Location: Kaduna, Kano, Plateau
Bismuth evidently was known in very early times, since it occurs in the native state as well as in compounds. For a long period, however, it was not clearly recognized as a separate metal, having been confused with such metals as lead, antimony, and tin. Miners during the Middle Ages apparently believed bismuth to be a stage in the development of silver from baser metals and were dismayed when they uncovered a vein of the metal thinking they had interrupted the process.
Bismuth is about as abundant as silver, contributing about 2 × 10−5 weight percent of Earth’s crust. Its cosmic abundance is estimated as about one atom to every 7,000,000 atoms of silicon. It occurs both native and in compounds.
Bismuth (Bi), the most metallic and the least abundant of the elements in the nitrogen group (Group 15 [Va] of the periodic table). Bismuth is hard, brittle, lustrous, and coarsely crystalline. It can be distinguished from all other metals by its colour—gray-white with a reddish tinge.
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Bismuth is a brittle metal, so it is usually mixed with other metals to make it useful.
It is used in extinguishers, electric fuses, and fire detectors.
Certain bismuth compounds are also manufactured and used as pharmaceuticals.
Industry makes use of bismuth compounds as catalysts in manufacturing acrylonitrile, the starting material for synthetic fibers and rubbers.
It is occasionally used in the production of shot and shotguns.
