What’s in a word – Cobalt!
Recommended for Preparatory Grades
Do you know what cobalt is?
It is a hard silver-white metal. It is often mixed with other metals and is used for making materials blue. It is also the word to describe a deep blue or greenish-blue colour.
How is this metal related to magical creatures called goblins? Let’s find out.
The word comes from a mysterious supernatural creature called kobold.
What is the kobold?
The kobold is a goblin from German fairytales. People believed that it was a mischievous creature who lived in the mountains.
Fun facts about Cobalt!
- The metal ‘cobalt’ came to be named after this creature because miners used to die while working in cobalt mines. They blamed the kobold for these deaths. But, it was actually due to toxic gases produced while cobalt was being extracted.
- Hence the metal they were mining was considered to be “the goblin of the mines”.
- Cobalt-based blue colour has been used since ancient times for jewellery and paints. Today it is also used in lithium-ion batteries.
- Most of this metal supply in the world comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia in Africa.
Watch a video on cobalt and its uses.
Video credit: BBC What’s New / Actu Jeunes/Youtube
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