of gold or vaporize into chlorine gas. Though that would be very cool! You simply need to write an autobiography and create a mini square about your chosen element. You are the element, telling your life history to the average person walking down the street. This means you will write in the first person.

Song: Shape of You - Ed Sheeran

P.s. Be honest, how many of you actually read that? ;)

~~~

Elemental Facts: An Autobiography of Nickel

     Hallå, (that means hello in Swedish), my name is Kupfernickel, but I am more commonly known as Nickel, or Ni. I am a transition metal, which means that I am one of 38 elements found in groups three through twelve on the periodic table (Bentor). The periodic table apartment complex is pretty congenial; in fact, you should come visit me sometime. I live in group ten, period four, letter block d ("Nickel"). You may see some of my neighbors and friends, Copper, Zinc, Cobalt, Mercury, Palladium, Iron, Magnesium, Silver, and Gold. They are all transition metals that share many similar interests with me such as ductility and malleability, conducting electricity and heat, and having valence electrons, or electrons used to combine with other elements, that are present in more than one shell (Bentor). Well enough of that, let me inform you of my appearance. I am a solid (at room temperature) that takes on a silver-like luster, well; more of a silvery-white with a trivial golden tint, but you understand what I am saying (Smith). So basically, I am extremely pretty, if I do say so myself, which I do. That said, as a neutral atom my atomic number is 28, which means that I carry 28 protons and electrons and my atomic mass is about 58.69 AMU (Lenntech).

     Axel Fredrik Cronstedt discovered me in 1751 while working at a place called Stockholm, researching a new mineral — now called nickeline — that originated from a mine located in Los, Hälsingland, Sweden ("Nickel"). Unfortunately, my adoptive father ended up dying eventually because he is human, but I still appreciate him finding me. He gave me my name, Nickel, in 1754, but it was not until 1775 that my pure form was produced by Tobern Bergman, the guy who confirmed my elemental nature ("Nickel"). Great scientists, those men were. I really like them, especially considering the fact that they are the reason the world knows about me. Although these two men are attributed to helping unearth me, there is a belief that during medieval times in Germany, miners tried to extract Copper from a red mineral with the look of Copper one (rock), but could not, so they named the mineral Nickel after a mischievous sprite of German mythology and Kupfer because it was the German word for Copper (Smith). Together, the two words form Kupfernickel, my full name. As cool as that all sounds, it gets even cooler. I came crashing down to earth with meteorites, one of which landed near Ontario, Canada, millions of years ago, making the region responsible for about 15% of me ("Nickel"). Now that is what I call making an entrance. Boo yah!

       Anyway, enough about scientists and history and whatnot, I want to talk a little more about myself. I have a density of about 8.9g/cm3, a melting point of about 2651° Fahrenheit, and a boiling point of about 5275° Fahrenheit ("Nickel"). I have other pretty cool properties too. I form a multitude of complex compounds, which are mostly blue or green, dissolve slowly in dilute acids, become passive when treated with nitric acid, and if I am finely divided I can absorb, get this, Hydrogen (Lenntech). Not only that, but I have many uses in everyday life, but ordinary people do not know.

      I go way back in many countries, so far back that I was written about. "Based on writings the alloy cupronickel is believed to have been used by the Chinese from 1400BC and exported to Britain in the 17th century" (Smith). I traveled from China all the way to Britain, which I believe is pretty darn far and pretty impressive. Now, many countries, including the United States and Canada, use transition metals like my friends (Gold, Silver, Copper, Zinc) and I to make coins (Kamberg 7). I am always alloyed with some other element to form them and am later distributed all over the world for people to use. In fact, at one point I was more commonly used in the making of coins, but due to the fact that some people have a Nickel skin allergy and some metals are cheaper, they do not use me as much (Smith). It is okay though; I still have many other uses. Plus, I am still alloyed with Copper to form the US five-cent coin called the "nickel"; I make up 25% of the coin and Copper makes up 75% of the coin ("Nickel"). I am not quite sure why I take on the name if Copper is more abundant in the coin than me, but Copper is fine with it so I am too.

     I help make up many objects used in people's homes, such as a toy magnet. A toy magnet can pick up objects made of the three magnetic transition metals, Iron, Cobalt, or I (Kamberg 25). So if you ever want me to pick up something, say, a paper clip, just come find me in my apartment. I am also used in batteries, rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries used in hybrid vehicles ("Nickel"). Just in case you get a rechargeable battery, be sure to say hi to me, I will be right there waving at you. I can also be found in products such as "headphones, computer speakers, credit card magnetic strips, garbage disposal motors, doorbells, refrigerator icemakers, garbage door openers, electric toothbrushes, and more" (Kamberg 26). More than likely I will catch you in the kitchen, your bathroom, or your living room. Hopefully that did not come across as creepy. Moving on! I am a pretty musical person, I mean, being used in electric guitar strings, microphone capsules and all (Smith). Maybe one day we, the other transition metals and I, can start a band and become famous. To me, that would be a nice side job. I used to be used a lot in earrings, but again, because people are allergic to me and their pierced ears became red and itchy, I am not used as much (Smith). Of course, I had no intention on doing that to people, they just happened to be allergic to me, just like Malasia is. Whenever she wears me she gets a nasty red rash. Oh, and I can also be found in many foods. Well, my dietary side that is. My dietary side, dietary nickel "comes from oatmeal, dried beans, nuts, and chocolate" (Kamberg 39). You have got to love chocolate, it is a pretty yummy substance, or so it seems. I cannot actually taste it so I have no idea for sure.

     Nowadays, super cool science people use me in the environment and for huge projects. I resist corrosion and plate other metals to protect them, but I am also mainly used in making alloys such as stainless steel ("Nickel"). With being laid off from the jewelry industry, I had to find some other work so this is it. I can be seen in nickel steels, brasses, bronzes, nickel cast irons, and alloyed with other metals such as Copper, Chromium, Aluminum, Lead, Cobalt, Silver, and Gold (Smith). Again, my friends never leave me; we are bonded by a strong force called the Periodic Table. Because I am such a great resister of corrosion, even when red hot, I am used in toasters and electric ovens when alloyed with Chromium, Silicon, Manganese, and Iron ("Nickel"). Outside of that, I am also used in gas turbines and rocket engines, as well as alloyed with Copper, Iron, Manganese, and Silicon to resist corrosion by seawater and create propeller shafts for boats and desalination plants (Lenntech). Basically, I help boats move through the water and help desalination plants produce fresh drinking water. On top of that, I am pretty rare in the Earth's crust and100 times more likely to be found in the Earth's core, where I am the second most abundant element behind my buddy Iron (Smith).

     Well, my story is now complete, so I must bid you adieu. See you later, or maybe not, considering the fact that I am alloyed with many other metals and you may not be able to tell which one I am just by the glance of a naked eye.

~~~

Works Cited

Bentor, Yinon. "Periodic Table: Transition Metals." Chemical Elements, edited by Yinon Bentor, 1996-2012. Accessed 21 Feb. 2017.

Kamberg, Mary-Lane. The Transition Elements: The 37 Transition Metals. New York, Rosen Publishing Group, 2010.

Lenntech. "Nickel – Ni." Lenntech, edited by Lenntech, 1998-2017. Accessed 21 Feb. 2017.

"Nickel." Royal Society of Chemistry, edited by Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016. Accessed 21 Feb. 2017.

Smith, Rene. "Metal Facts Nickel Facts." Science Kids, edited by Rene Smith, 8 July 2016. Accessed 21 Feb. 2017.

A/N

Who actually read this all the way through?

P.s. This was actually in MLA format but okay Wattpad. -.-