Ca element configuration8/5/2023 ![]() Techniques using mass spectrometry and a double spike isotope dilution have been used for K-Ca age dating.Ĭalcium is an important component of a healthy diet. While K-Ar dating has been used extensively in the geological sciences, the prevalence of 40Ca in nature has impeded its use in dating. 40Ca is one of the daughter products of 40K decay, along with 40Ar. 41Ca has received much attention in stellar studies because it decays to 41K, a critical indicator of solar-system anomalies.ĩ7% of naturally occurring calcium is in the form of 40Ca. Most of its production is in the upper metre or so of the soil column where the cosmogenic neutron flux is still sufficiently strong. Unlike cosmogenic isotopes that are produced in the atmosphere, 41Ca is produced by neutron activation of 40Ca. It also has a cosmogenic isotope, radioactive 41Ca, which has a half-life of 103,000 years. Other important calcium compounds are nitrate, sulfide, chloride, carbide, cyanamide, and hypochlorite.Ĭalcium has four stable isotopes ( 40Ca and 42Ca through 44Ca), plus two more isotopes ( 46Ca and 48Ca) that have such long half-lives that for all practical purposes they can be considered stable. ![]() When water percolates through limestone or other soluble carbonate rocks, it partially dissolves part of the rock and causes cave formation and characteristic stalactites and stalagmites and also forms hard water. Mixed with other compounds, lime forms an important part of Portland cement. When lime is mixed with sand, it hardens into a mortar and is turned into plaster by carbon dioxide uptake. The mineral portion of some corals can also be transformed into hydroxylapatite.Ĭalcium oxide (lime) is used in many chemical refinery processes and is made by heating and carefully adding water to limestone. He worked with electrolysis throughout his life and also discovered/isolated magnesium, strontium and barium.Ĭalcium, combined with phosphate to form hydroxylapatite, is the mineral portion of human and animal bones and teeth. Davy was trying to isolate calcium and when he heard that Berzelius and Pontin prepared calcium amalgam by electrolyzing lime in mercury, he tried it himself. It was not actually isolated until 1808 in England when Sir Humphry Davy electrolyzed a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide. in the making of cements and mortars to be used in construction.Ĭalcium ( Latin calcis, meaning "lime") was known as early as the first century when the Ancient Romans prepared lime as calcium oxide.as an alloying agent used in the production of aluminium, beryllium, copper, lead, and magnesium alloys.as a deoxidizer, desulfurizer, or decarbonizer for various ferrous and nonferrous alloys.as a reducing agent in the extraction of other metals, such as uranium, zirconium, and thorium.Being an essential macromineral in the human diet, soil conservation practices often consider the sustainable equilibrium of calcium concentrations in the earth. Stalagmites and stalactites contain calcium carbonate. Calcium is found mostly in soil systems as limestone, gypsum and fluorite. The outer shell is the valence shell, with 2 electrons in the lone 4s orbital, the 3d orbitals being empty.Ĭalcium is not naturally found in its elemental state. Its electron configuration is: 2 electrons in the K shell (principal quantum number 1), 8 in the L shell (principal quantum number 2), 8 in the M shell (principal quantum number 3), and 2 in the N shell (principal quantum number 4). The most abundant isotope, 40Ca, has a nucleus of 20 protons and 20 neutrons. Adults need between 1,000 and 1,300 mg of calcium in their daily diet. In the U.S., between about 50% and 75% of adults do not get sufficient calcium in their diet. It reacts with water, displacing hydrogen and forming calcium hydroxide.Ĭalcium is essential in muscle contraction, oocyte activation, bones and tooth structure, blood clotting, nerve impulse transmission, regulating heartbeat, and fluid balance within cells. It burns with a yellow-red flame and forms a white nitride coating when exposed to air. ![]() It may be used as a reducing agent in the extraction of thorium, zirconium and uranium.Ĭalcium is a rather soft, gray, metallic element that can be extracted by electrolysis from calcium fluoride. It is essential for living organisms, particularly in cell physiology, and is the most common metal in many animals. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Calcium ( IPA: /ˈkalsiəm/) is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. ![]()
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