Element 28 is Nickel which is another metal from the transition metal series. The name Nickel is familiar to many people, not because they know it as another element but because of the slang name given to the US 5 cent coin.
Although known as a Nickel, the 5 cent in fact is made of a mixture of 75% copper and 25% nickel. In spite of this it has the silvery colour of Nickel.
Like Iron and Cobalt, Nickel is magnetic, however the US Nickel is not magnetic as it doesn't contain enough Nickel to make it magnetic.
Nickel is used in stainless steel iron with 18% chromium and 8% Nickel.
Much "good" cutlery though referred to as silver isn't actually silver but nickel silver. Nickel silver is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. This same alloy is also used for making musical instruments and costume jewellery.
At the summer camps this year we have been looking at melting points. We found that sugar would melt at 186 degrees centigrade. Nickel also melts but at the much hotter temperature of 1455 degrees centigrade.
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