PROPERTIES OF NICKEL. £)§ 



IV. 



Remarks on some properties of Nickel; by Professor Tourte, 

 of Berlin*. 



-II- HE preparation of a needle of nickel for the royal mi- Needle of 

 neralogical cabinet at Berlin afforded me an opportunity of mckt1, 

 making a series of experiments on metallic nickel, which 

 will not perhaps be uninteresting. The piece of nickel em- 

 ployed was fifteen inches long, seven lines broad, and a line 

 and half thick. It was dull and rough, with here and there 

 a metallic lustre. Its colour was similar to that of silver of The metal 

 twelve pennyweights heated red hot. The metal loses but described ' 

 little of its lustre in the air, and it takes a fine polish. This 

 is best effected by smoothing the surface with a fine file, 

 then rubbing it on a bluestone with water, and finishing the , 

 polish with tin putty and oil. Burnishing does not answer 

 so well. When well polished, its colour is a mean between 

 steel and platina. If heated redhot, the colour is changed 

 to a grayish green, resembling antique bronzef. The in7 

 tensity of colour increases in the oxide every time it is 

 heated, and the nickel loses its lustre. Dilute nitric acid 

 removes the oxide, and leaves the metal with some degree of 

 brightness. 



In oxigen gas the metal burns, and throws out sparks; Burns in oxi- 

 but some care is requisite, to make this experiment succeed. gen £**• 

 When the metal, placed on redhot charcoal, is exposed to a 



* Annales de Chimic, vol. LXXI, p. 103. Translated from Geh- 

 lcn'6 Journal, by Mr. Vogel. 



-\ Nickel well polished is more liable to be oxided by the air than May be blued 

 iron. But it may be blued over the fire like steel 5 becoming first of a like steel, 

 light yellow, then a deep yellow, afterward a light violet b!«e, and 

 lastly of a deep violet blue. If the temperature be raised, it becomes 

 a blueish gray. The intensity of the colours is not equal to that in 

 steel; yet I found this property in nickel very striking. The blueing 

 requires a higluer temperature for nickel than for iron. Tourte. 



II 2 stream 



