Titanium

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Introduction
Titanium is a lustrous white metal when it is in its pure form, but more commonly found in a darker silver as shown below.

The transition metal Titanium has an atomic number of 22 and is one of the transitional metals in the periodic table of the elements. Titanium is corrosion resistant. It was discovered in Cornwall, England in 1791 by the British clergyman William Gregor. The most common compound of titanium is titanium dioxide which is used in a number of paints. However, there is a gaseous titanium compound, titanium tetrachloride, which can possibly be deadly. For more information on the health effects of titanium, refer to health impact. Titanium's electron configuration is 1smedia type="custom" key="7952624" width="100" height="100"2smedia type="custom" key="7952622"2pmedia type="custom" key="7952628"3smedia type="custom" key="7952638"3pmedia type="custom" key="7952640"4smedia type="custom" key="7952642"3dmedia type="custom" key="7952644". Titanium can also be alloyed with other elements to form compounds used for aerospace; titanium has the highest strength to weight ratio of any metal, which makes it ideal for flight where weight is important. It is as strong as steel; but 45% lighter.

History and Use
Titanium was first discovered in 1791 by the Reverend William Gregor and was originally named gregorite. It was discovered as a reddish brown residue from menachanite, a magnetic, black sand that Gregor took from Cornwall. It was later renamed titanium when it was once again discovered. This time it was discovered independently in 1795 by the German chemist M. H. Klaproth and named titanium after the Titans in Greek mythology. The name titanium fit because the metal was as strong as steel and the Titans were "the incarnation of natural strength." In 1797, the two elements, gregorite and titanium were discovered to actually be the same element. However, titanium/gregorite was not actually isolated successfully as 99.9% pure titanium until 1910, around 100 years later by Matthew Hunter, an American professor. Yet, 95% pure titanium was produced in 1887 by Otto Pettersson and Lars Wilson. An electric furnace was also used by Henri Moissan to produce 98% pure titanium. The Kroll Process was invented by William Kroll, a metallurgist in 1946. The process was quite simple, by diluting titanium tetrachloride, TiCl ﻿4, with magnesium, titanium can be produced. The Kroll Process enabled titanium to be produced in large quantities. However, the United States only produced two tons of titanium in the following year despite its usefulness. But by 1953, two million pounds of titanium was being produced **a year.** The price of titanium is usually high, the powder now around $100 a pound. However, there was a price drop in the 1960s, which led to the use of titanium in the commercial industry as well as the military applications that the government was using it for. Nevertheless, as of 2006, 72% of the titanium within the United States is still used for military applications, specifically for aerospace construction. Even though the Kroll Process can be used to produce and isolate titanium in large amounts, 99% of the United State's titanium comes from foreign countries such as Japan, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Titanium is used in **many** applications throughout both the industrial and commercial industries. It is used in industries as varied as aerospace, architecture, and military equipment to medical implants and dental products. Specific uses in these industries can vary from aircraft, corrosion resistant industrial pumps, high performance automobile components, and turbine blades, to golf clubs, bicycles, eyeglass frames, sports equipment, and pigment. One of the most popular uses for titanium in the commercial industry is for jewelry. Examples of some of the uses are shown below. Titanium is very important in the aerospace industry. Many famous satellites, including Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, were mostly composed of titanium as is the international space station.



Economics
Titanium is very important to both the United States' economy and the worlds' economy. At around $100 a pound, the United States alone consumed ﻿23,200 metric tons of titanium in 2008 alone. Since 10,400 tons of that titanium was imported from countries such as Japan and Russia, that is a lot of money that the United States adds to the global economy. But the imported titanium is used for many aerospace projects and commercial goods such as space ships and commercial planes. Many of these large orders are exported to other countries, which brings millions of dollars into the United States' economy at a time that it is most needed, the recession. Since in 2004, 13,400 metric tons of a total of 22,400 tons of titanium were used in the aerospace industry, a lot of money can be made off the exports of finished goods to other countries. The circle of titanium metal and finished titanium goods affects many global powers, and all benefit from the continuous cycle of imports and exports.

﻿Environment
Titanium is found in the environment in several locations. It is the ninth-most prevalent element in the Earth's crust, with 0.63% of the crust's mass. Titanium is also the 7th most abundant metal in the world. Outside of this world, titanium is found in the Sun and meteorites, and apparently also on the moon. Rocks obtained during the Apollo 17 lunar mission showed presence of 12.1% titanium dioxide but rocks obtained during earlier Apollo missions showed lower percentages of titanium. On Earth however, titanium is almost always present in igneous rocks and in the sediments derived from such rocks. It is widely distributed and occurs primarily in the minerals anatase, brookite, ilmenite, perovskite, rutile, titanite (sphene), as well in many iron ores.

Health Impact
Titanium can be very useful in the medical field, yet, in certain forms it can be very deadly. However, in titanium's pure form, many useful tools and implements can be formed for use in medical procedures such as surgery. Titanium is corrosive resistant, which allows pure titanium to be used in many hip and knee replacements. Titanium is also a very stable element, so it does not interact with other elements or compounds in the human body. Since titanium allows bone to bond with it in the implants, the implants that have titanium last a lot longer than others. Recently, doctors have also started to use titanium in mesh and plates. Those implements are used to help support broken bones. Titanium has also been used for pace makers, hearth valves, and even dental implants. Additionally, it has been formed into surgical equipment. Even though titanium can be very helpful, as said before, it can also be very deadly. At least two of its compounds, titanium dioxide, and titanium tetrachloride, can be poisonous and/or deadly or have a slight health risk. Titanium dioxide's effects may only be minor if large concentrations are inhaled. Those effects include coughing and mild, temporary irritation. Some studies have also concluded that titanium dioxide is possibly carcinogenic, which is one of the main causes of cancer. Even though one study has shown that for titanium dioxide production workers, there is a slight increase for the risk of lung cancer, no studies have turned up any solid evidence to connect titanium dioxide to cancer. However, even though there are some possible health risks involved, there are many other good uses too. There are some experiments being conducted about using titanium dioxide, TiO 2, to use the radicals that are produced to thinly coat glass and maybe reduce infections. However, those are still experiments. The radicals themselves are caused by titanium dioxide being a photo-catalyst. When titanium dioxide and UV light combine, free electrons are produced which in turn react with other molecules. Those reactions produce free radicals which are not healthy when they come in contact with your skin.

Titanium tetrachloride is a liquid that forms hydrochloric acid when it comes in contact with water. It is a light yellow with a very strong odor. Even though titanium tetrachloride is not found naturally in nature, it is used to create other titanium compounds, including titanium metal and titanium dioxide. Titanium tetrachloride, like titanium dioxide, can be very irritating to skin. If large quantities of titanium tetrachloride are inhaled, death can result from serious lung injuries. Short-term inhalation on the other hand, can cause effects from coughing and tightness in the chest to chemical bronchitis and pneumonia. These effects can in turn, cause narrowing of the windpipe, and vocal cords. Titanium tetrachloride will also likely cause death if it is swallowed.

﻿The Chemistry of Titanium
Natural titanium consists of five isotopes with atomic masses from 46 to 50, with media type="custom" key="7962584"Ti being the most physically abundant. It is 73.8% of all titanium. All of these isotopes are stable. Eight other unstable isotopes are known. Titanium has an atomic radius of 147 picometers, or 147 triollionths of a meter. It is rarely found in pure form; it was first discovered in a mineral. It was in 1887 when a "pure" sample of Ti was first isolated by Otto Peterson and Lars Nilson. Titanium is a transition metal in the periodic table and is in the d-block. Titanium compounds have an oxidation state of +4, or in some cases, +3. Oxidation state is a hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic. Titanium is also never found uncombined with another element, and is present in titanites and in many iron ores. The electron configuration of titanium is 1smedia type="custom" key="7952624" width="100" height="100"2smedia type="custom" key="7952622"2pmedia type="custom" key="7952628"3smedia type="custom" key="7952638"3pmedia type="custom" key="7952640"4smedia type="custom" key="7952642"3dmedia type="custom" key="7952644". Titanium is formed most typically in the Kroll process, discovered in 1948 by William Kroll in Luxembourg. The Kroll process is an industrial process used to derive titanium and magnesium from refined ore. Rutile from the ore is reduced with petroleum coke in a fluidized bed reactor at 1000 °C. Rutile is a mineral composed mainly of titanium dioxide which is used for making pigments and titanium. The mixture is then treated with chlorine gas, resulting in titanium tetrachloride TiCl4 and other volatile chlorides, which are separated afterward by continuous fractional distillation. In a separate reactor, the TiCl4 is reduced by liquid magnesium at 800-850 °C in a stainless steel retort to ensure complete reduction. Complications from the process result from only partial reduction of the titanium to its lower chlorides TiCl2 and TiCl3. The resulting porous metallic titanium sponge is purified by leaching or heated vacuum distillation. The sponge is removed via jackhammer, crushed, and pressed before it is melted in a consumable electrode vacuum arc furnace. The melted ingot, is allowed to solidify under vacuum. Titanium has many other chemical properties. The metal, which burns in air, is the only element that burns in nitrogen. = =

﻿Interesting Facts
Compounds of titanium are found in a variety of locations, including light bulbs. When the insides of the incandescent light bulbs are coated with layers of titanium dioxide, silver, and more titanium dioxide, the coating reflects the heat generated by the light bulb back into the bulb. This heat reflection actually has the filament generate more light, which results in a 30-60% energy savings for the light bulb. Even though titanium dioxide is possibly carcinogenic when breathed, it is often used as white paint pigment. Titanium dioxide is the opacity in most paint, and the white in nearly all white paint. Not only that, it is often used to make false teeth and even whiten paper. Although titanium tetrachloride can cause death or serious injuries when inhaled, in its liquid form, it is often used to make smoke screens, which are often inhaled. Another interesting fact is that star stones, or asteria, are formed from having titanium dioxide impurities in them.

You can buy titanium in many forms here.