Zinc (Zn)

Student Objectives: Students will learn a few characteristics of zinc and several important roles it plays in industry.

Tips for the Teachers: Display a galvanized bucket or tool during the introduction to zinc and discuss how the zinc protects it from corrosion.

Suggested Activities:

1. Put an iron nail and a galvanized nail in water. Observe which one rusts, then discuss why things are galvanized.
2. Make a collage on tagboard within the outline of a letter Z, using pictures of things that contain zinc (don’t forget brass). Cut the pictures from catalogs and magazines.
3. Get into pairs or groups and make a soda straw maze (use flexible straws) and roll a stainless steel BB through it. Clay or art foam can be used to support upright pieces.
4. Discuss the use of brass in musical instruments. Play songs such as “Seventy-Six Trombones” that feature brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, cornet, bass, cymbals, etc.) Have students from school band class visit your class and show their instrument and play some notes to compare the sounds of the different instruments for your students.

Measurements/Evaluation:

1. Why is zinc one of the most used metals?
2. Zinc is often seen as a light gray coating on galvanized materials. What does this coating do?
3. Zinc and copper together make what?
4. Why is zinc used in tires?
5. How does zinc help you to get a glass of water in your house?

For more information on zinc please contact:

American Zinc Association

1112 16^th St., NW, Suite 240

Washington, D.C. 20036

(202) 835-0164

Or visit their Website at www.zinc.org

Zinc

Color: Bluish-white

Weight: About 7 times the weight of water

Found: In ores with other minerals and metals, never in pure state. Most common mineral is Sphalerite.   

Pure Zinc is soft, but it becomes hard when alloyed with other metals. Zinc doesn’t cost much and is one of the metals we use the most of in the world. It is very important to industry because it makes things last longer. Zinc is often seen as a light gray metal galvanized (coated) onto steel products like water buckets and heat ducts. This coating will protect iron and steel from rust for as long as 50 years. Zinc oxide is used to make tires more resistant to heat so they do not wear out so fast. Resistant means a material does not allow things to happen to it easily, such as corroding or getting hot. Zinc is also part of the chemical compounds in paints. Zinc protects parts of almost all vehicles from corrosion due to water, road salt and chemicals

Zinc and copper alloyed together make brass, another major product. Shiny, yellow brass is a popular metal for furniture and decorations as well as water pipes and fittings.