Zinc in History

Neutron absorption Thermal neutron capture cross section 1.10 barns 

The element zinc escaped discovery for a long time because it simply disappeared when sulfidic ores were roasted. Zinc oxide, formed during the roasting, is very volatile and went up in smoke . Methods to catch the fleeing zinc oxide were developed in Persia and India before the turn of the millenium 1000. From the 12 century the methods became known in China, and there large-scale zinc manufacture was developed. 

When common oxides, such as for instance of lead, are reduced, they form molten metal. Zinc oxide does not exactly follow the other oxides, because zinc has such a high vapor pressure at the temperature needed that it disappears as a vapor, from which the metal has to be condensed. In view of these facts, it is not strange that the pyrometallurgy of zinc was delayed and so also was knowledge about zinc in its metallic form. 

In 1745 the ship Gothehorg, belonging to the Swedish East India Company, was wrecked on its way home from China. The freight had been loaded in Canton and the big sailing-ship had been on the route home for 18 months. The shipwreck occurred just at the entrance of the home harbor and the valuable cargo was lost. It was old Chi- 

From the beginning of the 17 century, China was the main manufacturer of zinc. Europe was left behind in this field. However, if European chemists had read and given Marco Polo credit for his telling of his adventures from the end of the 13 century, they might have been able to start zinc manufacture hundreds of years earlier than when in fact it happened. 

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