A bank is a financial institution and a financial intermediary that accepts deposits and channels those deposits into lending activities, either directly or through capital markets. A bank connects customers that have capital deficits to customers with capital surpluses Sony VPCEH3T9E battery. Due to their critical status within the financial system and the economy[citation needed] generally, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most banks operate under a system known as fractional reserve banking where they hold only a small reserve of the funds deposited and lend out the rest for profit Sony VPCEH3N6E battery. They are generally subject to minimum capital requirements which are based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords. The oldest bank still in existence is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, headquartered in Siena, Italy, which has been operating continuously since 1472.[1] History Main article: History of banking Banking in the modern sense of the word can be traced to medieval and early Renaissance Italy, to the rich cities in the north like Florence, Venice and Genoa. The Bardi and Peruzzi families dominated banking in 14th century Florence, establishing branches in many other parts of Europe. Sony VPCEH3N1E battery Perhaps the most famous Italian bank was the Medici bank, set up by Giovanni Medici in 1397.[3] The earliest known state deposit bank, Banco di San Giorgio (Bank of St. George), was founded in 1407 at Genoa, Italy.[4] Origin of the word The word bank was borrowed in Middle English from Middle French banque, from Old Italian banca, from Old High German banc, bank "bench, counter". Benches were used as desks or exchange counters during the Renaissance by Florentine bankers, who used to make their transactions atop desks covered by green tablecloths. Sony VPCEH3D0E batteryOne of the oldest items found showing money-changing activity is a silver Greek drachm coin from ancient Hellenic colony Trapezus on the Black Sea, modern Trabzon, c. 350–325 BC, presented in the British Museum in London. The coin shows a banker's table (trapeza) laden with coins, a pun on the name of the city. In fact, even today in Modern Greek the word Trapeza (Τράπεζα) means both a table and a bank Sony VPCEH3B1E battery. Another possible origin of the word is from the Sanskrit words (ब्यय) 'byaya' (expense) and 'onka' (calculation) = byaya-onka. This word still survives in Bangla, which is one of the Sanskrit's child languages. ব্যায় + অঙ্ক = ব্যাঙ্ক . Such expense calculations were the biggest part of mathmetical treaties written by Indian mathmeticians as early as 500 B.C Sony VPCEH2Z1E battery. Definition The definition of a bank varies from country to country. See the relevant country page (below) for more information. Under English common law, a banker is defined as a person who carries on the business of banking, which is specified as:[6] conducting current accounts for his customers paying cheques drawn on him, and collecting cheques for his customers. Banco de Venezuela in Coro. In most common law jurisdictions there is a Bills of Exchange Act that codifies the law in relation to negotiable instruments, including cheques, and this Act contains a statutory definition of the term banker: banker includes a body of persons Sony VPCEH2S9E battery, whether incorporated or not, who carry on the business of banking' (Section 2, Interpretation). Although this definition seems circular, it is actually functional, because it ensures that the legal basis for bank transactions such as cheques does not depend on how the bank is organized or regulated. The business of banking is in many English common law countries not defined by statute but by common law, the definition above Sony VPCEH2Q1E battery. In other English common law jurisdictions there are statutory definitions of the business of banking or banking business. When looking at these definitions it is important to keep in mind that they are defining the business of banking for the purposes of the legislation, and not necessarily in general. In particular, most of the definitions are from legislation that has the purposes of entry regulating and supervising banks rather than regulating the actual business of banking Sony VPCEH2P0E battery. However, in many cases the statutory definition closely mirrors the common law one. Examples of statutory definitions: "banking business" means the business of receiving money on current or deposit account, paying and collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers, the making of advances to customers, and includes such other business as the Authority may prescribe for the purposes of this Act; (Banking Act (Singapore), Section 2, Interpretation) Sony VPCEH2N1E battery. "banking business" means the business of either or both of the following: receiving from the general public money on current, deposit, savings or other similar account repayable on demand or within less than [3 months] ... or with a period of call or notice of less than that period; paying or collecting checks drawn by or paid in by customers[7] Since the advent of EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale), direct credit, direct debit and internet banking, the cheque has lost its primacy in most banking systems as a payment instrument Sony VPCEH2M9E battery. This has led legal theorists to suggest that the cheque based definition should be broadened to include financial institutions that conduct current accounts for customers and enable customers to pay and be paid by third parties, even if they do not pay and collect checks.[8] Banking Standard activities Large door to an old bank vault. Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying checks drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting checks deposited to customers' current accounts Sony VPCEH2M1E battery. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as Automated Clearing House (ACH), Wire transfers or telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and automated teller machine (ATM). Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current accounts, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending Sony VPCEH2L9E battery. Banks provide almost all payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses, individuals and governments. Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are not normally considered an adequate substitute for having a bank account Sony VPCEH2J1E battery. Banks borrow most funds from households and non-financial businesses, and lend most funds to households and non-financial businesses, but non-bank lenders provide a significant and in many cases adequate substitute for bank loans, and money market funds, cash management trusts and other non-bank financial institutions in many cases provide an adequate substitute to banks for lending savings too. Sony VPCEH2H1E batteryChannels Banks offer many different channels to access their banking and other services: Automated Teller Machines A branch is a retail location Call center Mail: most banks accept cheque deposits via mail and use mail to communicate to their customers, e.g. by sending out statements Mobile banking is a method of using one's mobile phone to conduct banking transactions Online banking is a term used for performing transactions, payments etc. over the Internet Relationship Managers, mostly for private banking or business banking, often visiting customers at their homes or businesses Sony VPCEH2F1E batteryTelephone banking is a service which allows its customers to perform transactions over the telephone with automated attendant or when requested with telephone operator Video banking is a term used for performing banking transactions or professional banking consultations via a remote video and audio connection. Video banking can be performed via purpose built banking transaction machines (similar to an Automated teller machine), or via a video conference enabled bank branch.clarification Sony VPCEH2E0E batteryBusiness model A bank can generate revenue in a variety of different ways including interest, transaction fees and financial advice. The main method is via charging interest on the capital it lends out to customers[citation needed]. The bank profits from the difference between the level of interest it pays for deposits and other sources of funds, and the level of interest it charges in its lending activities Sony VPCEH2D0E battery. This difference is referred to as the spread between the cost of funds and the loan interest rate. Historically, profitability from lending activities has been cyclical and dependent on the needs and strengths of loan customers and the stage of the economic cycle. Fees and financial advice constitute a more stable revenue stream and banks have therefore placed more emphasis on these revenue lines to smooth their financial performance Sony VPCEH2C0E battery. In the past 20 years American banks have taken many measures to ensure that they remain profitable while responding to increasingly changing market conditions. First, this includes the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allows banks again to merge with investment and insurance houses. Merging banking Sony VPCEH1Z1E battery, investment, and insurance functions allows traditional banks to respond to increasing consumer demands for "one-stop shopping" by enabling cross-selling of products (which, the banks hope, will also increase profitability). Second, they have expanded the use of risk-based pricing from business lending to consumer lending, which means charging higher interest rates to those customers that are considered to be a higher credit risk and thus increased chance of default on loans Sony VPCEH1S9E battery. This helps to offset the losses from bad loans, lowers the price of loans to those who have better credit histories, and offers credit products to high risk customers who would otherwise be denied credit. Third, they have sought to increase the methods of payment processing available to the general public and business clients. These products include debit cards, prepaid cards, smart cards, and credit cards Sony VPCEH1S8E battery. They make it easier for consumers to conveniently make transactions and smooth their consumption over time (in some countries with underdeveloped financial systems, it is still common to deal strictly in cash, including carrying suitcases filled with cash to purchase a home). However, with convenience of easy credit, there is also increased risk that consumers will mismanage their financial resources and accumulate excessive debt. Banks make money from card products through interest payments and fees charged to consumers and transaction fees to companies that accept the credit Sony VPCEH1S1E battery- debit - cards. This helps in making profit and facilitates economic development as a whole.[9] Risk and capital Banks face a number of risks in order to conduct their business, and how well these risks are managed and understood is a key driver behind profitability, and how much capital a bank is required to hold. Some of the main risks faced by banks include: Credit risk: risk of loss[citation needed] arising from a borrower who does not make payments as promised Sony VPCEH1S0E battery. Liquidity risk: risk that a given security or asset cannot be traded quickly enough in the market to prevent a loss (or make the required profit). Market risk: risk that the value of a portfolio, either an investment portfolio or a trading portfolio, will decrease due to the change in value of the market risk factors. Operational risk: risk arising from execution of a company's business functions. Reputational risk: a type of risk related to the trustworthiness of business. Macroeconomic risk: risks related to the aggregate economy the bank is operating in Sony VPCEH1M9E battery.[10] The capital requirement is a bank regulation, which sets a framework on how banks and depository institutions must handle their capital. The categorization of assets and capital is highly standardized so that it can be risk weighted (see risk-weighted asset). Banks in the economy See also: Financial system Economic functions The economic functions of banks include: Issue of money, in the form of banknotes and current accounts subject to check or payment at the customer's order Sony VPCEH1M1E battery. These claims on banks can act as money because they are negotiable or repayable on demand, and hence valued at par. They are effectively transferable by mere delivery, in the case of banknotes, or by drawing a check that the payee may bank or cash. Netting and settlement of payments – banks act as both collection and paying agents for customers, participating in interbank clearing and settlement systems to collect, present, be presented with, and pay payment instruments Sony VPCEH1L9E battery. This enables banks to economize on reserves held for settlement of payments, since inward and outward payments offset each other. It also enables the offsetting of payment flows between geographical areas, reducing the cost of settlement between them. Credit intermediation – banks borrow and lend back-to-back on their own account as middle men Sony VPCEH1L8E battery. Credit quality improvement – banks lend money to ordinary commercial and personal borrowers (ordinary credit quality), but are high quality borrowers. The improvement comes from diversification of the bank's assets and capital which provides a buffer to absorb losses without defaulting on its obligations. However, banknotes and deposits are generally unsecured Sony VPCEH1L0E battery; if the bank gets into difficulty and pledges assets as security, to raise the funding it needs to continue to operate, this puts the note holders and depositors in an economically subordinated position. Maturity transformation – banks borrow more on demand debt and short term debt, but provide more long term loans. In other words, they borrow short and lend long. With a stronger credit quality than most other borrowers, banks can do this by aggregating issues (e.g. accepting deposits and issuing banknotes) and redemptions Sony VPCEH1J8E battery (e.g. withdrawals and redemption of banknotes), maintaining reserves of cash, investing in marketable securities that can be readily converted to cash if needed, and raising replacement funding as needed from various sources (e.g. wholesale cash markets and securities markets). Money creation – whenever a bank gives out a loan in a fractional-reserve banking system, a new sum of virtual money is created Sony VPCEH1J1E battery. Bank crisis Banks are susceptible to many forms of risk which have triggered occasional systemic crises. These include liquidity risk (where many depositors may request withdrawals in excess of available funds), credit risk (the chance that those who owe money to the bank will not repay it), and interest rate risk (the possibility that the bank will become unprofitable, if rising interest rates force it to pay relatively more on its deposits than it receives on its loans) Sony VPCEH1E1E battery. Banking crises have developed many times throughout history, when one or more risks have materialized for a banking sector as a whole. Prominent examples include the bank run that occurred during the Great Depression, the U.S. Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Japanese banking crisis during the 1990s, and the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the 2000s Sony VPCEH1AJ battery. Size of global banking industry Assets of the largest 1,000 banks in the world grew by 6.8% in the 2008/2009 financial year to a record $96.4 trillion while profits declined by 85% to $115bn. Growth in assets in adverse market conditions was largely a result of recapitalization. EU banks held the largest share of the total, 56% in 2008/2009, down from 61% in the previous year Sony VPCCA3S1E battery. Asian banks' share increased from 12% to 14% during the year, while the share of US banks increased from 11% to 13%. Fee revenue generated by global investment banking totaled $66.3bn in 2009, up 12% on the previous year.[11] The United States has the most banks in the world in terms of institutions (7,085 at the end of 2008) and possibly branches (82,000).[citation needed] This is an indicator of the geography and regulatory structure of the USA Sony VPCCA3E1E battery, resulting in a large number of small to medium-sized institutions in its banking system. As of Nov 2009, China's top 4 banks have in excess of 67,000 branches (ICBC:18000+, BOC:12000+, CCB:13000+, ABC:24000+) with an additional 140 smaller banks with an undetermined number of branches. Japan had 129 banks and 12,000 branches. In 2004, Germany, France, and Italy each had more than 30,000 branches—more than double the 15,000 branches in the UK Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery. Regulation Main article: Banking regulation See also: Basel II Currently commercial banks are regulated in most jurisdictions by government entities and require a special bank license to operate. Usually the definition of the business of banking for the purposes of regulation is extended to include acceptance of deposits, even if they are not repayable to the customer's order—although money lending, by itself, is generally not included in the definition Sony VPCCA2S1E battery. Unlike most other regulated industries, the regulator is typically also a participant in the market, being either a publicly or privately governed central bank. Central banks also typically have a monopoly on the business of issuing banknotes. However, in some countries this is not the case. In the UK, for example, the Financial Services Authority licenses banks, and some commercial banks (such as the Bank of Scotland) Sony VPCCA2S0E battery issue their own banknotes in addition to those issued by the Bank of England, the UK government's central bank. Banking law is based on a contractual analysis of the relationship between the bank (defined above) and the customer—defined as any entity for which the bank agrees to conduct an account. The law implies rights and obligations into this relationship as follows: The bank account balance is the financial position between the bank and the customer: when the account is in credit, the bank owes the balance to the customer; when the account is overdrawn, the customer owes the balance to the bank Sony VPCCA2AJ battery. The bank agrees to pay the customer's checks up to the amount standing to the credit of the customer's account, plus any agreed overdraft limit. The bank may not pay from the customer's account without a mandate from the customer, e.g. a check drawn by the customer. The bank agrees to promptly collect the checks deposited to the customer's account as the customer's agent, and to credit the proceeds to the customer's account Sony VPCCA1S1E/W battery. The bank has a right to combine the customer's accounts, since each account is just an aspect of the same credit relationship. The bank has a lien on checks deposited to the customer's account, to the extent that the customer is indebted to the bank. The bank must not disclose details of transactions through the customer's account—unless the customer consents, there is a public duty to disclose, the bank's interests require it, or the law demands it Sony VPCCA1S1E/P battery. The bank must not close a customer's account without reasonable notice, since checks are outstanding in the ordinary course of business for several days. These implied contractual terms may be modified by express agreement between the customer and the bank. The statutes and regulations in force within a particular jurisdiction may also modify the above terms and/or create new rights, obligations or limitations relevant to the bank-customer relationship Sony VPCCA1S1E/G battery. Some types of financial institution, such as building societies and credit unions, may be partly or wholly exempt from bank license requirements, and therefore regulated under separate rules. The requirements for the issue of a bank license vary between jurisdictions but typically include: Minimum capital Sony VPCCA1S1E/D batteryMinimum capital ratio 'Fit and Proper' requirements for the bank's controllers, owners, directors, or senior officers Approval of the bank's business plan as being sufficiently prudent and plausible. Types of banks Banks' activities can be divided into retail banking, dealing directly with individuals and small businesses; business banking, providing services to mid-market business; corporate banking, directed at large business entities Sony VPCCA1S1E/B battery; private banking, providing wealth management services to high net worth individuals and families; and investment banking, relating to activities on the financial markets. Most banks are profit-making, private enterprises. However, some are owned by government, or are non-profit organizations. Types of retail banks National Bank of the Republic, Salt Lake City 1908 ATM Al-Rajhi Bank National Copper Bank, Salt Lake City 1911 Commercial bank: the term used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment bank. After the Great Depression Sony VPCCA1S1E battery, the U.S. Congress required that banks only engage in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital market activities. Since the two no longer have to be under separate ownership, some use the term "commercial bank" to refer to a bank or a division of a bank that mostly deals with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses Sony VPCCA1C5E battery. Community banks: locally operated financial institutions that empower employees to make local decisions to serve their customers and the partners. Community development banks: regulated banks that provide financial services and credit to under-served markets or populations. Credit unions: not-for-profit cooperatives owned by the depositors and often offering rates more favorable than for-profit banks. Typically, membership is restricted to employees of a particular company, residents of a defined neighborhood, members of a certain labor union or religious organizations, and their immediate families Sony VPCCA1AHJ battery. Postal savings banks: savings banks associated with national postal systems. Private banks: banks that manage the assets of high net worth individuals. Historically a minimum of USD 1 million was required to open an account, however, over the last years many private banks have lowered their entry hurdles to USD 250,000 for private investors. Offshore banks: banks located in jurisdictions with low taxation and regulation. Many offshore banks are essentially private banks Sony VPCCA1AGJ battery. Savings bank: in Europe, savings banks took their roots in the 19th or sometimes even in the 18th century. Their original objective was to provide easily accessible savings products to all strata of the population. In some countries, savings banks were created on public initiative; in others, socially committed individuals created foundations to put in place the necessary infrastructure Sony VPCCA1AFJ battery. Nowadays, European savings banks have kept their focus on retail banking: payments, savings products, credits and insurances for individuals or small and medium-sized enterprises. Apart from this retail focus, they also differ from commercial banks by their broadly decentralized distribution network, providing local and regional outreach—and by their socially responsible approach to business and society Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E battery. Building societies and Landesbanks: institutions that conduct retail banking. Ethical banks: banks that prioritize the transparency of all operations and make only what they consider to be socially-responsible investments. A Direct or Internet-Only bank is a banking operation without any physical bank branches, conceived and implemented wholly with networked computers Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E battery. Types of investment banks Investment banks "underwrite" (guarantee the sale of) stock and bond issues, trade for their own accounts, make markets, and advise corporations on capital market activities such as mergers and acquisitions. Merchant banks were traditionally banks which engaged in trade finance. The modern definition, however, refers to banks which provide capital to firms in the form of shares rather than loans. Unlike venture capital firms, they tend not to invest in new companies Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery. Both combined Universal banks, more commonly known as financial services companies, engage in several of these activities. These big banks are very diversified groups that, among other services, also distribute insurance— hence the term bancassurance, a portmanteau word combining "banque or bank" and "assurance", signifying that both banking and insurance are provided by the same corporate entity Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E battery. Other types of banks Central banks are normally government-owned and charged with quasi-regulatory responsibilities, such as supervising commercial banks, or controlling the cash interest rate. They generally provide liquidity to the banking system and act as the lender of last resort in event of a crisis Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ battery. Islamic banks adhere to the concepts of Islamic law. This form of banking revolves around several well-established principles based on Islamic canons. All banking activities must avoid interest, a concept that is forbidden in Islam. Instead, the bank earns profit (markup) and fees on the financing facilities that it extends to customers Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H battery. Challenges within the banking industry The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (September 2009) This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. United States Main article: Banking in the United States In the United States, the banking industry is a highly regulated industry with detailed and focused regulators. All banks with FDIC-insured deposits have the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as a regulator; however, for examinations, Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/Z battery the Federal Reserve is the primary federal regulator for Fed-member state banks; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the primary federal regulator for national banks; and the Office of Thrift Supervision, or OTS, is the primary federal regulator for thrifts. State non-member banks are examined by the state agencies as well as the FDIC. National banks have one primary regulator—the OCC Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/B battery. Qualified Intermediaries & Exchange Accommodators are regulated by MAIC. Each regulatory agency has their own set of rules and regulations to which banks and thrifts must adhere. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) was established in 1979 as a formal inter-agency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions. Although the FFIEC has resulted in a greater degree of regulatory consistency between the agencies, the rules and regulations are constantly changing Sony VAIO VGN-CS31Z/Q battery. In addition to changing regulations, changes in the industry have led to consolidations within the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OTS, MAIC and OCC. Offices have been closed, supervisory regions have been merged, staff levels have been reduced and budgets have been cut. The remaining regulators face an increased burden with increased workload and more banks per regulator Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/W battery. While banks struggle to keep up with the changes in the regulatory environment, regulators struggle to manage their workload and effectively regulate their banks. The impact of these changes is that banks are receiving less hands-on assessment by the regulators, less time spent with each institution, and the potential for more problems slipping through the cracks, potentially resulting in an overall increase in bank failures across the United States Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/V battery. The changing economic environment has a significant impact on banks and thrifts as they struggle to effectively manage their interest rate spread in the face of low rates on loans, rate competition for deposits and the general market changes, industry trends and economic fluctuations. It has been a challenge for banks to effectively set their growth strategies with the recent economic market Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/T battery. A rising interest rate environment may seem to help financial institutions, but the effect of the changes on consumers and businesses is not predictable and the challenge remains for banks to grow and effectively manage the spread to generate a return to their shareholders. The management of the banks’ asset portfolios also remains a challenge in today’s economic environment. Loans are a bank’s primary asset category and when loan quality becomes suspect Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/R battery, the foundation of a bank is shaken to the core. While always an issue for banks, declining asset quality has become a big problem for financial institutions. There are several reasons for this, one of which is the lax attitude some banks have adopted because of the years of “good times.” The potential for this is exacerbated by the reduction in the regulatory oversight of banks and in some cases depth of management. Problems are more likely to go undetected Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/P battery, resulting in a significant impact on the bank when they are recognized. In addition, banks, like any business, struggle to cut costs and have consequently eliminated certain expenses, such as adequate employee training programs. Banks also face a host of other challenges such as aging ownership groups. Across the country, many banks’ management teams and board of directors are aging Sony VAIO VGN-CS28 battery. Banks also face ongoing pressure by shareholders, both public and private, to achieve earnings and growth projections. Regulators place added pressure on banks to manage the various categories of risk. Banking is also an extremely competitive industry. Competing in the financial services industry has become tougher with the entrance of such players as insurance agencies, credit unions, check cashing services, credit card companies, etc Sony VAIO VGN-CS28/Q battery. As a reaction, banks have developed their activities in financial instruments, through financial market operations such as brokerage and MAIC trust & Securities Clearing services trading and become big players in such activities. Competition for loanable funds To be able to provide home buyers and builders with the funds needed, banks must compete for deposits. The phenomenon of disintermediation had to dollars moving from savings accounts and into direct market instruments such as U.S. Treasury obligations Sony VAIO VGN-CS27 battery, agency securities, and corporate debt. One of the greatest factors in recent years in the movement of deposits was the tremendous growth of money market funds whose higher interest rates attracted consumer deposits.[12] To compete for deposits, US savings institutions offer many different types of plans:[12] Passbook or ordinary deposit accounts — permit any amount to be added to or withdrawn from the account at any time Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/W battery. NOW and Super NOW accounts — function like checking accounts but earn interest. A minimum balance may be required on Super NOW accounts. Money market accounts — carry a monthly limit of preauthorized transfers to other accounts or persons and may require a minimum or average balance. Certificate accounts — subject to loss of some or all interest on withdrawals before maturity. Notice accounts — the equivalent of certificate accounts with an indefinite term. Savers agree to notify the institution a specified time before withdrawal Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/R battery. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Keogh plans — a form of retirement savings in which the funds deposited and interest earned are exempt from income tax until after withdrawal. Checking accounts — offered by some institutions under definite restrictions. All withdrawals and deposits are completely the sole decision and responsibility of the account owner unless the parent or guardian is required to do otherwise for legal reasons Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/P battery. Club accounts and other savings accounts — designed to help people save regularly to meet certain goals. Accounting for bank accounts Suburban bank branch Bank statements are accounting records produced by banks under the various accounting standards of the world. Under GAAP and MAIC there are two kinds of accounts: debit and credit. Credit accounts are Revenue, Equity and Liabilities. Debit Accounts are Assets and Expenses. This means you credit a credit account to increase its balance, and you debit a credit account to decrease its balance Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/C battery.[13] This also means you credit your savings account every time you deposit money into it (and the account is normally in credit), while you debit your credit card account every time you spend money from it (and the account is normally in debit). However, if you read your bank statement, it will say the opposite—that you credit your account when you deposit money Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/W battery, and you debit it when you withdraw funds. If you have cash in your account, you have a positive (or credit) balance; if you are overdrawn, you have a negative (or deficit) balance. Where bank transactions, balances, credits and debits are discussed below, they are done so from the viewpoint of the account holder—which is traditionally what most people are used to seeing. Brokered deposits One source of deposits for banks is brokers who deposit large sums of money on the behalf of investors through MAIC or other trust corporations. This money will generally go to the banks which offer the most favorable terms Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/V battery, often better than those offered local depositors. It is possible for a bank to engage in business with no local deposits at all, all funds being brokered deposits. Accepting a significant quantity of such deposits, or "hot money" as it is sometimes called, puts a bank in a difficult and sometimes risky position, as the funds must be lent or invested in a way that yields a return sufficient to pay the high interest being paid on the brokered deposits Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/T battery. This may result in risky decisions and even in eventual failure of the bank. Banks which failed during 2008 and 2009 in the United States during the global financial crisis had, on average, four times more brokered deposits as a percent of their deposits than the average bank. Such deposits, combined with risky real estate investments, factored into the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/R battery. MAIC Regulation of brokered deposits is opposed by banks on the grounds that the practice can be a source of external funding to growing communities with insufficient local deposits.[14] Globalization in the Banking Industry In modern time there has been huge reductions to the barriers of global competition in the banking industry. Increases in telecommunications and other financial technologies, such as Bloomberg, have allowed banks to extend their reach all over the world, since they no longer have to be near customers to manage both their finances and their risk Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/Q battery. The growth in cross-border activities has also increased the demand for banks that can provide various services across borders to different nationalities. However, despite these reductions in barriers and growth in cross-border activities, the banking industry is nowhere near as globalized as some other industries. In the USA, for instance, very few banks even worry about the Riegle-Neal Act Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/P battery, which promotes more efficient interstate banking. In the vast majority of nations around globe the market share for foreign owned banks is currently less than a tenth of all market shares for banks in a particular nation. One reason the banking industry has not been fully globalized is that it is more convenient to have local banks provide loans to small business and individuals Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/C battery. On the other hand for large corporations, it is not as important in what nation the bank is in, since the corporation's financial information is available around the globe. A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The word pawn is derived from the Latin pignus, for pledge, and the items having been pawned to the broker are themselves called pledges or pawns, or simply the collateral Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H battery. If an item is pawned for a loan, within a certain contractual period of time the pawner may purchase it back for the amount of the loan plus some agreed-upon amount for interest. The amount of time, and rate of interest, is governed by law or by the pawnbroker's policies. If the loan is not paid (or extended, if applicable) within the time period Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/W battery, the pawned item will be offered for sale by the pawnbroker. Unlike other lenders, the pawnbroker does not report the defaulted loan on the customer's credit report, since the pawnbroker has physical possession of the item and may recoup the loan value through outright sale of the item. The pawnbroker also sells items that have been sold outright to them by customers Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/R battery. Business model Assessment of items The pawning process begins when a customer brings an item into a pawn shop. Common items pawned (or, in some instances, sold outright) by customers include jewelry, electronics, musical instruments, and tools (both hand tools and power tools). In some of the United States, pawnshops with firearms licenses sell pistols and rifles to customers who meet state and federal acquisition criteria. In other states and other countries Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/Q battery, though, such as Canada and the UK, pawnshops do not sell firearms. Gold, silver, and platinum are popular items which are often purchased; even if the source (such as a piece of broken jewelry) has little value, the metals can still be sold in bulk to a bullion dealer or smelter for the value of the gold, silver, or platinum content. Similarly, with jewelry that contains genuine gemstones, even if the jewelry is broken or missing pieces Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/P battery, the jewels may have value in their own right because they can be reset into a new item of jewelry. The pawnbroker assumes the risk that an item might be stolen property; however, laws exist in many jurisdictions that protect both the community at large and the brokers from unknowingly engaging in criminal activity (handling stolen goods, also known as "fencing"). These laws often require the pawnbroker to establish positive identification of the seller through photo identification (such as a driver's license or government-issued identity document) Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/C battery, as well as a holding period placed on an item purchased by a pawnbroker (to allow for local law enforcement authorities to track down stolen items). In some jurisdictions, pawnshops must give a list of all newly pawned items and any associated serial number to police, to allow the police to determine if any of the items have been reported as stolen Sony VAIO VGN-CS23T/W battery. Many police departments will advise burglary or robbery victims to visit local pawnshops to see if they can locate stolen items which might have been pawned or sold to the pawnbroker. Some pawnshops set up their own screening criteria to avoid buying stolen property. The pawnbroker assesses an item for its condition and marketability by testing the item (in the case of electronics or instruments) and examining it for flaws, scratches or other damage Sony VAIO VGN-CS23T/Q battery. Another aspect that affects marketability is the supply and demand for the item in the community or region. In some markets, the used goods market is so flooded with used stereos and car stereos, for example, that pawnshops will only accept the higher-quality brand names. Alternatively, a customer may offer to pawn an item which will be difficult to sell, such as a surfboard in an inland region or a pair of snowshoes in tropical or sub-tropical regions Sony VAIO VGN-CS23H battery. The pawnshop owner will either turn down hard-to-sell items or offer a very low amount of money for these items. While some items will never get outdated, such as hammers and hand saws, electronics and computer items can quickly get out of date and become unsalable. As such, pawnshop owners have to learn about the different makes and models of computers, software and other electronic equipment Sony VAIO VGN-CS23H/S battery, so that they can discern between items which are still salable, and those which are obsolete. To assess the value of different items, pawnbrokers use guidebooks ("Blue Books"), catalogs, Internet search engines, and their own experience to subjectively evaluate the goods. Some pawnbrokers have training in the identification of gems, or they employ a specialist with gem training to assess jewelry Sony VAIO VGN-CS23H/B battery. One of the risks when accepting secondhand goods is that the item may be counterfeit. If the item is counterfeit, such as a fake Rolex watch, it may have only a fraction of the value of the genuine item. Once the pawnbroker has determined that the item is genuine and not likely to have been stolen, and that it is marketable, the pawnbroker offers the customer an amount for it. The customer can either sell the item outright if (as in most cases) the pawnbroker is also a licensed secondhand dealer, or offer the item as collateral Sony VAIO VGN-CS23G battery. Determining amount of loan To determine the amount of the loan, the pawnshop owner needs to take into account several factors. One factor is the predicted resale value of the item. This is often thought of in terms of a range, with the low point being the wholesale value of the used good, in the case that the pawnshop is unable to sell it, and they decide to sell it to a wholesale merchant of used goods Sony VAIO VGN-CS23G/W battery. The higher point in the range is the retail sale price in the pawnshop. For example, a five-year-old 42" Sony TV may have been bought by the customer for $1000. However, as a used item in a pawnshop, it will only fetch $250 and $300, because the customers will be wary that it might be a "lemon" that the seller is getting rid of because it has some hard-to-detect problem Sony VAIO VGN-CS23G/Q battery. Used electronics wholesalers will buy the TV for $100 to $150. The wholesaler pays a lower price than the retail value because they have the added cost of hiring electronics technicians who overhaul and repair the items so that they can be sold in used electronics stores. The pawnshop owner takes into account their knowledge of supply and demand for the item in question to determine if they think that they will end up selling the TV for $100 to a wholesaler or $300 to a pawnshop customer Sony VAIO VGN-CS23G/P battery. If the pawnshop owner believes that there are "too many used TVs around these days in town", they may fear that they will only get $100 for the TV if they have to unload it to a wholesaler. With that figure in mind as the expected revenue, the pawnshop owner has to factor in the overhead costs of the store (rent, heat, electricity, phone connection, yellow pages ad, website costs Sony VAIO VGN-CS21Z/Q battery, staff costs, insurance, alarm system, etc.), and a profit for the business. As such, the customer who comes in with this TV that they paid $1000 for when it was new may be offered as little as $50 by the pawnshop owner, who is taking into account all of the risk and cost factors. In determining the amount of the loan, the pawnshop owner also assesses the likelihood that the customer will pay the interest for several weeks or months and then return to repay the loan and reclaim the item Sony VAIO VGN-CS21S/W battery. Since the key to the pawnshop business model is making interest off the loaned money, pawnshop owners want to accept items that the customer is likely to want to recover, after having paid interest for a period on the loan. If, in an extreme case, a pawnshop only accepted items that customers had no interest in ever reclaiming, it would not make any money from interest, and the store would in effect become a second hand dealer Sony VAIO VGN-CS21S/V battery. Determining if the customer is likely to return to reclaim an item is a subjective decision, and wily customers may attempt to persuade the pawnshop owner that the item in question is important to them ("that necklace belonged to my grandmother, so I will certainly return for it"), and they will claim that they will return to recover it Sony VAIO VGN-CS21S/T battery. The pawnshop owner can use a variety of factors to evaluate the likelihood that the customer will return, such as whether the customer lives in the neighborhood or whether the customer has a good track record of returning to the pawnshop to recover items. Some customers may return several times over a year and pawn the same valuable item as a way of borrowing money, and they return each month to pay the interest and recover the item Sony VAIO VGN-CS21S/R battery. As well, the pawnshop owner can assess the item and the pawner; if a non-disabled twenty year-old male comes into the pawnshop to pawn an electric wheelchair (perhaps the possession of his late grandfather), the pawnshop owner may doubt the man's claims that he will return for the wheelchair. On the other hand, if a middle aged man pawns a top quality set of golf clubs Sony VAIO VGN-CS21S/P battery, the pawnshop owner may assess it as more credible that he will return for the items. The saleability of the item and the amount that the customer wants for it are also factored into the pawnbroker's assessment; if a customer offers a very salable item at a low price, the pawnbroker may accept it even if it is unlikely that the customer will return, because the pawnshop can turn around a quick profit on the item Sony VAIO VGN-CS19/W battery. If a customer offers a top quality, brand-name valuable at too low a price the pawnbroker may turn down the offer, because this suggests that the item may either be counterfeit or stolen. Pawnbroker in Reseda, CA Inventory management Pawnshops have to be careful to manage how many new items they accept as pawns: either too little inventory or too much is bad. A pawnshop might have too little inventory if, for example, it mostly buys jewels and gold which are then reset and smelted, or perhaps the pawnshop owner quickly sells most of the items using specialty shops Sony VAIO VGN-CS19/R battery(e.g., musical instruments are sold to used music stores and stereos are sold to used hi-fi audio stores). In this case, the pawnshop will not be very interesting to customers, because it will be a mostly empty store with bare shelves and counters. Customers walking by a near-empty store will be less likely to be intrigued by the merchandise and come into the store Sony VAIO VGN-CS19/Q battery. On the other extreme, if a pawnshop has a huge amount of inventory, there can be several disadvantages. If the store is crammed with used athletic gear, old stereos, and old tools, the store owner has to spend more time and money shelving and sorting the items, displaying them on different stands or in glass cases, and monitoring customers to prevent shoplifting Sony VAIO VGN-CS19/P battery. If there are too many low-value, poor quality items, such as old toasters, scratched-up 20 year-old TVs, and worn-out sports gear piled into cardboard boxes, the store may begin looking more like a low-end rummage sale or flea market. Small, high-value items such as iPod players or cell phones need to be put in locked glass display cases, which means that the owner may need additional staff to unlock the cabinets and get out items that customers want to examine Sony VAIO VGN-CS17H/W battery. As a store becomes more and more filled with items, an owner has to take more steps to protect inventory from theft by hiring staff to supervise the different parts of the store and/or by installing security cameras or alarms. The biggest problem with accumulating too much unsold inventory, though, is that this means that the store has not been able to pull out the value of these items by reselling them, which provides the store with cash that can be loaned out to borrowers Sony VAIO VGN-CS17H/Q battery. As such, the better option lies in the middle of the continuum. A store that has a moderate amount of good quality, brand-name items arranged neatly in the display windows attracts passersby, who are more likely to come in to peruse the items for sale. If the items are attractively laid out in display cases and shelves in an uncluttered fashion Sony VAIO VGN-CS16T/W battery, the pawnshop has a more professional, reputable appearance. Once passersby start coming to the store to look at items, they may decide to bring unwanted items to the pawnshop for loans on subsequent visits. Some pawnshop owners prevent their store from developing a cluttered look by keeping some of the less attractive items such as snow tires, or items which are overstocked (e.g., if there are too many stereos) in a storage facility in the basement Sony VAIO VGN-CS16T/T battery. Another approach used by some pawnshop companies is to operate a number of stores in a state or province. This way, the inventory can be moved between affiliated stores so that each store has a balanced inventory. For example, if a rural location of a pawnshop accumulates too much hunting and fishing gear, some of the overstock can be transferred to a suburban location Sony VAIO VGN-CS16T/R battery. Some stores also slim down their inventory by selling some items to specialty used gear retailers. For example, if a pawnshop in a low-income neighborhood pays a customer $300 for a power amplifier that has a used retail value of about $2000, this stereo device may be hard to sell in the pawnshop, given that most of the stereos sell for a fraction of this price Sony VAIO VGN-CS16T/Q battery. However, a high-end used audio store in a well-to-do neighborhood might be able to sell it for $2000, so the pawnshop owner may decide to sell the amplifier to the audio shop for $1000, thus netting $700. Some pawnshops may sell specialty items on eBay or other websites. A specialty item such as a high-end model railroad set with a retail value of $1000 may not sell in the store, or it would only sell for a deep discount. However, if it is put up for sale on eBay or a similar website Sony VAIO VGN-CS16T/P battery, a model train enthusiast 1000 miles away may decide to purchase the item and have it shipped to them. Auxiliary operations While the main business activities of a pawnshop are lending money for interest based on valuable items that customers bring in, some pawnshops also undertake other business activities, such as selling brand-new retail items that are in demand in the neighborhood of the store. Depending on where a pawnshop is located, these other retail items may range from guitar and musical instruments to firearms Sony VAIO VGN-CS13T/W battery. Some pawnbrokers also sell brand-new self defense items such as pepper spray or stun guns. Many pawnshops will also trade used items, as long as the transaction turns a profit for pawn shop. In cases where the pawnshop buys items outright, the money is not a loan; it is a straight payment for the item. Some pawnshops may keep a few unusual, high value items on display to capture the interests of passersby, such as a vintage Harley Davidson motorcycle Sony VAIO VGN-CS13H/W battery; the owner is not typically expecting to sell these items. Other activities carried out by pawnshops are financial services including fee-based check cashing, payday loans, vehicle title or house title loans, and currency exchange services. History Main article: History of pawnbroking In the west, pawnbroking existed in the Ancient Greek and Roman Empires. Most contemporary Western law on the subject is derived from the Roman jurisprudence. As the empire spread its culture, pawnbroking went with it. Likewise, in the East, Sony VAIO VGN-CS13H/R battery the business model existed in China 3000 years ago[1] no different than today, through the ages strictly regulated by Imperial or other authorities. Modern pawnbroker storefront. In spite of early Roman Catholic Church prohibitions against charging interest on loans, there is some evidence that the Franciscans were permitted to begin the practice as an aid to the poor.[citation needed] Pawnbrokerage arrived in England with William the Conqueror, but known by the Italian name, Lombard Sony VAIO VGN-CS13H/Q battery. In 1338, Edward III pawned his jewels to raise money for his war with France. King Henry V did much the same in 1415. The Lombards were not a popular class, and Henry VII harried them a good deal. In the very first year of James I Stuart an Act against Brokers was passed and remained on the statute-book until Queen Victoria had been on the throne thirty-five years Sony VAIO VGN-CS13H/P battery. It was aimed at the many counterfeit brokers in London. This type of broker was evidently regarded as a fence. It is also known that Queen Isabella of Spain pawned her jewelry in order to send Christopher Columbus out to what he believed was the Indies. Provident Loan Society of New York, a charitable pawnbroker A similar system was used during the Crusades. Crusaders, predominantly in France, brokered their land holdings to monasteries and diocese for funds to provide supply, transit and outfitting for the Holy Land Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/T battery. Instead of outright repayment the Church reaped a certain amount of crop returns for a certain amount of seasons, which could additionally be re-exchanged in a type of equity. A pawnbroker can also be a charity. The Monte di Pietà movement was begun in Perugia, Italy, in 1450 by Barnaba Manassei, a Franciscan monk. It had the aim of providing financial assistance to people in the form of no-interest loans, secured with pawned items. Instead of interest, borrowers were urged to make donations to the Church Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R battery. It spread first through Italy then in other parts of Europe. The first Monte de Piedad organization in Spain was founded in Madrid, and from there the idea was transferred to New Spain by Pedro Romero de Terreros, the Count of Santa Maria de Regla[2] and Knight of Calatrava.[3] The Nacional Monte de Piedad is a charitable institution and pawn shop whose main office is located just off the Zocalo, or main plaza of Mexico City Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W battery. It was established between 1774 and 1777 by Pedro Romero de Terreros as part of a movement to provide interest-free or low-interest loans to the poor. It was recognized as a national charity in 1927 by the Mexican government.[3] Today it is a fast-growing institution with over 152 branches all over Mexico and with plans to open a branch in every Mexican city. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q batteryThe economic downturn of 2008 saw the advent of the online pawnbrokers such as Borro, who offered customers the chance to gain finance against their assets without ever entering a pawn shop.[5] Symbol Symbol of pawnbrokers. Pawnbroker's sign in Edinburgh Scotland The pawnbrokers' symbol is three spheres suspended from a bar. The three sphere symbol is attributed to the Medici family of Florence, Italy, owing to its symbolic meaning of Lombard.[1] This refers to the Italian province of Lombardy, where pawn shop banking originated under the name of Lombard banking Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/P battery. The three golden spheres were originally the symbol which medieval Lombard merchants hung in front of their houses, and not the arms of the Medici family. It has been conjectured that the golden spheres were originally three flat yellow effigies of byzants, or gold coins, laid heraldically upon a sable field, but that they were converted into spheres to better attract attention (Sony VAIO VGN-AW11M/H battery). Most European towns called the pawn shop the "Lombard". The House of Lombard was a banking family in medieval London, England. According to legend, a Medici employed by Charlemagne slew a giant using three bags of rocks. The three-ball symbol became the family crest. Since the Medicis were so successful in the financial, banking (Sony VAIO VGN-AW11S/B battery), and moneylending industries, other families also adopted the symbol. Throughout the Middle Ages, coats of arms bore three balls, orbs, plates, discs, coins and more as symbols of monetary success. Pawnbrokers (and their detractors) joke that the three balls mean "Two to one, you won't get your stuff back". Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of pawnbrokers. The symbol has also been attributed to the story of Nicholas giving a poor man's three daughters each a bag of gold so they could get married (Sony VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B battery).[6] In Asia Pawn shop in Malaysia Pawn shop in Hong Kong A typical Hong Kong pawn shop sign: a bat holding a coin. In Hong Kong the practice follows the Chinese tradition, and the counter of the shop is typically higher than the average person for security. A customer can only hold up his hand to offer belongings and there is a wooden screen between the door and the counter for customers' privacy. The symbol of a pawn shop in Hong Kong is a bat (the animal) holding a coin (Sony VAIO VGN-AW19/Q battery) (Chinese: 蝠鼠吊金錢, Cantonese: fūk syú diu gām chín). The bat signifies fortune and the coin signifies benefits. In Japan, the usual symbol for a pawn shop is a circled digit seven, as "shichi", the Japanese word for seven, sounds similar to the word for "pawn" (質). In Malaysia, a multi-race country, where Malaysian Chinese consists 25% of total population, initiated the Pawnbroker business. Nowadays, majority pawnbrokers in Malaysia are managed by Malaysian Chinese. In Malay, Pawn is called as "PAJAK GADAI" (Sony VAIO VGN-AW19 battery). A valid and licensed Pawnshop in Malaysia must always declare themselves as a "PAJAK GADAI" or a PAWNSHOP for their company registration. They must also fulfill the requirement of Ministry of Housing and Local Government, where the pawn counter is not higher than 4 feet, bullet-proof and stainless steeled counters, stainless steeled doors, strong rooms with automatic locks, safes, equipped with fully computerized system (Sony VAIO VGN-AW21M/H battery), CCTV, Alarm and Pawnbroker Insurance. The picture shows one of the Malaysia's Pawnshops that is located at Changlun, which is the only pawnshop that closes to the border of Thailand. In the Philippines, the operation of pawnshops is managed by private businesses and is duly regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Pawnshops usually accept gold jewelry, appliances, gadgets, etc (Sony VAIO VGN-AW21S/B battery). Many pawnshops in the Philippines have adapted other services into their nationwide branches like Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop.Services like international and domestic remittance, insurance, bills payment, b2b money collection, e-loading for mobile phones, ticketing, and even banking are not unusual to see in a regular pawnshop the Philippines( SONY Vaio VGN-NS38M Battery). In India, the Marwari Jain community pioneered the pawnbroking business, but today others are involved; the work is done by many agents called "saudagar". Instead of working from a shop, they go to needy people's homes and motivate them to become involved in the business. Pawn shops are often run as part of jewelry stores. Gold, silver, and diamonds are frequently accepted as collateral( SONY Vaio VGN-NS31S Battery). Pawnbroking is also a traditional trade in Thailand, where pawnshops are run both privately and by local governments. In Sri Lanka Pawnbroking is a lucrative business engaged in by specialized pawnbrokers as well as commercial banks and other finance companies. Popular culture Pawn Stars, an American reality television series (2009) appearing on the History Channel, chronicles the daily activities at the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada. A spinoff series, Cajun Pawn Stars, premiered in 2012 and focuses on the Silver Dollar Pawn and Jewelry Center in Alexandria, Louisiana( SONY Vaio VGN-NS31M Battery). A similar show, Hardcore Pawn, premiered on TruTV in August 2010, concerning American Jewelry and Loan in Detroit, Michigan. The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, an early Sherlock Holmes short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, centers around a London pawnbroker and his somewhat shifty young clerk( SONY Vaio VGN-NS31Z Battery).
The Musée du Louvre (French pronunciation: [myze dy luvʁ])—in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre—is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district) ( SONY PCG-5G2L battery). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace( SONY PCG-5G3L battery). In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture.[5] In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons( SONY PCG-F305 battery). The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.[6] During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801( SONY PCG-5J1L battery). The size of the collection increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces( SONY PCG-5J2L battery). Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings. History:12th-20th centuries Medieval, Renaissance, and Bourbon palace The only portion of the medieval Louvre still visible[7] Main article: Palais du Louvre The Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which houses the museum was begun as a fortress by Philip II in the 12th century, with remnants of this building still visible in the crypt( SONY PCG-5K2L battery).[7] Whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, but it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower.[8] Although some believe that the word 'louvre' may refer to the structure's status as the largest in late 12th century Paris (from the French L'Œuvre, masterpiece) – or to its location in a forest (from the French rouvre, oak) – one finds in the authoritative Larousse that it derives from an association with wolf hunting den ( SONY PCG-5L1L battery) (via Latin: lupus, lower Empire: lupara).[8][9] The Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis I (François 1er ) renovated the site in French Renaissance style.[10] Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvre's holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa( SONY PCG-6S2L battery).[11] After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed; however, the move permitted the Louvre to be used as a residence for artists. By the mid-18th century there was an increasing number of proposals to create a public gallery, with the art critic La Font de Saint-Yenne publishing, in 1747, a call for a display of the royal collection'.[14] On 14 October 1750( SONY PCG-6S3L battery), Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. A hall was opened by Le Normant de Tournehem and the Marquis de Marigny for public viewing of the Tableaux du Roy on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and contained Andrea del Sarto's Charity and works by Raphael( SONY PCG-6V1L battery); Titian; Veronese; Rembrandt; Poussin or Van Dyck, until its closing in 1780 as a result of the gift of the palace to the comte de Provence by the king in 1778.[15] Under Louis XVI, the royal museum idea became policy.[14] The comte d'Angiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps( SONY PCG-6W1L battery) – into the "French Museum".[15] Many proposals were offered for the Louvre's renovation into a museum, however none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution.[15] French Revolution During the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be "a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts".[15] On 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property( SONY PCG-7111L battery). Because of fear of vandalism or theft, on 19 August, the National Assembly pronounced the museum's preparation as urgent. In October, a committee to "preserve the national memory" began assembling the collection for display.[16] Opening Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss was commissioned in 1787, donated in 1824. ( SONY PCG-71511M battery) The museum opened on 10 August 1793, the first anniversary of the monarchy's demise. The public was given free access on three days per week, which was "perceived as a major accomplishment and was generally appreciated".[18] The collection showcased 537 paintings and 184 objects of art. Three quarters were derived from the royal collections, the remainder from confiscated émigrés and Church property (biens nationaux) ( SONY PCG-6W3L battery). To expand and organize the collection, the Republic dedicated 100,000 livres per year. In 1794, France's revolutionary armies began bringing pieces from across Europe, such as Laocoön and His Sons and the Apollo Belvedere, to establish the Louvre as a museum and as a "sign of popular sovereignty"( SONY PCG-7113L battery). The early days were hectic; artists lived in residence, and the unlabelled paintings hung "frame to frame from floor to ceiling".[19] The building itself closed in May 1796 because of structural deficiencies. It reopened on 14 July 1801, arranged chronologically and with new lighting and columns( SONY PCG-7133L battery).[19] Napoleon I Under Napoleon I, a northern wing paralleling the Grande Galérie was begun, and the collection grew through successful military campaigns.[22] Following the Egyptian campaign of 1798–1801, Napoléon appointed the museum's first director, Dominique Vivant Denon. In tribute, the museum was renamed the "Musée Napoléon" in 1803, and acquisitions were made of Spanish( SONY PCG-7Z1L battery), Austrian, Dutch, and Italian works, either as spoils or through treaties such as the Treaty of Tolentino.[23] After the French defeat at Waterloo, the works' former owners sought their return. The Louvre's administrators were loath to comply and hid many works in their private collections. In response, foreign states sent emissaries to London to seek help, and many pieces were returned, even some that had been restored by the Louvre. ( SONY PCG-7Z2L battery) In 1815 Louis XVIII finally concluded agreements with Italy for the keeping of pieces such as Veronese's Wedding at Cana which was exchanged for a large Le Brun or the repurchase of the Albani collection. Restoration and Second Empire The Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of Louis XVIII. During the Restoration (1814–30), Louis XVIII and Charles X between them added 135 pieces at a cost of 720,000 francs and created the department of Egyptian antiquities curated by Champollion( SONY PCG-8Y1L battery), increased by more than 7,000 works with the acquisition of the Durand, Salt or second Drovetti collections. This was less than the amount given for rehabilitation of Versailles, and the Louvre suffered relative to the rest of Paris. After the creation of the French Second Republic in 1848, the new government allocated two million francs for repair work and ordered the completion of the Galerie d'Apollon( SONY PCG-8Y2L battery), the Salon Carré, and the Grande Galérie.[25] In 1861, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte bought 11,835 artworks including 641 paintings of the Campana collection. During the Second French Empire, between 1852 and 1870, the French economy grew; by 1870 the museum had added 20,000 new pieces to its collections, and the Pavillon de Flore and the Grande Galérie were remodelled under architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel. ( SONY PCG-8Z2L battery) [edit]Third Republic and World Wars During the French Third Republic the Louvre acquired new pieces mainly via donations and gifts. The Société des Amis du Louvre donated the Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, and in 1863 an expedition uncovered the sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Aegean Sea. This piece, though heavily damaged, has been prominently displayed since 1884. ( SONY PCG-8Z1L battery) The 583-item Collection La Caze donated in 1869, included works by Chardin; Fragonard; Rembrandt – such as Bathsheba at Her Bath – and Gilles by Watteau.[26] Museum expansion slowed after World War I, and the collection did not acquire many significant new works; exceptions were Georges de La Tour's Saint Thomas and Baron Edmond de Rothschild's (1845–1934) 1935 donation of 4,000 engravings, 3,000 drawings, and 500 illustrated books. ( SONY PCG-7112L battery) During World War II the museum removed most of the art and hid valuable pieces. When Germany occupied the Sudetenland, many important artworks such as the Mona Lisa were temporarily moved to the Château de Chambord. When war was formally declared a year later, most of the museum's paintings were sent there as well( SONY PCG-6W2L battery). Select sculptures such as Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo were sent to the Château de Valençay.[27] On 27 August 1939, after two days of packing, truck convoys began to leave Paris. By 28 December, the museum was cleared of most works, except those that were too heavy and "unimportant paintings [that] were left in the basement".[28] In early 1945, after the liberation of France, art began returning to the Louvre. ( SONY PCG-5K1L battery) Grand Louvre and the Pyramids Main article: Louvre Pyramid By 1874, the Louvre Palace had achieved its present form of an almost rectangular structure with the Sully Wing to the east containing the square Cour Carrée and the oldest parts of the Louvre; and two wings which wrap the Cour Napoléon, the Richelieu Wing to the north and the Denon Wing, which borders the Seine to the south.[30] In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed( SONY VGP-BPS8 battery), as one of the Grands Projets of François Mitterrand the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon.[31] The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988( SONY VGP-BPS8A battery). The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion. 21st century The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 1 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection.[33] The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds.[20] It is the world's most visited museum( SONY VGP-BPL8 battery), averaging 15,000 visitors per day, 65 percent of whom are foreign tourists.[32][34] In popular culture, the Louvre was a point of interest in the book The Da Vinci Code and the 2006 film based on the book. The museum earned $2.5 million by allowing filming in its galleries. Administration The Mona Lisa is the Louvre's most popular attraction. The Louvre is owned by the French government; however, since the nineties it has become more independent. Since 2003, the museum has been required to generate funds for projects.[38] By 2006, government funds had dipped from 75 percent of the total budget to 62 percent( SONY VGP-BPS9 battery). In 2008, the French government provided $180 million of the Louvre's yearly $350 million budget; the remainder came from private contributions and ticket sales.[37] The Louvre employs a staff of 2,000 led by Director Henri Loyrette, who reports to the French Ministry of Culture and Communications. Under Loyrette, who replaced Pierre Rosenberg in 2001, the Louvre has undergone policy changes that allow it to lend and borrow more works than before. ( SONY VGP-BPS9/S battery) In 2006, it loaned 1,300 works, which enabled it to borrow more foreign works. From 2006 to 2009, the Louvre lent artwork to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and received a $6.9 million payment to be used for renovations.[38] In addition, the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi generated further income for the museum. Loyrette has tried to improve weak parts of the collection through income generated from loans of art and by guaranteeing that "20% ( SONY VGP-BPS9A battery)of admissions receipts will be taken annually for acquisitions".[38] He has more administrative independence for the museum and achieved 90 percent of galleries to be open daily, as opposed to 80 percent previously. He oversaw the creation of extended hours and free admission on Friday nights and an increase in the acquisition budget to $36 million from $4.5 million. ( SONY VGP-BPS9A/B battery) Satellite museums Lens Main article: Louvre-Lens In 2004, French officials decided to build a satellite museum on the site of an abandoned coal pit in the former mining town of Lens to relieve the crowded Paris Louvre, increase total museum visits, and improve the industrial north's economy.[40] Six cities were considered for the project: Amiens, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lens, and Valenciennes. In 2004, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin chose Lens to be the site of the new building, called Le Louvre-Lens( SONY VGP-BPS9/B battery). Museum officials predicted that the new building, capable of receiving about 600 works of art, would attract up to 500,000 visitors a year when it opened in 2009.[40] [edit]Abu Dhabi Main article: Louvre Abu Dhabi In March 2007, the Louvre announced that a Louvre museum would be completed by 2012 in Abu Dhabi. A 30-year agreement, signed by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Sheik Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, will establish the museum in downtown Abu Dhabi in exchange for €832,000,000 (US$1.3 billion) ( SONY VGP-BPS9A/S battery). The Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel and the engineering firm of Buro Happold, will occupy 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft) and will be covered by a roof shaped like a flying saucer. France agreed to rotate between 200 and 300 artworks during a 10-year period; to provide management expertise; and to provide four temporary exhibitions a year for 15 years. The art will come from multiple museums( SONY VGP-BPL9 battery), including the Louvre, the Georges Pompidou Centre, the Musée d'Orsay, Versailles, the Musée Guimet, the Musée Rodin, and the Musée du quai Branly.[41] [edit]Controversies The Louvre is involved in controversies that surround cultural property seized under Napoleon I and during World War II by the Nazis. After Nazi occupation, 61,233 articles on more than 150,000 seized artworks returned to France and were assigned to the Office des Biens Privés. In 1949 it entrusted 2130 remaining unclaimed pieces (including 1001 paintings) ( SONY VGP-BPS10 battery) to the Direction des Musées de France in order to keep them under appropriate conditions of conservation until their restitution, and meanwhile classified them as MNRs (Musees Nationaux Recuperation or, in English : National Museums of Recovered Artwork). Some 10 % to 35 % of the pieces are believed to come from Jewish spoliations[42] and until the identification of their rightful owners, which declined at the end of the 1960s, they are registered indefinitely on separate inventories from the museums collections( SONY VGP-BPL10 battery). They were exhibited in 1946 and shown all together to the public during four years (1950–1954) in order to allow rightful claimants to identify their properties, then stored or exposed, according to their interest, in several French museums including the Louvre. From 1951 to 1965, about 37 pieces were restituted. Since November 1996( SONY VGP-BPS11 battery), the partly illustrated catalogue of 1947–1949 has been accessible online and completed. In 1997, Prime Minister Alain Juppé initiated the Mattéoli Commission, headed by Jean Mattéoli, to investigate the matter and according to the government, the Louvre is in charge of 678 pieces of still unclaimed artworks by their rightful owners.[43] During the late 1990s the comparison of the American war archives( SONY VGP-BPL11 battery), which had not been done before, with the French and German ones as well as two court cases which finally settled some of the heirs' rights (Gentili di Giuseppe and Rosenberg families) allowed more accurate investigations. Since 1996, the restitutions, according sometimes to less formal criteria, concerned 47 more pieces (26 paintings, with 6 from the Louvre including a then displayed Tiepolo), until the last claims of French owners and their heirs ended again in 2006( SONY VGP-BPL12 battery). According to Serge Klarsfeld, since the now complete and constant publicity which the artworks got in 1996, the majority of the French Jewish community is nevertheless in favour of the return to the normal French civil rule of prescription acquisitive of any unclaimed good after another long period of time and consequently to their ultimate integration into the common French heritage instead of their transfer to foreign institutions like during World War II( SONY VGP-BPS12 battery). Napoleon's campaigns acquired Italian pieces by treaties, as war reparations, and Northern European pieces as spoils as well as some antiquities excavated in Egypt, though the vast majority of the latter were seized as war reparations by the British army and are now part of collections of the British Museum. On the other hand, the Dendera zodiac is, like the Rosetta stone( SONY VGP-BPS13 battery), claimed by Egypt even though it was acquired in 1821, before the Egyptian Anti-export legislation of 1835. The Louvre administration has thus argued in favor of retaining this item despite requests by Egypt for its return. The museum participates too in arbitration sessions held via UNESCO's Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin.[44] The museum consequently returned in 2009 five Egyptian fragments of frescoes (30 cm x 15 cm each) ( SONY VGP-BPS13Q battery) whose existence of the tomb of origin had only been brought to the authorities attention in 2008, eight to five years after their good-faith acquisition by the museum from two private collections and after the necessary respect of the procedure of déclassement from French public collections before the Commission scientifique nationale des collections des musées de France. ( SONY VGP-BPS13A/Q battery) Collections The Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt, limestone and alabaster, circa 2600 and 2350 BC[46] The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments.[47] [edit]Egyptian antiquities The department, comprising over 50,000 pieces,[48] includes artifacts from the Nile civilizations which date from 4,000 BC to the 4th century.[49] The collection, among the world's largest, overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt( SONY VGP-BPS13B/Q battery), the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods.[49] The department's origins lie in the royal collection, but it was augmented by Napoleon's 1798 expeditionary trip with Dominique Vivant, the future director of the Louvre.[48] After Jean-François Champollion translated the Rosetta Stone, Charles X decreed that an Egyptian Antiquities department be created( SONY VGP-BPS13/B battery). Champollion advised the purchase of three collections, the Durand, Salt and Drovetti; these additions added 7,000 works. Growth continued via acquisitions by Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Mariette, after excavations at Memphis, sent back crates of archaeological finds including The Seated Scribe. ( SONY VGP-BPS13B/B battery) Guarded by the Large Sphinx (c. 2000 BC), the collection is housed in more than 20 rooms. Holdings include art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, games, musical instruments, and weapons.[48][49] Pieces from the ancient period include the Gebel el-Arak Knife from 3400 BC, The Seated Scribe, and the Head of King Djedefre. Middle Kingdom art( SONY VGP-BPS13A/S battery), "known for its gold work and statues", moved from realism to idealization; this is exemplified by the schist statue of Amenemhatankh and the wooden Offering Bearer. The New Kingdom and Coptic Egyptian sections are deep, but the statue of the goddess Nephthys and the limestone depiction of the goddess Hathor demonstrate New Kingdom sentiment and wealth. ( SONY VGP-BPS21A/B battery) Human-headed winged bull (shedu), Assyria, limestone, 8th century BC. [edit]Near Eastern antiquities Near Eastern antiquities, the second newest department, dates from 1881 and presents an overview of early Near Eastern civilization and "first settlements", before the arrival of Islam. The department is divided into three geographic areas: the Levant, Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran) . The collection's development corresponds to archaeological work such as Paul-Émile Botta's 1843 expedition to Khorsabad and the discovery of Sargon II's palace. ( SONY VGP-BPS21B battery) These finds formed the basis of the Assyrian museum, the precursor to today's department.[49] The museum contains exhibits from Sumer and the city of Akkad, with monuments such as the Prince of Lagash's Stele of the Vultures from 2,450 BC and the stele erected by Naram-Sin, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in the Zagros Mountains. The 2.25-metre (7.38 ft) Code of Hammurabi( SONY VGP-BPS21 battery), discovered in 1901, displays Babylonian Laws prominently, so that no man could plead their ignorance. The Persian portion of Louvre contains work from the archaic period, like the Funerary Head and the Persian Archers of Darius I. This section also contains rare objects from Persepolis which were also lent to British Museum for its Ancient Persia exihibition in 2005.[53] The Nike of Samothrace (winged Victory), marble, circa 190 BC Greek, Etruscan, and Roman( SONY VGP-BPS21/S battery) The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from the Neolithic to the 6th century.[54] The collection spans from the Cycladic period to the decline of the Roman Empire. This department is one of the museum's oldest; it began with appropriated royal art, some of which was acquired under Francis I. ( SONY VGP-BPS13AS battery)Initially, the collection focused on marble sculptures, such as the Venus de Milo. Works such as the Apollo Belvedere arrived during the Napoleonic Wars, but these pieces were returned after Napoleon I's fall in 1815. In the 19th century, the Louvre acquired works including vases from the Durand collection, bronzes such as the Borghese Vase from the Bibliothèque nationale. ( SONY VGP-BPS13S battery) The archaic is demonstrated by jewellery and pieces such as the limestone Lady of Auxerre, from 640 BC; and the cylindrical Hera of Samos, circa 570–560 BC. After the 4th century BC, focus on the human form increased, exemplified by the Borghese Gladiator. The Louvre holds masterpieces from the Hellenistic era, including The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo, symbolic of classical art( SONY VGP-BPS13B/S battery).[55] The long Galerie Campana displays an outstanding collection of more than one thousand Greek potteries. In the galleries paralleling the Seine, much of the museum's Roman sculpture is displayed.[54] The Roman portraiture is representative of that genre; examples include the portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus; among the bronzes is the Greek Apollo of Piombino( SONY VGP-BPS13B/G battery). Casket, ivory and silver, Muslim Spain, 966 [edit]Islamic art The Islamic art collection, the museum's newest, spans "thirteen centuries and three continents".[57] These exhibits, comprising ceramics, glass, metalware, wood, ivory, carpet, textiles, and miniatures, include more than 5,000 works and 1,000 shards.[58] Originally part of the decorative arts department, the holdings became separate in 2003( SONY VGP-BPS14 battery). Among the works are the Pyxide d'al-Mughira, a 10th century ivory box from Andalusia; the Baptistery of Saint-Louis, an engraved brass basin from the 13th or 14 century Mamluk period; and the 10th century Shroud of Josse from Iran.[51][57] The collection contains three pages of the Shahnameh, an epic book of poems by Ferdowsi in Persian, and a Syrian metalwork named the Barberini Vase. ( SONY VGP-BPL14 battery) Tomb of Philippe Pot, governor of Burgundy under Louis XI, by Antoine Le Moiturier [edit]Sculpture The sculpture department comprises work created before 1850 that does not belong in the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman department.[59] The Louvre has been a repository of sculpted material since its time as a palace; however, only ancient architecture was displayed until 1824, except for Michelangelo's Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave. ( SONY VGP-BPS14/B battery)Initially the collection included only 100 pieces, the rest of the royal sculpture collection being at Versailles. It remained small until 1847, when Léon Laborde was given control of the department. Laborde developed the medieval section and purchased the first such statues and sculptures in the collection, King Childebert and stanga door, respectively.[60] The collection was part of the Department of Antiquities but was given autonomy in 1871 under Louis Courajod( SONY VGP-BPS14/S battery), a director who organized a wider representation of French works.[59][60] In 1986, all post-1850 works were relocated to the new Musée d'Orsay. The Grand Louvre project separated the department into two exhibition spaces; the French collection is displayed in the Richelieu wing, and foreign works in the Denon wing.[59] The collection's overview of French sculpture contains Romanesque works such as the 11th century Daniel in the Lions' Den and the 12th century Virgin of Auvergne( SONY VGP-BPS14B battery). In the 16th century, Renaissance influence caused French sculpture to become more restrained, as seen in Jean Goujon's bas-reliefs, and Germain Pilon's Descent from the Cross and Resurrection of Christ. The 17th and 18th centuries are represented by Étienne Maurice Falconet's Woman Bathing and Amour menaçant and François Anguier's obelisks. Neoclassical works includes Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss (1787) ( SONY VGP-BPS22 battery). French stained glass panel, 13 century, depicting Saint Blaise [edit]Decorative arts The Objets d'art collection spans from the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century. The department began as a subset of the sculpture department, based on royal property and the transfer of work from the Basilique Saint-Denis, the burial ground of French monarchs that held the Coronation Sword of the Kings of France. Among the budding collection's most prized works were pietre dure vases and bronzes( SONY VGP-BPS22 battery). The Durand collection's 1825 acquisition added "ceramics, enamels, and stained glass", and 800 pieces were given by Pierre Révoil. The onset of Romanticism rekindled interest in Renaissance and Medieval artwork, and the Sauvageot donation expanded the department with 1,500 middle-age and faïence works. In 1862, the Campana collection added gold jewelry and maiolicas, mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries. ( SONY VGP-BPS18 battery) The works are displayed on the Richelieu Wing's first floor and in the Apollo Gallery, named by the painter Charles Le Brun, who was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) to decorate the space in a solar theme. The medieval collection contains the coronation crown of Louis XIV, Charles V's sceptre, and the 12th century porphyry vase. ( SONY VGP-BPS22/A battery)The Renaissance art holdings include Giambologna's bronze Nessus and Deianira and the tapestry Maximillian's Hunt.[61] From later periods, highlights include Madame de Pompadour's Sèvres vase collection and Napoleon III's apartments.[61] The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, oil on panel, 1503–19, probably completed while the artist was at the court of Francis I( SONY VGP-BPS22A battery). In September 2000, the Louvre Museum dedicated the Gilbert Chagoury and Rose-Marie Chagoury Gallery to display tapestries donated by the Chagoury's, including a 16th century six-part tapestry, sewn with gold and silver threads representing sea divinities, which was commissioned in Paris for Colbert de Seignelay, then Secretary of State for the Navy( SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/W battery). [edit]Painting Further information: List of works in the Louvre The painting collection has more than 7,500 works[65] from the 13th century to 1848 and is managed by 12 curators who oversee the collection's display. Nearly two-thirds are by French artists, and more than 1,200 are Northern European. The Italian paintings compose most of the remnants of Francis I and Louis XIV's collections, others are unreturned artwork from the Napoleon era, and some were bought( SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/R battery). The collection began with Francis, who acquired works from Italian masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo,[68] and brought Leonardo da Vinci to his court.[11][69] After the French Revolution, the Royal Collection formed the nucleus of the Louvre. When the d'Orsay train station was converted into the Musée d'Orsay in 1986, the collection was split( SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/P battery), and pieces completed after the 1848 Revolution were moved to the new museum. French and Northern European works are in the Richelieu wing and Cour Carrée; Spanish and Italian paintings are on the first floor of the Denon wing.[67] Exemplifying the French School are the early Avignon Pietà of Enguerrand Quarton; the anonymous painting of King Jean le Bon (c.1360), possibly the oldest independent portrait in Western painting to survive from the postclassical era( SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/L battery);[70] Hyacinthe Rigaud's Louis XIV; Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon; and Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. Northern European works include Johannes Vermeer's The Lacemaker and The Astronomer; Caspar David Friedrich's The Tree of Crows; Rembrandt's The Supper at Emmaus, Bathsheba at Her Bath, and The Slaughtered Ox. The Italian holdings are notable, particularly the Renaissance collection. The works include Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini's Calvarys( SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E battery), which reflect realism and detail "meant to depict the significant events of a greater spiritual world".[71] The High Renaissance collection includes Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Virgin and Child with St. Anne, St. John the Baptist, and Madonna of the Rocks. Caravaggio is represented by The Fortune Teller and Death of the Virgin. From 16th century Venice, the Louvre displays Titian's Le Concert Champetre, The Entombment and The Crowning with Thorns( SONY Vaio VGN-CR120 battery). Three lion-like heads, Charles le Brun, France, pen and wash on squared paper, 1671 The La Caze Collection, a bequest to the Musée du Louvre in 1869 by Louis La Caze was the largest contribution of a person in the history of the Louvre. La Caze gave 584 paintings of his personal collection to the museum. The bequest included Antoine Watteau's Commedia dell'arte player of Pierrot ("Gilles"). In 2007, this bequest was the topic of the exhibition "1869: Watteau, Chardin... entrent au Louvre. La collection La Caze".( SONY Vaio VGN-CR11H/B battery) Some of the best known paintings of the museum have been digitized by the French Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France. [edit]Prints and drawings The prints and drawings department encompasses works on paper.[75] The origins of the collection were the 8,600 works in the Royal Collection (Cabinet du Roi), which were increased via state appropriation, purchases such as the 1,200 works from Fillipo Baldinucci's collection in 1806, and donations.[46][76] The department opened on 5 August 1797( SONY Vaio VGN-CR116E battery), with 415 pieces displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon. The collection is organized into three sections: the core Cabinet du Roi, 14,000 royal copper printing-plates, and the donations of Edmond de Rothschild, which include 40,000 prints, 3,000 drawings, and 5,000 illustrated books. The holdings are displayed in the Pavillon de Flore; due to the fragility of the paper medium, only a portion are displayed at one time. ( SONY Vaio VGN-CR116 battery) Location, access and facilities A map of the Louvre in the 1er arrondissement of Paris. Metro lines serving the area are shown, with stations colored red. Note that the RER is not shown. Landmarks are in black. The museum lies in the centre of Paris on the Right Bank. The neighborhood, known as the 1st arrondissement, is home to the destroyed Palais des Tuileries. The adjacent Tuileries Gardens, created in 1564 by Catherine de Medici, was designed in 1664 by André Le Nôtre( SONY Vaio VGN-CR115E battery). The gardens house the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, a contemporary art museum that was used to store Jewish cultural property from 1940 to 1944.[77] Parallel to the Jeu de Paume is the Orangerie, home to the famous Water Lilies paintings by Claude Monet. The Louvre is slightly askew of the axe historique (Historic Axis), a roughly eight-kilometre (five-mile) architectural line bisecting the city. It begins on the east in the Louvre courtyard and runs west along the Champs-Élysées( SONY Vaio VGN-CR115 battery). In 1871, the burning of the Tuileries Palace by the Paris Commune revealed that the Louvre was slightly askew of the Axe despite past appearances to the contrary.[78] The Louvre can be reached by the Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations.[79] There are three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing) ( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11S battery). Under the main entrance to the museum is the Carrousel du Louvre, a shopping mall operated by Unibail-Rodamco. Among other stores, it has the first Apple Store in France, and a McDonald's restaurant, the presence of which has created controversy.[80] The use of cameras and video recorders is permitted inside. Use of flashes is forbidden. Chanel S.A. (French: [ʃanɛl], English: /ʃəˈnɛl/) is the French house of high fashion that specializes in haute couture and ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods, and fashion accessories. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15T battery)In her youth, the couturière Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel gained the soubriquet “Coco” in the course of her career as a chanteuse de café in provincial France. As a fashion designer, Coco Chanel catered to a woman’s taste for elegance in dress, with blouses and suits, trousers and dresses, and jewellry (gemstone and bijouterie) of simple design, that replaced the opulent, over-designed( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G battery), and constrictive clothes and accessories of the 19th-century fashion. Historically, the House of Chanel is most famous for the stylistically versatile “little black dress”, the perfume No. 5 de Chanel, and the Chanel Suit. As a business enterprise, Chanel S.A. is a privately held company owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E battery), an early business partner of Coco Chanel. Commercially, the brands of the House of Chanel have been personified by fashion models and actresses, by women such as Inès de la Fressange, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Vanessa Paradis, Nicole Kidman, Anna Mouglalis, Audrey Tautou, Keira Knightley, and Marilyn Monroe, who epitomise the independent, self-confident Chanel Girl. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L battery) La couturière Coco Chanel (1920) As a couturière, the milliner and dressmaker Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel presented and established new clothing and costume designs that promoted women from being male objects of conspicuous consumption and sexual display, to being persons who dressed for themselves, in comfortable clothes that allowed free movement; as such( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z battery), the practical application of jersey fabric to the construction of clothes was one technical innovation that made the garments popular and affordable.[4] Chanel revolutionized fashion — haute couture and prêt-à-porter — by replacing the structured-silhouette fashions, based upon the corset and the bodice, with garments of simple design that were cut and confected to be functional, and to aesthetically enhance the woman’s figure, in action and in repose( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M battery). In the 1920s, the simple-line designs of Chanel couture made popular the “flat-chested” fashions that were the opposite of the hourglass-figure achieved by the restrictively structured and ornate fashions of the late 19th century — the Belle Époque of France (ca. 1890–1914), and the British Edwardian Era (ca. 1901–1919). Besides comfortable wear( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M battery), Chanel’s stylish and functional clothes were complemented by the suppleness of jersey fabric, which allowed the modern, 20th-century-woman to live and practice an active style of life; colour-wise, the fashion designer Coco Chanel used traditionally masculine colours, such as grey and navy blue, to connote boldness of character. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 battery) The clothes of the House of Chanel also are known for quilted fabric and leather trimmings; the quilted construction of the garment reinforces the fabric, the design, and the finish, which produce a garment confected to maintain its form and function in every circumstance. The notable example of such haute couture techniques is the woolen Chanel Suit —( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE battery)a knee-length skirt and a cardigan-style jacket, trimmed and decorated with black embroidery and gold-coloured buttons. The complementary accessories are two-tone pump shoes and jewellry (gemstone and bijouterie), usually a necklace of pearls, and a leather handbag. Moreover, the great financial, commercial, and cultural successes of perfume No. 5 increased public recognition of the House of Chanel( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31S battery), desire for its haute couture designs, demand for the prêt-à-porter clothes, and enhanced the artistic reputation of the couturière Coco Chanel; and, in lean times, perfume kept Chanel solvent. History The Coco Chanel era Establishment and recognition — 1909–1920s The actress Gabrielle Dorziat wearing a Chanel plumed hat. (1912) Fashion before Chanel: The artificial bust, waist, and hips of corsetry. (Bianca Lyons,1902) The Chanel Suit 2009: a tailored cardigan-style jacket, knee-length skirt, two-toned shoes, jewellry, and a leather handbag( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z battery). The House of Chanel (Chanel S.A.) originated in 1909, when Gabrielle Chanel opened a millinery shop at 160 Boulevard Malesherbes, the ground floor of the Parisian flat of the socialite and textile businessman Étienne Balsan, of whom she was mistress.[2] Hence, because the Balsan flat also was a salon for the French hunting and sporting élite, Chanel had opportunity to meet their demi-mondaine mistresses, who, as such, were women of fashion( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E battery), upon whom the rich men displayed their wealth — as ornate clothes, jewelry, and hats; Coco Chanel thus could sell to them the hats she designed and made; she thus earned a living, independent of her financial sponsor, the socialite Balsan. In the course of those salons Coco Chanel befriended Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, an English socialite and polo player friend of Étienne Balsan; per the upper class social custom( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31J battery), Chanel also became mistress to Boy Capel. Nonetheless, despite that social circumstance, Boy Capel perceived the businesswoman innate to Coco Chanel, and, in 1910, financed her first independent millinery shop, Chanel Modes, at 21 rue Cambon, Paris; yet, because that locale already housed a dress shop, the business-lease limited Chanel to selling only millinery products, not couture. Two years later, in 1913( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31M battery), the Deauville and Biarritz couture shops of Coco Chanel offered for sale prêt-à-porter sports clothes for women, the practical designs of which allowed the wearer to play sport.[2][5] The economic imperatives of national military victory in First World War (1914–18) affected European fashion through scarcity of materials, and the socio-economic mobilisation of women — from objects of sexual desire and economic display — to productive workers( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B battery). Besides active military service, the enforced and increased production of coal made men scarce in the factories and in the fields, where they were replaced by women. Until that time — the end of 19th-century culture — fashion for women was about the masculine display of conspicuous consumption, so, clothes makers and designers then had to produce practical and protective garments that would allow women the physical freedom required to do a man’s job( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32 battery) — in factory and field — in order to supply the French war effort against Imperial Germany (1871–1918). By that time, Chanel had opened a large dress shop at 31 rue Cambon, near the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris; among the clothes for sale were flannel blazers, straight-line skirts of linen, sailor blouses, long sweaters made of jersey fabric, and skirt-and-jacket suits. Technically, besides its relative low cost, as a couturière( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410 battery), Coco Chanel used jersey cloth because of its physical properties as a garment, such as its drape — how it falls upon and falls from the body of the woman — and how well it adapted to the simple garment-design that allowed the wearer freedom of movement, physical comfort, and flattering aesthetics. Sartorially, some of Chanel’s designs derived from the military uniforms made prevalent by the War to End all Wars( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21 battery); and, by 1915, the designs and the clothes confected by the House of Chanel were known throughout France.[2] In 1915 and in 1917, Harper’s Bazaar magazine reported that the garments of the House of Chanel were “on the list of every buyer” for the clothing factories of Europe.[2] The Chanel dress shop at 31 rue Cambon presented day-wear dress-and-coat ensembles of simple design, and black evening dresses trimmed with lace; and tulle-fabric dresses decorated with jet( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S battery), a minor gemstone material; the high-quality confection (design, construction, finish) of such clothes established the professional reputation of Coco Chanel as a meticulous couturière.[2] After the First World War, the House of Chanel, following the fashion trends of the 1920s, produced beaded dresses, made especially popular by the Flapper woman.[2] Moreover, by 1920, Chanel had designed and presented a woman’s suit of clothes ( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M battery)— composed either of two garments or of three garments — which allowed a woman to have a modern, feminine appearance, whilst being comfortable and practical to maintain; advocated as the “new uniform for afternoon and evening”, it became known as the Chanel Suit. In 1921, to complement the suit of clothes, Coco Chanel commissioned the perfumer Ernest Beaux to create a perfume for the House of Chanel, and he produced several échantillons, including the perfume No.5( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38M battery), named after the number of the sample Chanel liked best. Originally, a flaçon of No. 5 de Chanel was a gift to regular clients of Chanel — yet, the popularity of the perfume prompted the House of Chanel to offer it for retail sale in 1922; in the event, No. 5 de Chanel became the signature fragrance of the couturière and of her house of couture. In 1923, to explain the success of her clothes, Coco Chanel told Harper’s Bazaar magazine that design “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” ( Sony VAIO VGN-S battery) Business partners — late 1920s The success of the No. 5 encouraged Coco Chanel to expand perfume sales beyond France and Europe, and to develop other parfumerie — for which she required investment capital, business acumen, and commercial access to the North American market. To that end, the businessman Théophile Bader (founder of Galeries Lafayette) introduced the venture capitalist Pierre Wertheimer to the couturière Coco Chanel( Sony VAIO VGN-SZ battery). Their business deal established the Parfums Chanel company, a parfumerie of which Wertheimer owned 70 per cent, Bader owned 20 per cent, and Chanel owned 10 per cent; commercial success of the joint enterprise was assured by the Chanel name, and by the cachet of la “Maison Chanel”, which remained the sole business province of Coco Chanel.[7] Nonetheless, despite the great business success of the Chanel couture and parfumerie( Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery), the personal relations between the couturière and her capitalist partner deteriorated, because, the artiste Coco Chanel said that Pierre Wertheimer was unfairly exploiting her talents as a fashion designer and as a businesswoman.[7] Wertheimer reminded Chanel that he had made her a very rich woman; and that his venture capital had funded Chanel’s productive expansion of the parfumerie which created the wealth they enjoyed, all from the success of No. 5 de Chanel( Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery). Nevertheless unsatisfied, the businesswoman Gabrielle Chanel hired the attorney René de Chambrun to renegotiate the 10-per-cent partnership she entered, in 1924, with the Parfums Chanel company; the lawyer-to-lawyer negotiations failed, and the partnership-percentages remained as established in the original business deal among Wertheimer, Badel, and Chanel. ( Sony VGN-NR260E/S Battery) Elegance and the War — 1930s–1940s The avant-garde couturière Elsa Schiaparelli was Coco Chanel’s only worthwhile rival in the design of clothes. From the gamine fashions of the 1920s, the dressmaker Coco Chanel had progressed to womanly fashions in the 1930s, which was a decade of innovations in the confection of haute couture clothes at Maison Chanel S.A. ( Sony VGN-NR260E/T Battery); evening-dress designs were characterised by an elongated feminine style, and summer dresses featured scintillating contrasts, such as silver eyelets, and shoulder straps decorated with rhinestones. In 1932, Mademoiselle Chanel presented an exhibition of jewelry dedicated to the diamond as fashion accessory; it featured the stylistically memorable Comet and Fountain necklaces of diamonds, which were of such original design, that Chanel S.A. re-presented them in 1993( Sony VGN-NR260E/W Battery). Moreover, by 1937, the House of Chanel had expanded the range of its clothes to more women, and presented prêt-à-porter clothes designed, cut, and confected especially for the petite woman.[2] Among fashion designers, wherein rag-trade originality is in the dress-making technique — design, cut, and confection — only the haute couture created by the avant-garde Elsa Schiaparelli could compete with the clothes of Coco Chanel. ( Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery) Chanel’s spymaster: General Walter Schellenberg Chief of the Sicherheitsdienst. During the Second World War (1939–45), Coco Chanel closed shop at Maison Chanel — leaving only jewellry and parfumerie for sale — and moved the Hôtel Ritz Paris, where she resided with her boyfriend, Hans Günther von Dincklage, a Nazi intelligence officer. Upon conquering France in June of 1940, the Nazis established a Parisian occupation-headquarters in the Hôtel Meurice, on the rue de la Rivoli, opposite the Louvre Museum( Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery), and just around the corner from the fashionable Maison Chanel S.A., at 31 rue Cambon.[2] Meanwhile, because of the Nazi occupation’s official anti-Semitism, Pierre Wertheimer and family, had fled France to the U.S., in mid-1940. Later, in 1941, Coco Chanel attempted to legalistically assume full and formal business control of Parfums Chanel, but was thwarted by an administrative delegation that disallowed her sole disposition of the parfumerie( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery). Having foreseen the Nazi occupation policy of the seizure-and-expropriation to Germany of Jewish business and assets in France, Pierre Wertheimer, the majority partner, had earlier, in May 1940, designated Felix Amiot, a Christian French industrialist, as the “Aryan” proxy whose legal control of the Parfums Chanel business proved politically acceptable to the Nazis, who then allowed the perfume company to continue as an operating business. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery) Occupied France abounded with rumours that Coco Chanel was a Nazi collaborator; her clandestine identity was secret agent 7124 of the Abwehr, code-named “Westminster”.[10] As such, by order of General Walter Schellenberg, of the Sicherheitsdienst, Chanel was despatched to London on a mission to communicate to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill the particulars of a “separate peace” plan proposed by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler( Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery), who sought to avoid surrendering to the Red Army of the Soviet Russians. At War’s end, upon the Allied liberation of France, Chanel was arrested for having collaborated with the Nazis. In September 1944, the Free French Purge Committee, the épuration, summoned Chanel for interrogation about her collaborationism, yet, without documentary evidence of or witnesses to her collaboration with the Nazis( Sony VAIO VGN-FW11 battery), and because of Churchill’s secret intervention in her behalf, the épuration released Coco Chanel from arrest as a traitor to France.[11][7] Nation-wide, the liberated French people avenged themselves upon the men and the women who had collaborated with the Third Reich’s brutal, five-year occupation of France; a shaved head was the mildest punishment for les collaborateurs horizontales( Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M battery), women who had expediently perdured the Occupation and survived the War with sexual prostitution. Despite having been freed by the British political grace of the deus ex machina Churchill, the strength of the rumours of Chanel’s Nazi collaboration had made it infeasible for her to safely remain in France; promptly, Coco Chanel and her German lover, Hans Günther von Dincklage, went into an eight-year exile to Switzerland. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S battery) In the post–War period, during Coco Chanel’s Swiss exile from France, Pierre Wertheimer returned to Paris, and regained formal administrative control of his family’s business holdings — including control of Parfums Chanel, the parfumerie established with his venture capital, and successful because of the Chanel name.[7] In Switzerland, the news revived Coco Chanel’s resentment at having been an artiste commercially exploited by her business partner( Sony VAIO VGN-FW21E battery), for only ten per cent of the money; spiteful, she then established a rival Swiss parfumerie to create, produce, and sell her “Chanel perfumes”. In turn, Wertheimer, the majority capital stock owner of Parfums Chanel, saw his business interests threatened, and his commercial rights infringed, because he did not possess legally exclusive rights to the Chanel name. Nonetheless, Wertheimer avoided a trademark infringement lawsuit against Coco Chanel( Sony VAIO VGN-FW21J battery), lest it damage the commercial reputation and the artistic credibility of his Chanel-brand parfumerie. Sagaciously, Pierre Wertheimer settled his business- and commercial-rights quarrel with Mademoiselle Chanel, and, in May 1947, they renegotiated the 1924 contract that had established Parfums Chanel — she was paid $400,000 in cash (wartime profits from the sales of perfume No. 5 de Chanel) ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW21L battery); assigned a 2.0 per cent running royalty from the sales of No. 5 parfumerie; assigned limited commercial rights to sell her “Chanel perfumes” in Switzerland; and granted a perpetual monthly stipend that paid all of her expenses. In exchange, the astute businesswoman, Gabrielle Chanel closed her Swiss parfumerie enterprise, and sold to Parfums Chanel the full rights to the name “Coco Chanel”. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M battery) Resurgence — 1950s–1970s This section appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (June 2010) Chanel haute couture: Cashmere suit comprising a sleeveless dress and a long, cardigan-style coat. (ca. 1960) ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M/H battery) In 1953, from Switzerland, Coco Chanel returned to Paris, and found the fashion world enamoured of the “New Look”, by Christian Dior, which, although very feminine, was, in her opinion, a return to the corseted fashions she had opposed at the beginning of her career as a couturière.[2] It was a stylistic and technical challenge to which she responded, by recognizing and acknowledging, that although the market for haute couture was much changed( Sony VAIO VGN-FW21M battery), she could catch-up and prevail.[2] Becoming competitive again would necessarily come at a great price; Chanel needed to be a significant presence in: haute couture, pret-a-porter, costume jewelry and fragrance. Coco swallowed her pride and re-approached Pierre for business advice and financial backing.[7] In return, he negotiated for himself complete rights to all products bearing the brand: "Chanel." ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW21Z battery)But their re-kindled collaboration paid off handsomely as Chanel, with her unerring sense of style, once again became the single, most prestigious label in all of fashion.[7] Importantly for the brand and starting in 1953, Coco collaborated with jeweler Robert Goossens to design a line of Chanel jewelry which exquisitely complimented her iconic fashion designs. For example( Sony VAIO VGN-FW32J battery), she paired her re-launched signature "Chanel Suit" (consisting of a knitted wool cardigan with a matching skirt) with long strings of black and white pearls, setting off the suit wonderfully while at the same time adding to it a degree of femininity, thus lightening a sometimes severe look."[5] She also introduced the Chanel gold or metallic chain-strapped and quilted leather handbags in February 1955. The launch date for this line, 2/55, thus became the internal "appellation" for the quilted bag line( Sony VAIO VGN-FW17W battery). It is still known throughout the world as the "2/55" bag and it, just like the "Chanel Suit" has never really ever fallen out of fashion.[2] Throughout the fifties, her taste continued its unerring path to success, even as she turned to new areas of conquest. Her first venture into men's fragrance became yet another enduring success, Chanel's eau de toilette for men, Pour Monsieur (which has also been marketed under the name( Sony VAIO VGN-FW31E battery): "A Gentleman's Cologne") became, endured and remains even today the number one selling men's fragrance. Chanel and her spring collection received the Fashion Oscar at the 1957 Fashion Awards in Dallas. Pierre Wertheimer bought Bader's 20% share of the perfume business, giving his family 90 per cent.[7] Pierre's son Jacques Wertheimer took his father's place in 1965. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E battery) Coco's attorney Chambrun called the now-gone-relationship as "one based on a businessman's passion, despite her misplaced feelings of exploitation."[7] He told Forbes, "Pierre returned to Paris full of pride and excitement [after one of his horses won the 1956 English Derby]. He rushed to Coco, expecting congratulations and praise. But she refused to kiss him. She resented him, you see, all her life." ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H battery) Coco Chanel died on 10 January 1971, aged 87.[2] She was still "designing, still working" at the time of her death.[2] For example, in the (1966–1969) period, she designed the air hostess uniforms for Olympic Airways, the designer who followed her was Pierre Cardin. In that time, Olympic Airways was a luxury airline, owned by the transport magnate Aristotle Onassis( Sony VAIO VGN-FW31M battery). After her death, leadership of the company was handed down to Yvonne Dudel, Jean Cazaubon, and Philippe Guibourge.[2] After a period of time, Jacques Wertheimer bought the controlling interest of the House of Chanel.[2][7] Critics stated that during his leadership, he never paid much attention to the company, as he was more interested in horse breeding. ( Sony VAIO VGN-FW31J battery) In 1974, the House of Chanel launched Cristalle eau de toilette, which was designed when Coco Chanel was alive. 1978 saw the launch of the first non-couture, prêt-à-porter line and worldwide distribution of accessories. Alain Wertheimer, son of Jacques Wertheimer, assumed control of Chanel S.A. in 1974.[2][7] In the U.S., No. 5 de Chanel was perceives as a passé fashion.seen as a passe perfume.[7] Alain revamped Chanel No.5 sales by reducing the number of outlets carrying the fragrance from 18,000 to 12,000( Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery). He removed the perfume from drugstore shelves, and invested millions of dollars in advertisement for Chanel cosmetics. This ensured a greater sense of scarcity and exclusivity for No.5, and sales rocketed back up as demand for the fragrance increased.[7] He also used many famous people to endorse the perfume — from Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Tautou. Looking for a designer who could bring the label to new heights, he persuaded Karl Lagerfeld to end his contract with fashion house Chloé( Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery). The post–Coco era The couturier Karl Lagerfeld, chief designer at Chanel S.A., and the Bolivian couturière Monica Moss. (Monaco 2005) Chanel couture by Lagerfeld: the Autumn–Winter 2011–2012 collection The 1980s — Karl Lagerfeld In 1981, Chanel launched a new eau de toilette for men, Antaeus. In 1983, Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer for Chanel.[7] He changed Chanel's fashion lines from the old lines to shorter cuts and eye capturing designs. During the 1980s, more than 40 Chanel boutiques were opened up worldwide. ( Sony VGN-NR11S Battery) By the end of the 1980s, these boutiques sold goods ranging from US$200-per-ounce perfume, US$225 ballerina slippers to US$11,000 dresses and US$2,000 leather handbags.[7] Rights to Chanel cosmetics and fragrances were held by Chanel only and not shared with other beauty producers and distributors.[7] As Lagerfeld took charge as chief designer, other designers and marketers for Chanel worked on keeping the classic Chanel look to maintain the Chanel legend. ( Sony VGN-NR110E Battery) Chanel marketer Jean Hoehn explained, "We introduce a new fragrance every 10 years, not every three minutes like many competitors. We don't confuse the consumer. With Chanel, people know what to expect. And they keep coming back to us, at all ages, as they enter and leave the market."[7] The launch of a new fragrance in honor of Coco Chanel, Coco( Sony VGN-NR110E/T Battery), in 1984 maintained success in the perfumery business with Chanel.[7] In 1986, the House of Chanel struck a deal with watchmakers and in 1987, the first Chanel watch made its debut. By the end of the decade, Alain moved the offices to New York City.[7] The 1990s The company became a global leader in fragrance making and marketing in the 1990s.[7] Heavy marketing investment increased revenue.[7] The success of the Maison de Chanel brought the Wertheimer family fortune to $5 billion USD. ( Sony VGN-NR110E/S Battery) Product lines such as watches (retailing for as much as $7,000 USD), shoes, high-end clothes, cosmetics, and accessories were expanded.[7] Sales were hurt by the recession of the early 1990s, but Chanel recovered by the mid-1990s with further boutique expansion.[7] 1990 saw the launch of ĹŹ.[7] In 1996, Chanel bought gunmaker Holland & Holland. It attempted to revamp Holland & Holland, but did not succeed( Sony VGN-NR110E/W Battery).[7] 1996 also greeted the launch of Allure fragrance and due to its immense popularity, a men's version, Allure Homme was launched in 1998. Better success came with the purchase of Eres (a swimwear label). The House of Chanel launched its first skin care line, PRÉCISION in 1999. That same year, Chanel launched a new travel collection, and under a license contract with Luxottica, introduced a line of sunglasses and eyeglass frames( Sony VGN-CR11SR Battery). The 21st century While Alain Wertheimer remained chairman of Chanel, CEO and President Françoise Montenay was to bring Chanel into the 21st century.[7] 2000 saw the launch of the first unisex watch by Chanel, the J12. In 2001, Bell & Ross was purchased (a watchmaker). The same year, Chanel boutiques offering only selections of accessories were opened in the United States( Sony VGN-CR11Z Battery).[7] Chanel also launched a small selection of menswear as a part of their runway shows which may be purchased at a few flagship boutiques including Rue Cambon vjk (Paris), Soho (New York), Roberston Blvd (Los Angeles) and the Prince's building (Hong Kong). In 2002, Chanel launched the Chance perfume, a fragrance meant to convey glamour. The House of Chanel also founded the Paraffection company that gathered the five Ateliers d’Art: Desrues for ornamentation( Sony VGN-CR11S Battery), Lemarié for feathers and camellias, Lesage for embroidery, Massaro for shoemaking, and Michel for millinery. A prêt-à-porter collection leveraging their know-how was designed by Karl Lagerfeld. It is now traditionally presented each December. In July 2002, a jewelry and watch flagship store was opened on the upscale Madison Avenue.[7] Within months, a 1,000sqft shoes and handbag boutique was opened next door to the jewelry and watches flagship( Sony VGN-CR11M Battery).[7] Also in 2002, a rumor suggesting that Chanel was considering a merger with the luxury goods Parisian fashion company Hermès circulated.[7] Although such a merger would have produced one of the largest fashion companies in the world, and rival the likes of Moët-Hennessy Louis Vuitton, it was never consummated. Chanel continued to expand in the United States and by December 2002( Sony VGN-CR11E Battery), it operated 25 U.S. boutiques.[7] Chanel stated it would like to open more boutiques in more U.S. cities such as Atlanta and Seattle. In order to please the younger followers, Chanel introduced Coco Mademoiselle and an "In-Between Wear" in 2003. That same year saw such an immense popularity of Chanel haute couture that the company founded a second shop on Rue Cambon. Desiring a presence in the Asian market, the House of Chanel opened a new 2,400 square feet( Sony VGN-CR21E Battery) (220 m2) boutique in Hong Kong and paid nearly $50 million USD for a building in Ginza, Tokyo.[2] Corporate identity The logotype The Chanel logotype comprises two interlocked, opposed letters-C, one faced forwards, one faced backwards. The logotype was given to Chanel by the Château de Crémat, Nice, and was not registered as a trademark until the first Chanel shops were established.[13] Chanel is currently dealing with illegal use of the double-C logotype on cheaper goods( Sony VGN-CR21S Battery), especially counterfeit handbags. The company has stated that it is a top priority of theirs to stop the sale of counterfeit products.[14] Countries said to be producing great numbers of counterfeit Chanel handbags are Vietnam and China. An authentic classic Chanel handbag retails from around US $4,150, while a counterfeit usually costs around $200 USD, creating a demand for the signature style at a cheaper price. Beginning in the 1990s( Sony VGN-CR21Z Battery), all authentic Chanel handbags are serialized. The trademarks One timeline measurement for Chanel presence in the United States is via trademark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). On Tuesday, 18 November 1924, Chanel, Inc. filed two trademark applications. One was for the typeset mark Chanel. The second application was for the distinctive interlocking CC design plus word mark( Sony VGN-CR21SR Battery). In that time, the Chanel trademarks were registered only for the perfume, toiletry, and cosmetic products in the primary class of common metals and their alloys. Chanel provided the description of face powder, perfume, eau de cologne, toilet water, lip stick, and rouge, to the USPTO.[15] The Chanel and double-C trademarks were awarded on the same date of 24 February 1925 with respective Serial Numbers of 71205468 and 71205469( Sony VGN-CR31SR Battery). Their status is registered and renewed and owned by Chanel, Inc. of New York. The earliest trademark application for the inaugural No. 5 perfume is on Thursday, 1 April 1926. Application was filed by Chanel, Inc. and described to the USPTO as perfume and toilet water. First use and commercial use is stated as 1 January 1921. Registration was granted on 20 July 1926 with Serial Number 71229497. No. 5's status is registered, renewed, and owned by Chanel, Inc( Sony VGN-CR31S Battery). Handbags At the commercial presentation of the Chanel handbag of classic design (and greatest popularity), the press mistakenly identified it as the 2.55 handbag, instead of having identified it as the Timeless CC handbag. The differences in product design, materuals, and manufacture, between the 2.55 and the Timeless CC handbags, are different locks and leathers( Sony VGN-CR31E Battery); the 2.55 handbag is made of creased leather, whilst the Timeless CC handbag is made of smooth leather. Moreover, the carrying chain of the 2.55 handbag is made of links of matte-finish metal, whilst the chain of the Timeless CC handbag is made of gloss-finish metal links through which a leather strap is interlaced. The Timeless CC handbag is available in four sizes, the most popular is the second size of the range( Sony VGN-CR31Z Battery). The Chanel Handbag: The model 2.55, in quilted-leather, has adjustable double-chains, to wear it on the arm or at the shoulder. The Chanel Handbag: Sporting a quilted-leather handbag, the Belgian Queen Fabiola, and her husband, King Baudouin, visited the Nixon White House, in 1969. Wristwatches The unisex design of the Chanel J12 wristwatches suits men and women. The Chanel wristwatch division was established in 1987, to coincide with the début presentation of the Première wristwatch. ( Sony VGN-CR41Z Battery) In 1995, wristwatch division presented a second design, the Matelassé.[24] Although the Première and Matelassé wristwatches were successful products, the presentation, in 2000, of the Chanel J12 line of unisex style wristwatches, made of ceramic materials, established Chanel wristwatches as a recognised Chanel marque.[24] To date the J12 line of wristwatches features models in four dial-face sizes( Sony VGN-CR41S Battery): (i) 33mm., (ii) 38mm., (iii) 41mm., and (iv) 42mm.; the available features include the “whirlwind” tourbillon mechanism that counters Earthly gravity; chronographs certified by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres, and the usual bejewelled versions.[24][25] In 2008, Chanel S.A. and Audemars Piguet developed the ceramic Chanel AP-3125 clockwork, exclusive to the House of Chanel. ( Sony VGN-CR41E Battery) The shops Worldwide, Chanel S.A. operates some 310 Chanel boutiques; 94 shops in Asia, 70 shops in Europe, 10 shops in the Middle East, 128 shops in North America, 2 shops in South America, and 6 shops in Oceania.[7] The shops are located in wealthy communities, usually in department stores, shopping districts, and inside airports.[7] In Japan, the Chanel flagship store is in the Ginza district, on the corner of 3-5-3 Ginza Chuo-ku, Tokyo – 104-0061( Sony VGN-CR42Z Battery); the other three corners of the square are occupied by Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, and Cartier shops.[27]
The Qianlong Emperor, born Hongli Chinese: 弘曆(Manchu language: ᡥᡠᠩ ᠯᡳ ;Möllendorff transliteration: hung li), 25 September 1711 – 7 February 1799) was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor Sony VPCEH3T9E battery, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796.1 On 8 February, he abdicated in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor – a filial act in order not to reign longer than his grandfather, the illustrious Kangxi Emperor.[1] Despite his retirement, however, he retained ultimate power until his death in 1799. Although his early years saw the continuation of an era of prosperity in China, his final years saw troubles at home and abroad converge on the Qing Empire Sony VPCEH3N6E battery. Early years Hongli was adored both by his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor and his father, the Yongzheng Emperor. Some historians argue that the main reason why Kangxi Emperor appointed Yongzheng as his successor was because Qianlong was his favourite grandson. He felt that Hongli's mannerisms were very close to his own. As a teenager he was very capable in martial arts, and possessed a high literary ability Sony VPCEH3N1E battery. After his father's succession in 1722, Hongli became the Prince Bao (宝亲王/寶親王). Like many of his uncles, Hongli entered into a battle of succession with his older half-brother Hongshi, who had the support of a large faction of court officials, as well as Yinsi, Prince Lian. For many years the Yongzheng Emperor did not appoint anyone to the position of Crown Prince Sony VPCEH3D0E battery, but many in court speculated his favoring of Hongli. Hongli went on inspection trips to the south, and was known to be an able negotiator and enforcer. He was also chosen as chief regent on occasions, when his father was away from the capital. Ascension to the throne Even before Hongli's succession was read out to the assembled court, it was widely known who the new emperor would be. The young Hongli had been a favorite of his grandfather, Kangxi, and his father alike Sony VPCEH3B1E battery; Yongzheng had entrusted a number of important ritual tasks to him while Hongli was still a prince, and included him in important court discussions of military strategy. Hoping to avoid repetition of the succession crisis that had tainted his own accession to the throne, he had the name of his successor placed in a sealed box secured behind the tablet over the throne in the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Gong 乾清宫) Sony VPCEH2Z1E battery. The name in the box was to be revealed to other members of the imperial family in the presence of all senior ministers only upon the death of the Emperor. Yongzheng died suddenly in 1735, the will was taken out and read out before the entire Qing Court, and Hongli became the 6th Manchu Emperor of China. He took the era name of Qianlong (乾隆), 乾 means heaven, 隆 means eminence, which means "Lasting Eminence" Sony VPCEH2S9E battery. Frontier wars Further information: Ten Great Campaigns Military costume of Emperor Qianlong. Musée de l'Armée, Paris. Chinese soldier of Emperor Qianlong, by William Alexander, 1793. The Qianlong Emperor Viewing Paintings Qianlong Emperor watching a wrestling match. The emperor in old age The Qianlong Emperor in Armor on Horseback, by Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione(Long shining)(1688–1766 AD). Consorts of Emperor Qianlong Consorts and children of Emperor Qianlong Emperor Qianlong in his study, painting by Giuseppe Castiglione, 18th century Sony VPCEH2Q1E batteryThe Qianlong Emperor was a successful military leader. Immediately after ascending the throne, he sent armies to suppress the Miao rebellion. His later campaigns greatly expanded the territory controlled by the Qing dynasty. This was made possible not only by Qing strength, but also by the disunity and declining strength of the Inner Asian peoples Sony VPCEH2P0E battery. Under Qianlong, Dzungar Khanate was incorporated into the Qing dynasty's rule and renamed Xinjiang, while to the West, Ili was conquered and garrisoned. The incorporation of Xinjiang into the Qing empire resulted from the final defeat and destruction of the Dzungars (or Zunghars), a coalition of Western Mongol tribes. According to Qing scholar Wei Yuan Sony VPCEH2N1E battery, 40% of the 600,000 Zunghar people were killed by smallpox, 20% fled to Russia or Kazakh tribes, and 30% were killed by the army,[2][3] in what Clarke described as "the complete destruction of not only the Zunghar state but of the Zunghars as a people."[4] Historian Peter Perdue has argued that the decimation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of massacre launched by the Qianlong emperor[3] (See Zunghar Khanate#Fall) Sony VPCEH2M9E battery. Throughout this period there were continued Mongol interventions in Tibet and a reciprocal spread of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. After the Lhasa riot of 1750 he sent armies into Tibet and firmly established the Dalai Lama as ruler, with a Qing resident and garrison to preserve Chinese sovereignty.[5] Further afield, military campaigns against Nepalese, and Gurkhas forced these peoples to submit and send tribute Sony VPCEH2M1E battery. The Qianlong Emperor sought to conquer Burma to the south, but the Sino–Burmese War ended in complete failure. He initially believed that it would be an easy victory against a barbarian tribe, and sent only the Green Standard Army based in Yunnan, which borders Burma. The Qing invasion came as the majority of Burmese forces were deployed in their latest invasion of Siam Sony VPCEH2L9E battery. Nonetheless, battle-hardened Burmese troops defeated the first two invasions of 1765–1766 and 1766–1767 at the border. The regional conflict now escalated to a major war that involved military maneuvers nationwide in both countries. The third invasion (1767–1768) led by the elite Manchu Bannermen nearly succeeded, penetrating deep into central Burma within a few days' march from the capital, Ava Sony VPCEH2J1E battery.[6] But the Bannermen of northern China could not cope with unfamiliar tropical terrains and lethal endemic diseases, and were driven back with heavy losses. After the close-call, King Hsinbyushin redeployed his armies from Siam to the Chinese front. The fourth and largest invasion got bogged down at the frontier. With the Qing forces completely encircled, a truce was reached between the field commanders of the two sides in December 1769 Sony VPCEH2H1E battery. The Qing kept a heavy military lineup in the border areas of Yunnan for about one decade in an attempt to wage another war while imposing a ban on inter-border trade for two decades. When Burma and China resumed a diplomatic relationship in 1790, the Qing unilaterally viewed the act as Burmese submission, and claimed victory Sony VPCEH2F1E battery.[7] The circumstances in Vietnam were not successful either. In 1787 the last Le king Le Chieu Thong fled Vietnam and formally requested that he be restored to his throne in Thanglong (Hanoi today). The Qianlong Emperor agreed and sent a large army into Vietnam to remove the Tay Son (peasant rebels who had captured all of Vietnam). The capital Sony VPCEH2E0E battery, Thanglong, was conquered in 1788 but a few months later, the Chinese army was defeated and the invasion turned into a debacle due to the surprise attack during Tết by Nguyen Hue, the second and most capable of the three Tay Son brothers. The Chinese[who?] gave formal protection to the Le emperor and his family, and would not intervene in Vietnam for another 90 years Sony VPCEH2D0E battery. Despite setbacks in the south, overall the Qianlong Emperor's military expansion nearly doubled the area of the already vast empire, and brought into the fold many non-Han-Chinese peoples—such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Evenks and Mongols—who were potentially hostile. It was also a very expensive enterprise; the funds in the Imperial Treasury were almost all put into military expeditions Sony VPCEH2C0E battery.[8] Though the wars were successful, they were not overwhelmingly so. The army declined noticeably and had a difficult time facing some enemies: the Jin Chuan area took 2–3 years to conquer—at first the Qing army were mauled, though Yue Zhongqi later took control of the situation. The battle with the Dzungars was closely fought, and caused heavy losses on both sides Sony VPCEH29FJ/W battery. At the end of the frontier wars, the army had started to weaken significantly. In addition to a more lenient military system, warlords became satisfied with their lifestyles. Since most of the warring had taken place, warlords no longer saw any reason to train their armies, resulting in a rapid military decline by the end of Qianlong's reign. This is the main reason for the military's failure against the White Lotus Sect, at the very end of Qianlong's years Sony VPCEH29FJ/P battery. Cultural achievements The Qianlong Emperor was a major patron of the arts, seeing himself as an important "preserver and restorer" of Chinese culture. He had an insatiable appetite for collecting, and acquired much of China's "great private collections" by any means necessary, and "reintegrated their treasures into the imperial collection."[9] Qianlong, more than any other Manchu emperor, lavished the imperial collection with his attention and effort Sony VPCEH29FJ/B battery: The imperial collection had its origins in the first century B.C., and had gone through many vicissitudes of fire, civil wars and foreign invasions in the centuries that followed. But it was Qianlong who lavished the greatest attention on it, certainly of any of the Manchu rulers.... One of the many roles played by Qianlong, with his customary diligence Sony VPCEH28FN/L battery, was that of the emperor as collector and curator. ...how carefully Qianlong followed the art market in rare paintings and antiquities, using a team of cultural advisers, from elderly Chinese literati to newly fledged Manchu connoisseurs. These men would help the emperor spot which great private collections might be coming up for sale Sony VPCEH28FJ/W battery, either because the fortunes of some previously rich merchant family were unraveling or because the precious objects acquired by Manchu or Chinese grandees during the chaos of the conquest period were no longer valued by those families’ surviving heirs. Sometimes, too, Qianlong would pressure or even force wealthy courtiers into yielding up choice art objects: he did this by pointing out failings in their work, which might be excused if they made a certain “gift,” or Sony VPCEH28FJ/P battery, in a couple of celebrated cases, by persuading the current owners that only the secure walls of the forbidden City and its guardians could save some precious painting from theft or from fire.[10] His massive art collection became an intimate part of his life; he took landscape paintings with him on his travels in order to compare them with the actual landscapes, or to hang them in special rooms in palaces where he lodged, to inscribe them on every visit there. Sony VPCEH28FJ/B battery "He also regularly added poetic inscriptions to the paintings of the imperial collection, following the example of the emperors of the Song dynasty and the literati painters of the Ming. They were a mark of distinction for the work, and a visible sign of his rightful role as Emperor. Most particular to the Qianlong Emperor is another type of inscription, revealing a unique practice of dealing with works of art that he seems to have developed for himself Sony VPCEH28FH/B battery. On certain fixed occasions over a long period he contemplated a number of paintings or works of calligraphy which possessed special meaning for him, inscribing each regularly with mostly private notes on the circumstances of enjoying them, using them almost as a diary."[9] "Most of the several thousand jade items in the imperial collection date from his reign. The Emperor was also particularly interested in collecting ancient bronzes, bronze mirrors and seals," Sony VPCEH28FG/P battery in addition to pottery, ceramics and applied arts such as enameling, metal work and lacquer work, which flourished during his reign; a substantial part of his collection is in the Percival David Foundation in London. The Victoria and Albert Museum and The British Museum also have good collections of Qianlong period Art Sony VPCEH28FG/B battery. "The Qianlong Emperor was a passionate poet and essayist. In his collected writings, which were published in a tenfold series between 1749 and 1800, over 40,000 poems and 1,300 prose texts are listed, making him one of the most prolific writers of all time. There is a long tradition of poems of this sort in praise of particular objects ('yongwu shi), and the Qianlong Emperor used it in order to link his name both physically and intellectually with ancient artistic tradition." Sony VPCEH28FF/B batteryOne of Qianlong’s grandest projects was to "assemble a team of China’s finest scholars for the purpose of assembling, editing, and printing the largest collection ever made of Chinese philosophy, history, and literature."[10] Known as The Four Treasuries project, or Siku Quanshu (四庫全書) it was published in 36,000 volumes, containing about 3450 complete works and employing as many as 15,000 copyists Sony VPCEH28FA/B battery. It preserved numerous books, but was also intended as a way to ferret out and suppress political opponents, requiring the "careful examination of private libraries to assemble a list of around eleven thousand works from the past, of which about a third were chosen for publication. The works not included were either summarized or—in a good many cases—scheduled for destruction." Sony VPCEH27FG/W batteryBurning of books and modification of texts Main article: literary inquisition#Qing Some 2,300 works were listed for total suppression and another 350 for partial suppression. The aim was to destroy the writings that were anti-Qing or rebellious, that insulted previous "barbarian" dynasties, or that dealt with frontier or defense problems.[11] The full editing of Siku Quanshu was completed in about ten years; during these ten years, 3100 titles (or works), about 150,000 copies of books were either burnt or banned Sony VPCEH26FJ/W battery. Of those volumes that had been categorized into Siku Quanshu, many were subjected to deletion and modification. Books published during the Ming dynasty suffered the greatest damage.[12] The authority would judge any single character or any single sentence's neutrality; if the authority had decided these words, or sentence were derogatory or cynical towards the rulers, then persecution would begin.[13] In Qianlong's time Sony VPCEH26EN/B battery, there were 53 cases of literary inquisition, resulting in the victims being beheaded, or corpses being mutilated, or victims being slowly sliced into pieces until death (Lingchi). European styles Architecturally, Qianlong took personal interest in the expansion of the Old Summer Palace and commissioned the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione for the construction of the Xiyanglou (西洋楼), or the Western-style mansion, to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects Sony VPCEH26EH/P battery. He also commissioned the French Jesuit Michel Benoist, to design a series of timed waterworks and fountains complete with underground machinery and pipes, for the amusement of the Imperial family. The French Jesuit Jean Denis Attiret also became "Painter to the Emperor" Qianlong. During his reign the Emin Minaret was built in Turpan to commemorate his father. Later years In his later years, Qianlong was spoiled with power and glory, becoming disillusioned and complacent in his reign, placing his trust in corrupt officials like Yu Minzhong (于敏中), and later Heshen (和珅) Sony VPCEH26EG/P battery. As Heshen was the highest ranked minister and most favoured by Qianlong at the time, the day-to-day governance of the country was left in his hands, while Qianlong himself indulged in the arts, luxuries and literature. When Heshen was executed it was found that his personal fortune exceeded that of the country's depleted treasury, amount to 900,000,000 taels of silver, the total of 12 years of Treasury surplus of Manchu Qing court. Sony VPCEH26EF/B batteryQianlong began his reign with about 33,950,000 taels of silver in Treasury surplus.[citation needed] At the peak of Qianlong's reign, around 1775, even with further tax cuts, the treasury surplus still reached 73,900,000 taels, a record unmatched by his predecessors, Kangxi or Yongzheng both of whom had implemented remarkable tax cut policies. Sony VPCEH26EA/W batteryHowever, due to numerous factors such as long term embezzlement and corruption by officials, frequent expeditions South, huge palace constructions, many war and rebellion campaigns as well as his own extravagant lifestyle, all of these cost the treasury a total of 150,200,000 silver taels. This, coupled with his senior age and the lack of political reforms Sony VPCEH25EN/W battery, ushered the beginning of the gradual decline and eventual demise of the Qing dynasty and empire, casting a shadow over his glorious and brilliant political life.[15] Macartney Embassy Main article: Macartney Embassy All under heaven, Hua-Yi distinction, and Kowtow Lord Macartney's embassy, 1793. The French Jesuit Joseph-Marie Amiot (1718–1793) was the official translator of Western languages for Emperor Qianlong. Illustration depicting the last European delegation to be received at the Qianlong Court in 1795 – Isaac Titsingh (seated European with hat, far left) and A.E. van Braam Houckgeest (seated European without hat) Sony VPCEH25EG/B battery. During the mid-eighteenth century, Qianlong began to face pressures from the West to increase foreign trade. The proposed cultural exchange between the British Empire at the time and the Qing Empire collapsed due to many factors. Firstly, there was a lack of any precedent interaction with overseas foreign kingdoms apart from neighbouring tributory states to guide Qianlong towards a more informed response Sony VPCEH24FX/W battery. Furthermore, competing worldviews that were incompatible between China and Britain, the former holding entrenched beliefs that China was the "central kingdom", and the latter's push for rapid liberalization of trade relations, worsened ties. George Macartney, was sent by King George III as ambassador extraordinary to seek a range of trade concessions. He was granted an audience with the Qianlong Emperor, and attended the Emperor's 80th birthday Sony VPCEH24FX/P battery. There is continued discussion about the nature of the audience, and what level of ceremonials were performed. Demands from the Qing Court that the British Trade ambassadors kneel and perform the kowtow were strongly resisted by Macartney, and debate continues as to what exactly occurred, differing opinions recorded by Qing courtiers and British delegates. Sony VPCEH24FX/L batteryA description of the Emperor is provided in the account of one of the visiting Englishmen, Aeneas Anderson: The Emperor is about five feet ten inches in height, and of a slender but elegant form; his complexion is comparatively fair, though his eyes are dark; his nose is rather aquiline, and the whole of his countenance presents a perfect regularity of feature, which, by no means Sony VPCEH24FX/B battery, announce the great age he is said to have attained; his person is attracting, and his deportment accompanies by an affability, which, without lessening the dignity of the prince, evinces the amiable character of the man. His dress consisted of a loose robe of yellow silk, a cap of black velvet with a red ball on the top, and adorned with a peacock's feather, which is the peculiar distinction of mandarins of the first class Sony VPCEH1Z1E battery. He wore silk boots embroidered with gold, and a sash of blue girded his waist.[17] It is uncertain whether Anderson actually saw the Emperor, or repeated another's sighting, as he was not involved in the ceremonies. George Macartney's Manchu Qing observations In George Macartney's memoirs, there were many passages describing what was, in his opinion, an overall poor quality of life for the Chinese under Qing rule. Macartney expressed opinions which were widely disseminated Sony VPCEH1S9E battery: The Empire of China is an old, crazy, first-rate Man of War, which a fortunate succession of and vigilant officers have contrived to keep afloat for these hundred and fifty years past, and to overawe their neighbours merely by her bulk and appearance. But whenever an insufficient man happens to have the command on deck, adieu to the discipline and safety of the ship Sony VPCEH1S8E battery. She may, perhaps, not sink outright; she may drift some time as a wreck, and will then be dashed to pieces on the shore; but she can never be rebuilt on the old bottom.[18] Titsingh Embassy A Dutch embassy arrived to the Qianlong court in 1795, and would turn out to be the last occasion in which any European appeared before the Chinese Court within the context of traditional Chinese imperial foreign relations. Sony VPCEH1S1E batteryRepresenting Dutch and Dutch East India Company interests, Isaac Titsingh traveled to Pekin in 1794–95 for celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the Qianlong Emperor's reign.[20] The Titsingh delegation also included the Dutch-American Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest,[21] whose detailed description of this embassy to the Chinese court was soon after published in the U.S. and Europe Sony VPCEH1S0E battery. Titsingh's French translator, Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes published his own account of the Titsingh mission in 1808. Voyage a Pékin, Manille et l'Ile de France provided an alternate perspective and a useful counterpoint to other reports which were then circulating. Titsingh himself died before he could publish his version of events Sony VPCEH1M9E battery. In contrast to Macartney, Isaac Titsingh, the Dutch and VOC emissary in 1795 did not refuse to kowtow. In the year following Mccartney's rebuff, Titsingh and his colleagues were much feted by the Chinese because of what was construed as seemly compliance with conventional court etiquette. Sony VPCEH1M1E batteryAbdication In October 1795, Qianlong officially announced that in the spring of the following year he would voluntarily abdicate his throne and pass the crown to his son. It was said that Qianlong had made a promise during the year of his ascension not to rule longer than his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, who had reigned for 61 years Sony VPCEH1L9E battery. Qianlong anticipated moving out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City. The Hall had been conventionally dedicated for the exclusive use of the reigning sovereign, and in 1771 the emperor ordered the beginning of construction on what was ostensibly intended as his retirement residence in another part of the Forbidden City: a lavish Sony VPCEH1L8E battery, two-acre walled retreat called the Ningshou gong,[10] or "Palace of Tranquil Longevity", today more commonly known as the Qianlong Garden.[23] The complex, completed in 1776, is currently undergoing a ten-year restoration led by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the World Monuments Fund (WMF). The first of the restored apartments, Qianlong's Juanqinzhai Sony VPCEH1L0E battery, or "Studio of Exhaustion From Diligent Service," began an exhibition tour of the United States in 2010.[23] Qianlong resigned the throne at the age of 85, in the 60th year of his reign, to his son, the Jiaqing emperor in 1795. For the next four years, he held the title "Retired Emperor (太上皇)," though he continued to hold on to power and the Jiaqing Emperor ruled only in name. He never moved into his retirement suites in the Qianlong Garden.[1] He died in 1799. Sony VPCEH1J8E batteryLegends There is a legend, popularized in fiction, that Qianlong was the son of Chen Yuanlong of Haining. Emperor Kangxi chose the heir to his throne based not just on his son's capability to govern the Empire, but also whether his grandson was of no lesser calibre, to ensure the Manchus' everlasting reign over the country. Yongzheng's own son was a weakling and he surreptitiously arranged for his daughter to be swapped for Chen Yuanlong's son Sony VPCEH1J1E battery, who became the apple of Kangxi's eye. Thus, Yongzheng got to succeed the throne, and his "son", Hongli, subsequently became Emperor Qianlong. Later, Qianlong went to the southern part of the country four times, he stayed in Chen's house in Haining, leaving behind his calligraphy and also frequently issued imperial decrees making and maintaining Haining as a tax-free state Sony VPCEH1E1E battery. However there are major problems with this story being: 1) His eldest surviving son Hongshi was only 7 when Hongli was born far too early to make the drastic choice of replacing a child of royal birth with an outsider (and risking disgrace if not death) 2) Yongzheng had three other princes that survived to adulthood who had the potential of ascending the throne Sony VPCEH1AJ battery. Indeed given the fact that Hongshi was forced to commit suicide, the story would have been far more logical if he was the adopted child of Yongzheng. Stories about Qianlong's 6 visits to the Jiangnan area disguised as a commoner have been a popular topic for many generations. In total, he has visited Jiang Nan eight times, as opposed to the Kangxi emperor's 6 inspections Sony VPCEH19FJ/W battery. The Kangxi Emperor (Chinese: 康熙帝; pinyin: Kāngxīdì; Wade–Giles: K'ang-hsi-ti; temple name: Qīng Shèngzǔ (清聖祖); Manchu: ᡝᠯᡥᡝ ᡨᠠᡳᡶᡳᠨ elhe taifin hūwangdi; Mongolian: Enkh Amgalan Khaan; 4 May 1654 –20 December 1722) was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty,[1][2] the first to be born on Chinese soil south of the Pass (Beijing) and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722 Sony VPCEH19FJ/P battery. Kangxi's reign of 61 years makes him the longest-reigning Chinese emperor in history (although his grandson, the Qianlong Emperor, had the longest period of de facto power) and one of the longest-reigning rulers in the world. However, having ascended the throne at the age of seven, he was not the effective ruler until later, with that role temporarily fulfilled for six years by four regents and his grandmother, the Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang Sony VPCEH19FJ/B battery. Kangxi is considered one of China's greatest emperors. He suppressed the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, forced the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan to submit to Qing rule, blocked Tzarist Russia on the Amur River and expanded the empire in the northwest. He also accomplished such literary feats as the compilation of the Kangxi Dictionary Sony VPCEH18FJ/W battery. Kangxi's reign brought about long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos. He initiated the period known as the "Prosperous Era of Kangxi and Qianlong", which lasted for generations after his own lifetime. By the end of his reign, the Qing Empire controlled all of China proper, Taiwan, Manchuria, part of the Russian Far East (Outer Manchuria), both Inner and Outer Mongolia, Tibet proper, and Joseon Korea as a protectorate Sony VPCEH18FJ/P battery. Early reign Portrait of Young Kangxi Emperor in Court Dress Born on 4 May 1654 to the Shunzhi Emperor and Empress Xiaokangzhang, Kangxi was originally given the personal name Xuanye (Chinese: 玄燁 ; Manchu language: ᡥᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ ᠶᡝᡳ ; Möllendorff transliteration: hiowan yei). He was enthroned at the age of seven (or eight by East Asian age reckoning), on 7 February 1661, 12 days after his father's death, although his reign formally began on 18 February 1662, the first day of the following lunar year Sony VPCEH18FJ/B battery. According to some accounts, Shunzhi gave up the throne to Kangxi and became a monk. Several alternative explanations are given for this: one is that it was due to the death of his favorite concubine; another is that he was under the influence of a Buddhist monk. The story goes that Shunzhi did indeed became a monk Sony VPCEH18FH/P battery, but the empress dowager ordered the deletion of the incident from official history records, and replacement with the claim that he died from smallpox. Before Kangxi came to the throne, Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (in the name of Shunzhi Emperor) had appointed the powerful men Sonin, Suksaha, Ebilun, and Oboi as regents. Sonin died after his granddaughter became Empress Xiaochengren, leaving Suksaha at odds with Oboi in politics. In a fierce power struggle, Oboi had Suksaha put to death and seized absolute power as sole regent Sony VPCEH18FG/L battery. Kangxi and the rest of the imperial court acquiesced in this arrangement. In 1669, Kangxi had Oboi arrested with the help of Grand Dowager Empress Xiaozhuang, who had raised him[3] and began taking personal control of the empire. He listed three issues of concern: flood control of the Yellow River; repair of the Grand Canal; the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in south China. The Grand Empress Dowager influenced him greatly and he took care of her himself in the months leading up to her death in 1688. Sony VPCEH18FF/B batteryMilitary achievements Army The Emperor mounted on his horse and guarded by his bodyguards. The main army of the Qing Empire, the Eight Banners Army, was in decline under Kangxi. It was smaller than it had been at its peak under Hong Taiji and in the early reign of the Shunzhi Emperor; however, it was larger than in the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors' reigns. In addition, the Green Standard Army was still powerful with generals such as Tuhai, Fei Yanggu, Zhang Yong, Zhou Peigong, Shi Lang, Mu Zhan, Shun Shike and Wang Jingbao Sony VPCEH18FA/B battery. The Kangxi Emperor in ceremonial armor, armed with bow and arrows, and surrounded by bodyguards The main reason for this decline was a change in system between Kangxi and Qianlong's reigns. Kangxi continued using the traditional military system implemented by his predecessors, which was more efficient and stricter. According to the system, a commander who returned from a battle alone (with all his men dead) would be put to death Sony VPCEH17FJ/W battery, and likewise for a foot soldier. This was meant to motivate both commanders and soldiers alike to fight valiantly in war because there was no benefit for the sole survivor in a battle. By Qianlong's reign, military commanders had become lax and the training of the army was deemed less important as compared to during the previous emperors' reigns. This was because commanders' statuses had become hereditary; a general gained his position based on the contributions of his forefathers Sony VPCEH17FG/W battery. Revolt of the Three Feudatories Further information: Revolt of the Three Feudatories In the spring of 1662, the regents ordered a Great Clearance in southern China to counter a resistance movement started by Ming loyalists under the leadership of Koxinga. This involved the forced migration of entire populations in the coastal regions of inland southern China. In 1673, the Revolt of the Three Feudatories broke out. Wu Sangui's forces overran most of southwest China and he tried to ally himself with local generals such as Wang Fuchen Sony VPCEH17FG/P battery. Kangxi employed generals such as Zhou Peigong and Tuhai to suppress the rebellion, and also granted clemency to the common people who were caught up in the war. He intended to personally lead the armies to crush the rebels but his subjects advised him against it. The revolt ended with victory for Qing forces in 1681 Sony VPCEH17FG/L battery. Kingdom of Tungning In 1683, the Kingdom of Tungning was defeated by Qing naval forces under the command of admiral Shi Lang at the Battle of Penghu. Zheng Keshuang, ruler of Tungning, surrendered a few days later, and Taiwan was annexed by the Qing Empire. Soon afterwards, the coastal regions of southern China were ordered to be repopulated. In addition, to encourage settlers, the Qing government granted financial incentives to families that settled there Sony VPCEH17FG/B battery. Vietnam In 1673, Kangxi's government helped to mediate a truce in the Trịnh–Nguyễn War in Vietnam, which had been ongoing for 45 years since 1627. The peace treaty that was signed between the conflicting parties lasted for 101 years until 1774.[4] Russia Main article: Russian–Manchu border conflicts European couple, Kangxi period In the 1650s, the Qing Empire engaged the Russian Empire in a series of border conflicts along the Amur River region, which concluded with victory for the Qing side. After the Siege of Albazin, he gained control of the area Sony VPCEH16EN/B battery. The Russians invaded the northern frontier again in the 1680s. After a series of battles and negotiations, both sides signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, in which a border was fixed, and the Amur River valley given to the Qing Empire. Mongols In 1675, Burni of the Chahar Mongols started a rebellion against the Qing Empire. The revolt was crushed within two months and the Chahars were incorporated in the Manchu Eight Banners Sony VPCEH16EH/W battery. The Khalkha Mongols had preserved their independence, and only paid tribute to the Qing Empire. However, a conflict between the houses of Tümen Jasagtu Khan and Tösheetü Khan led to a dispute between the Khalkha and the Dzungars over the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1688, as the Khalkhas were fighting wars with Russian Cossacks in the north of their territory Sony VPCEH16EG/W battery, the Dzungar chief, Galdan Boshugtu Khan, attacked the Khalkha from the west and invaded their territory. The Khalkha royal families and the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu crossed the Gobi Desert and sought help from the Qing Empire in return for submission to Qing authority. In 1690, the Dzungars and Qing forces clashed at the Battle of Ulaan Butun in Inner Mongolia, in which the Qing eventually emerged as the victor Sony VPCEH16EF/B battery. The Kangxi Emperor at the age of 45, painted in 1699 In 1696, Kangxi personally led three armies, totaling 80,000 in strength, in a campaign against the Dzungars. The western section of the Qing army defeated Galdan's forces at the Battle of Jao Modo and Galdan died in the following year. The Dzungars continued to threaten the Qing Empire and invaded Tibet in 1717. In response to the deposition of the Dalai Lama and his replacement with Lha-bzang Khan in 1706 Sony VPCEH16EA/P battery, they took control of Lhasa with a 6,000 strong army and removed Lha-bzang from power. They held on to the city for two years and defeated a Qing army sent to the region in 1718. The Qing did not take control of Lhasa until 1720, when Kangxi sent a larger force there to defeat the Dzungars. Economic achievements The contents of the national treasury during Kangxi's reign were: 1668 (7th year of Kangxi): 14,930,000 taels 1692: 27,385,631 taels 1702-1709: approximately 50,000,000 taels with little variation during this period 1710: 45,880,000 taels 1718: 44,319,033 taels 1720: 39,317,103 taels Sony VPCEH15EN/W battery1721 (60th year of Kangxi, second last of his reign): 32,622,421 taels[citation needed] The reasons for the declining trend in the later years of Kangxi's reign were a huge expenditure on military campaigns and an increase in corruption.[citation needed] To fix the problem, Kangxi gave Prince Yong (the future Yongzheng Emperor) advice on how to make the economy more efficient. Sony VPCEH15EG/B batteryCultural achievements A vase from the early Kangxi period (Musée Guimet) During his reign, Kangxi ordered the compilation of a dictionary of Chinese characters, which became known as the Kangxi Dictionary. This was seen as an attempt by Kangxi to gain support from the Han Chinese scholar-bureaucrats, as many of them initially refused to serve him and remained loyal to the Ming Dynasty Sony VPCEH13FX/W battery. However, by persuading the scholars to work on the dictionary without asking them to formally serve the Qing imperial court, Kangxi led them to gradually taking on greater responsibilities until they were assuming the duties of state officials. In 1705, on Kangxi's order, a compilation of Tang poetry, the Quantangshi, was produced. Kangxi also was interested in Western technology and wanted to import them to China. This was done through Jesuit missionaries, such as Ferdinand Verbiest, whom Kangxi frequently summoned for meetings, or Karel Slavíček, who made the first precise map of Beijing on Kangxi's order Sony VPCEH13FX/P battery. From 1711 to 1723, Matteo Ripa, an Italian priest sent to China by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, worked as a painter and copper-engraver at the Qing court. In 1723, he returned to Naples from China with four young Chinese Christians, in order to groom them to become priests and send them back to China as missionaries Sony VPCEH13FX/L battery. This marked the beginning of the Collegio dei Cinesi, sanctioned by Pope Clement XII to help the propagation of Christianity in China. This Chinese Institute was the first school of Sinology in Europe, which would later develop to become the Instituto Orientale and the present day Naples Eastern University Sony VPCEH13FX/B battery. Kangxi was also the first Chinese emperor to play a western musical instrument. He employed Karel Slavíček as court musician. Slavíček was playing Spinet; later Kangxi would play on it himself. He also invented a Chinese calendar.[citation needed] Christianity Main article: Chinese Rites controversy Jesuit astronomers of the Jesuit China missions, with the Kangxi Emperor (Beauvais, 1690-1705) In the early decades of Kangxi's reign, Jesuits played a large role in the imperial court Sony VPCCA3SFX/R battery. With their knowledge of astronomy, they ran the imperial observatory. Jean-François Gerbillon and Thomas Pereira served as translators for the negotiations of the Treaty of Nerchinsk. Kangxi was grateful to the Jesuits for their contributions, the many languages they could interpret, and the innovations they offered his military in gun manufacturing[5] and artillery, the latter of which enabled the Qing Empire to conquer the Kingdom of Tungning. Sony VPCCA3S1E batteryKangxi was also fond of the Jesuits' respectful and unobtrusive manner; they spoke the Chinese language well, and wore the silk robes of the elite.[7] In 1692, when Fr. Thomas Pereira requested tolerance for Christianity, Kangxi was willing to oblige, and issued the Edict of Toleration,[8] which recognized Catholicism, barred attacks on their churches, and legalized their missions and the practice of Christianity by the Chinese people. Sony VPCCA3E1E batteryHowever, controversy arose over whether Chinese Christians could still take part in traditional Confucian ceremonies and ancestor worship, with the Jesuits arguing for tolerance and the Dominicans taking a hard-line against foreign "idolatry". The Dominican position won the support of Pope Clement XI, who in 1705 sent Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon as his representative to Kangxi, to communicate the ban on Chinese rites. Sony VPCCA38EC/R battery On 19 March 1715, Pope Clement XI issued the papal bull Ex illa die, which officially condemned Chinese rites.[5] In response, Kangxi officially forbade Christian missions in China, as they were "causing trouble".[11] [edit]Disputed succession The Kangxi Emperor on a tour, seated prominently on the deck of a junk The matter of Kangxi's will is one of the "Four Greatest Mysteries of the Qing Dynasty". To this day, whom Kangxi chose as his successor is still a topic of debate amongst historians: on the face of things, he chose Yinzhen, the fourth prince Sony VPCCA38EC battery, who later became the Yongzheng Emperor, and indeed there is strong evidence that this is correct.[citation needed] However many have claimed that Yinzhen forged the will, and that in reality the 14th prince Yinti, had been chosen as the successor. Kangxi's first spouse, Empress Xiaochengren, gave birth to his second surviving son Yinreng, who at the age of two was named crown prince, a Han Chinese custom, to ensure stability during a time of chaos in the south. Although Kangxi left the education of several of his sons to others Sony VPCCA37EC/B battery, he personally oversaw the upbringing of Yinreng, intending to groom him into a perfect heir. Yinreng was tutored by the mandarin Wang Shan, who remained devoted to him, and spent the later years of his life trying to persuade Kangxi to restore Yinreng as the crown prince. Yinreng did not prove himself to be worthy of the succession despite his father showing favoritism towards him. He was said to have beaten and killed his subordinates, and was alleged to have had sexual relations with one of his father's concubines Sony VPCCA37EC battery, which was deemed as incest and a capital offence. Yinreng also purchased young children from Jiangsu to satisfy his pedophiliac pleasure. In addition, Yinreng's supporters, led by Songgotu, gradually formed a "Crown Prince Party" (太子黨), that aimed to help Yinreng get the throne as soon as possible, even if it meant using unlawful methods Sony VPCCA36FW/W battery. The seated Kangxi Emperor Over the years, Kangxi kept constant watch over Yinreng and became aware of his son's many flaws, while their relationship gradually deteriorated. In 1707, Kangxi decided that he could no longer tolerate Yinreng's behavior, which he partially mentioned in the imperial edict as "too embarrassing to be spoken of",[citation needed] and decided to strip Yinreng off his position as crown prince Sony VPCCA36FW/B battery. Kangxi placed his oldest surviving son, Yinzhi, in charge of overseeing Yinreng's house arrest. However, Yinzhi attempted to sabotage Yinreng numerous times and requested for his father to order Yinreng's execution. Kangxi was enraged and stripped Yinzhi of his titles. Kangxi advised his subjects to stop debating about the succession issue, and despite attempts to reduce rumours and speculation as to who the new crown prince might be, the imperial court's daily activities were disrupted Sony VPCCA36FH/W battery. Apart from that, Yinzhi's actions also caused Kangxi to suspect that Yinreng might have been framed, hence Kangxi restored Yinreng as crown prince in 1709, with the support of the 4th and 13th princes, and on the excuse that Yinreng had previously acted under the influence of mental illness. A turtle-based stele with the Kangxi Emperor's inscription, erected in 1699 at the Nanjing mausoleum of the Hongwu Emperor, honouring the founder of the preceding Ming Dynasty as surpassing the founders of the Tang and Song dynasties. Sony VPCCA36FG/B batteryIn 1712, during Kangxi's last inspection tour to the south, Yinreng, who was put in charge of state affairs during his father's absence, tried to vie for power again with his supporters. He allowed an attempt at forcing Kangxi to abdicate when his father returned to Beijing. However, Kangxi received news of the planned coup d'etat, and was so angry that he deposed Yinreng and placed him under house arrest again Sony VPCCA36FA/B battery. After the incident, Kangxi announced that he would not appoint any of his sons as crown prince for the remainder of his reign. He stated that he would place his Imperial Valedictory Will inside a box in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, which will only be opened after his death. Death and succession Following the deposition of the crown prince, Kangxi implemented groundbreaking changes in the political landscape Sony VPCCA36EC/W battery. The 13th prince, Yinxiang, was placed under house arrest as well for cooperating with Yinreng. The eighth prince Yinsi was stripped off all his titles and only had them restored years later. The 14th prince Yinti, whom many considered to be the most likely candidate to succeed Kangxi, was sent on a military campaign during the political conflict. Yinsi, along with the ninth and tenth princes, Yintang and Yin'e, pledged their support to Yinti Sony VPCCA36EC battery. In the evening of 20 December 1722 before his death, Kangxi called seven of his sons to assemble at his bedside. They were the third, fourth, eight, ninth, tenth, 16th and 17th princes. After Kangxi died, Longkodo announced that Kangxi had selected the fourth prince, Yinzhen, as the new emperor. Yinzhen ascended to the throne and became known as the Yongzheng Emperor. Kangxi was entombed at the Eastern Tombs in Zunhua, Hebei Sony VPCCA35FW/W battery. Personality and achievements Kangxi was the great consolidator of the Qing Dynasty. The transition from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing was a cataclysm whose central event was the fall of the capital Beijing to the invading Manchus in 1644, and the installation of the five-year-old Shunzhi Emperor on their throne. By 1661, when Shunzhi died and was succeeded by Kangxi Sony VPCCA35FW/B battery, the Qing conquest was almost complete and the leading Manchus were already adopting Chinese ways including Confucian ideology. Kangxi completed the conquest, suppressed all significant military threats and revived the ancient central government system with important modifications. Kangxi was an inveterate workaholic, rising early and retiring late, reading and responding to numerous memorials every day Sony VPCCA35FN/R battery, conferring with his councillors and giving audiences – and this was in normal times; in wartime, he might be reading memorials from the warfront until after midnight or even, as with the Dzungar conflict, away on campaign in person.[13] Kangxi devised a system of communication that circumvented the scholar-bureaucrats, who had a tendency to usurp the power of the emperor. This Palace Memorial System involved the transfer of secret messages between him and trusted officials in the provinces Sony VPCCA35FH/D battery, where the messages were contained in locked boxes that only he and the official had access to. This started as a system for receiving uncensored extreme-weather reports, which the emperor regarded as divine comments on his rule. However, it soon evolved into a general-purpose secret "news channel". Out of this emerged a Grand Council, which dealt with extraordinary, especially military, events Sony VPCCA35FG/PI battery. The council was chaired by the emperor and manned by his more elevated Han Chinese household staff. From this council, the mandarin civil servants were excluded – they were left only with routine administration.[14] Kangxi managed to seduce the Confucian intelligentsia into co-operating with the Qing government, despite their deep reservations about Manchu rule, by encouraging them to sit the traditional civil service examinations Sony VPCCA35FF/P battery, become mandarins and subsequently to compose lavishly conceived works of literature such the History of Ming, the Kangxi Dictionary, a phrase-dictionary, a vast encyclopedia and an even vaster compilation of Chinese literature. On a personal level, Kangxi was a cultivated man, steeped in Confucian learning. Sony VPCCA35FA/PI batteryIn the one military campaign in which he actively participated, against the Dzungar Mongols, Kangxi showed himself an effective military commander. According to Finer, Kangxi's own written reflections allow one to experience "how intimate and caring was his communion with the rank-and-file, how discriminating and yet masterful his relationship with his generals" Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery.[16] As a result of the scaling down of hostilities as peace returned to China after the Manchu conquest, and also as a result of the ensuing rapid increase of population, land cultivation and therefore tax revenues based on agriculture, Kangxi was able first to make tax remissions, then in 1712 to freeze the land tax and corvée altogether, without embarrassing the state treasury. Sony VPCCA2SFX/R battery[edit]Family Father: Shunzhi Emperor Mother: Empress Xiaokangzhang (1640–1663). Her family was of Jurchen origin but had lived among the Chinese for generations. It had a Chinese family name, Tong (佟), but converted to the Manchu clan name Tongiya later. She was instated as the Empress Dowager Cihe (慈和皇太后) in 1661 when Kangxi became emperor. She is known posthumously as Empress Xiaokangzhang (Chinese: 孝康章皇后; Manchu: Hiyoošungga Nesuken Eldembuhe Hūwanghu) Sony VPCCA2S1E battery. [edit]Consorts The total number is approximately 64. Empress Xiaochengren (died 1674) from the Heseri clan – married in 1665. Empress Xiaozhaoren (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Genggiyen Gosin Hūwanghu) from the Niohuru clan. Empress Xiaoyiren (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Fujurangga Gosin Hūwanghu) from the Tunggiya clan. Empress Xiaogongren (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Gungnecuke Gosin Hūwanghu) from the Wuya clan. Imperial Noble Consort Que Hui (1668–1743) from the Tunggiya clan, Empress Xiaoyiren's younger sister Sony VPCCA2S0E battery. Imperial Noble Consort Dun Yi (1683–1768) from the Guwalgiya clan Honored Imperial Noble Consort Jing Min (died 1699) from the Janggiya clan Noble Consort Wen Xi (died 1695) from the Niuhuru clan, Empress Xiaozhaoren's younger sister. Consort Shun Yi Mi (1668–1744) from the Wang clan was Han Chinese from origin. Consort Chun Yu Qin (died 1754) from the Han Chinese Chen clan. Consort Rong (died 1727) from the Magiya clan Sony VPCCA2AJ battery. Consort Yi (died 1733) from the Gobulo clan. Consort Hui (died 1732) from the Nala clan. Consort Liang (died 1711) from the Wei clan. Consort Cheng (died 1740) from the Daigiya clan. Consort Xuan (died 1736) from the Mongol Borjigit clan. Consort Ding (1661–1757) from the Wanliuha clan. Consort Ping (died 1696) from the Heseri clan, Empress Xiaochengren's younger sister. Consort Hui (died 1670) from the Borjigit clan. Popular culture Sony VPCCA1S3C/CN1 batteryFiction Kangxi Dadi (康熙大帝; literally: The Great Kangxi Emperor): a historical fiction novel by Er Yuehe, featuring a romanticized version of Kangxi's biography The Deer and the Cauldron (鹿鼎記): a wuxia novel by Louis Cha. In the story, by coincidence, Kangxi and the protagonist, Wei Xiaobao, become close friends since childhood. Wei helps the emperor consolidate power and strengthen his rule over the empire, playing an important role in affecting how the historical events during Kangxi's reign unfold Sony VPCCA1S2C/CN1 battery. Qijian Xia Tianshan (七劍下天山; literally: Seven Swords Descend from Mount Heaven): a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng. In the story, Kangxi discovers that his father, the Shunzhi Emperor, has become a monk in a monastery on Mount Wutai. He orders a close aide to kill his father in order to consolidate power, and attempts to erase evidence of the murder later Sony VPCCA1S1E/W battery. [edit]Film and television Kangxi Dynasty (康熙王朝): a 2001 television series adaption of the above mentioned novel by Er Yuehe. Chen Daoming starred as Kangxi. Secret History of Kangxi (康熙秘史): fourth installment in a series of four television dramas about the early history of the Qing Dynasty. Xia Yu starred as Kangxi. Kangxi Weifu Sifang Ji (康熙微服私訪記; literally: Kangxi's Inspection Tours in Civilian Attire): a long-running television drama about Kangxi's inspection tours. During some of his tours, Kangxi dressed like an ordinary civilian to conceal his identity so that he can blend in with the commoners and understand their daily lives better. Zhang Guoli starred as Kangxi Sony VPCCA1S1E/P battery. The Life and Times of a Sentinel (紫禁驚雷): TVB series about Kangxi's brother's attempt to overthrow him. Palace (宫): a 2011 television drama set during Kangxi's rule. A girl from the 21st century accidentally travels through time and ends up in the 1700s, in the Forbidden City, shortly before Kangxi strips the crown prince Yinreng of his position. Scarlet Heart (步步惊心): another 2011 television drama set during Kangxi's rule. A girl from the 21st century accidentally travels through time and ends up in the 1700s, in the Forbidden City, way before Kangxi strips the crown prince Yinreng of his position Sony VPCCA1S1E battery.
The Chinese economic reform (simplified Chinese: 改革开放; traditional Chinese: 改革開放; pinyin: Gǎigé kāifàng, literally Reform and Opening) refers to the program of economic reforms called "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" in the People's Republic of China (PRC) that were started in December 1978 by reformists within the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Deng Xiaoping( Dell D6400 battery). China had one of the world's largest and most advanced economies prior to the nineteenth century,[1] while national product per capita remained average in global terms.[2] The economy stagnated since the 16th century[2] and even declined in absolute terms in the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century, with a brief recovery in the 1930s. ( Dell HF674 battery) Economic reforms taking advantage of market principles began in 1978 and were carried out in two stages. The first stage, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, involved the decollectivization of agriculture, the opening up of the country to foreign investment, and permission for entrepreneurs to start up businesses. However, most industry remained state-owned( Dell N3010 battery). The second stage of reform, in the late 1980s and 1990s, involved the privatization and contracting out of much state-owned industry and the lifting of price controls, protectionist policies, and regulations, although state monopolies in sectors such as banking and petroleum remained. The private sector grew remarkably, accounting for as much as 70 percent of China GDP by 2005( Dell Inspiron N4010 battery),[4] a figure larger in comparison to many Western nations[citation needed]. From 1978 to 2010, unprecedented growth occurred, with the economy increasing by 9.5% a year. China's economy became the second largest after the United States. The conservative Hu-Wen Administration more heavily regulated and controlled the economy after 2005, reversing some reforms. ( Dell INSPIRON 1100 battery) The success of China's economic policies and the manner of their implementation has resulted in immense changes in Chinese society. Poverty was reduced. Incomes and income inequality increased, leading to a backlash led by the Maoist New Left. In the academic scene, scholars have debated the reason for the success of the Chinese 'dual track' economy( Dell Inspiron 1200 battery), and have compared them to attempts to reform socialism in the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union, and the growth of other developing economies. For 2010, China was ranked 140th among 179 countries in Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings, which is an improvement from the preceding year. Chinese economy prior to reform During the 1930s, China developed a modern industrial sector, which stimulated modest but significant economic growth( Dell Inspiron 1420 battery). Before the collapse of international trade that followed the onset of the Great Depression, China’s share of world trade and its ratio of foreign trade to GDP achieved levels that were not regained for over sixty years.[3] The economy was heavily disrupted by the war against Japan and the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1949, after which the victorious Communists installed a planned economy( Dell Inspiron 1464 battery).[3] Afterwards, the economy largely stagnated and was disrupted by the Great Leap Forward famine which killed between 30 and 40 million people, and the purges of the Cultural Revolution further disrupted the economy. Urban Chinese citizens experienced virtually no increase in living standards from 1957 onwards, and rural Chinese had no better living standards in the 1970s than the 1930s( Dell Inspiron 1564 battery).[6] One study noted that average pay levels in the catering sector exceeded wages in higher education.[7] The economic performance of China was poor in comparison with other East Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, and even rival Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China. The economy was riddled with huge inefficiencies and malinvestments, and with Mao's death, the Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership turned to market-oriented reforms to salvage the failing economy. ( Dell Inspiron 1764 battery) Course of reforms Famous billboard of Deng in Shenzhen, one of the most successful Special Economic Zones created by his reforms. Economic reforms began after Deng Xiaoping and his reformist allies ousted the Gang of Four Maoist faction. By the time Deng took power, there was widespread support among the elite for economic reforms( Dell Inspiron 1564 battery). As de facto leader, Deng's policies faced opposition from party conservatives but were extremely successful in increasing the country's wealth. 1978–84 Deng's first reforms began in agriculture, a sector long neglected by the Communist Party. By the late 1970s, food supplies and production had become so deficient that government officials were warning that China was about to repeat the "disaster of 1959" - the famines which killed tens of millions during the Great Leap Forward. ( Dell Inspiron 1764 battery) Deng responded by decollectivizing agriculture and emphasizing the Household-responsibility system, which divided the land of the People's communes into private plots. Farmers were able to keep the land's output after paying a share to the state. This move increased agricultural production, increased the living standards of hundreds of millions of farmers and stimulated rural industry. ( Dell Inspiron 1520 battery) Reforms were also implemented in urban industry to increase productivity. A dual price system was introduced, in which state-owned industries were allowed to sell any production above the plan quota, and commodities were sold at both plan and market prices, allowing citizens to avoid the shortages of the Maoist era( Dell Inspiron 1521 battery). Private businesses were allowed to operate for the first time since the Communist takeover, and they gradually began to make up a greater percentage of industrial output.[11] Price flexibility was also increased, expanding the service sector.[12] The country was opened to foreign investment for the first time since the Kuomintang era. Deng created a series of special economic zones for foreign investment that were relatively free of the bureaucratic regulations and interventions that hampered economic growth( Dell inspiron 1525 battery). These regions became engines of growth for the national economy.[12] 1984–93 During this period, Deng Xiaoping's policies continued beyond the initial reforms. Controls on private businesses and government intervention continued to decrease, and there was small-scale privatization of state enterprises which had become unviable. A notable development was the decentralization of state control( Dell inspiron 1526 battery), leaving local provincial leaders to experiment with ways to increase economic growth and privatize the state sector.[13] Township and village enterprises, firms nominally owned by local governments but effectively private, began to gain market share at the expense of the state sector.[14] Conservative elder opposition, led by Chen Yun( Dell Inspiron 1720 battery), prevented many major reforms which would have damaged the interests of special interest groups in the government bureaucracy.[15] Corruption and increased inflation increased discontent, contributing to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and a conservative backlash after that event which ousted several key reformers and threatened to reverse many of Deng's reforms( Dell Inspiron 2000 battery).[16] However, Deng stood by his reforms and in 1992, he affirmed the need to continue reforms in his southern tour.[15] He also reopened the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed by Mao 40 years earlier. Although the economy grew quickly during this period, economic troubles in the inefficient state sector increased. Heavy losses had to be made up by state revenues and acted as a drain upon the economy.[17] Inflation became problematic in 1985, 1988 and 1992( Dell INSPIRON 2600 battery).[16] Privatizations began to accelerate after 1992, and the private sector surpassed the state sector in share of GDP for the first time in the mid-1990s. China's government slowly expanded recognition of the private economy, first as a "complement" to the state sector (1988) and then as an "important component" (1999) of the socialist market economy( Dell INSPIRON 3800 battery).[18] 1993–2005 The Lujiazui financial district of Pudong, Shanghai, the financial and commercial hub of modern China In the 1990s, Deng forced many of the conservative elders such as Chen Yun into retirement, allowing radical reforms to be carried out.[15] Despite Deng's death in 1997, reforms continued under his handpicked successors, Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji( Dell INSPIRON 4000 battery), who were ardent reformers. In 1997 and 1998, large-scale privatization occurred, in which all state enterprises, except a few large monopolies, were liquidated and their assets sold to private investors. Between 2001 and 2004, the number of state-owned enterprises decreased by 48 percent.[14] During the same period, Jiang and Zhu also reduced tariffs( Dell Inspiron 5000 battery), trade barriers and regulations, reformed the banking system, dismantled much of the Mao-era social welfare system, forced the PLA to divest itself of military-run businesses,[19] reduced inflation, and joined the World Trade Organization. These moves invoked discontent among some groups, especially laid off workers of state enterprises that had been privatized( Dell INSPIRON 500M battery).[20] The domestic private sector first exceeded 50% of GDP in 2005 and has further expanded since.[21] However, some state monopolies still remained, such as in petroleum and banking.[22] 2005–present The conservative Hu-Wen Administration began to reverse some of Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 2005. Observers note that the government adopted more egalitarian and populist policie( Dell INSPIRON 5100 battery)s.[23] It increased subsidies and control over the health care sector,[24] halted privatization,[5] and adopted a loose monetary policy, which lead to the formation of a U.S.-style property bubble in which property prices tripled.[25] The privileged state sector was the primary recipient of government investment, which under the new administration, promoted the rise of large "national champions" which could compete with large foreign corporations. ( Dell INSPIRON 510M battery) Economic performance since reform China's nominal GDP trend from 1952 to 2005. Note the rapid increase since reform in the late 1970s. China's economic growth since the reform has been very rapid, exceeding the East Asian Tigers. Economists estimate China's GDP growth from 1978 to 2005 at 9.5% a year. Since the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, China's GDP has risen tenfold( Dell INSPIRON 6000 battery).[26] The increase in total factor productivity (TFP) was the most important factor, with productivity accounting for 40.1% of the GDP increase, compared with a decline of 13.2% for the period 1957 to 1978—the height of Maoist policies. For the period 1978–2005, Chinese GDP per capita increased from 2.7% to 15.7% of US GDP per capita, and from 53.7% to 188.5% of Indian GDP per capita. Per capita incomes grew at 6.6% a year. ( Dell INSPIRON 600M battery)Average wages rose sixfold between 1978 and 2005,[28] while absolute poverty declined from 41% of the population to 5% from 1978 to 2001.[29] Some scholars believed that China's economic growth has been understated, due to large sectors of the economy not being counted.[30] [edit]Impact on world growth China is widely seen as an engine of world and regional growth( Dell Inspiron 6400 battery).[31] Surges in Chinese demand account for 50, 44 and 66 percent of export growth of Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan respectively, and China's trade deficit with the rest of East Asia helped to revive the economies of Japan and Southeast Asia.[31] Asian leaders view China's economic growth as an "engine of growth for all Asia"( Dell INSPIRON 7000 battery).[32] Reforms in specific sectors After three decades of reform, China's economy experienced one of the world's biggest booms. Agriculture and light industry have largely been privatized, while the state still retains control over some heavy industries. Despite the dominance of state ownership in finance, telecommunications, petroleum and other important sectors of the economy( Dell INSPIRON 700M battery), private entrepreneurs continue to expand into sectors formerly reserved for public enterprise. Prices have also been liberalized.[33] Agriculture Production of wheat from 1961 to 2004. Data from FAO, year 2005. Y-axis: Production in metric ton. During the pre-reform period, Chinese agricultural performance was extremely poor and food shortages were common.[34] After Deng Xiaoping implemented the household responsibility system, agricultural output increased by 8.2 percent a year( Dell Inspiron 710m battery), compared with 2.7% in the pre-reform period, despite a decrease in the area of land used.[34] Food prices fell nearly 50%, while agricultural incomes rose.[35] A more fundamental transformation was the economy's growing adoption of cash crops instead of just growing rice and grain.[35] Vegetable and meat production increased to the point that Chinese agricultural production was adding the equivalent of California’s vegetable industry every two years. Growth in the sector slowed after 1984( Dell INSPIRON 8200 battery), with agriculture falling from 40% of GDP to 16%; however, increases in agricultural productivity allowed workers to be released for work in industry and services, while simultaneously increasing agricultural production.[36] Trade in agriculture was also liberalized and China became an exporter of foodstuffs, a great contrast to its previous famines and shortages( Dell INSPIRON 8600 battery).[37] Industry In the pre-reform period, industry was largely stagnant and the socialist system presented few incentives for improvements in quality and productivity. With the introduction of the dual price system and greater autonomy for enterprise managers, productivity increased greatly in the early 1980s.[38] Foreign enterprises and newly formed Township and Village Enterprises( Dell INSPIRON 9100 battery), owned by local government and often de facto private firms, competed successfully with state-owned enterprises. By the 1990s, large-scale privatizations reduced the market share of both the Township and Village Enterprises and state-owned enterprises and increased the private sector's market share. The state sector's share of industrial output dropped from 81 percent in 1980 to 15 percent in 2005( Dell INSPIRON 9200 battery).[39] Foreign capital controls much of Chinese industry and plays an important role.[14] From virtually an industrial backwater in 1978, China is now the world's biggest producer of concrete, steel, ships and textiles, and has the world's largest automobile market. Chinese steel output quadrupled between 1980 and 2000, and from 2000 to 2006 rose from 128.5 million tons to 418.8 million tons, one-third of global production( Dell INSPIRON 9300 battery).[40] Labor productivity at some Chinese steel firms exceeds Western productivity.[40] From 1975 to 1992, China's automobile production rose from 139,800 to 1.1 million, rising to 9.35 million in 2008.[41] Light industries such as textiles saw an even greater increase, due to reduced government interference. Chinese textile exports increased from 4.6% of world exports in 1980 to 24.1% in 2005. Textile output increased 18-fold over the same period( Dell Inspiron 9400 battery).[42] This increase in production is largely the result of the removal of barriers to entry and increased competition; the number of industrial firms rose from 377,300 in 1980 to nearly 8 million in 1990 and 1996; the 2004 economic census, which excluded enterprises with annual sales below RMB5 million, counted 1.33 million manufacturing firms( Dell Inspiron E1505 battery), with Jiangsu and Zhejiang reporting more firms than the nationwide total for 1980.[43] Compared to other East Asian industrial growth spurts, China's industrial performance exceeded Japan's but remained behind South Korea and Taiwan's economies.[44] Trade and foreign investment Global distribution of Chinese exports in 2006 as a percentage of the top market. Scholars find that China has attained a degree of openness that is unprecedented among large and populous nations", with competition from foreign goods in almost every sector of the economy( Dell Inspiron E1705 battery). Foreign investment helped to greatly increase quality, knowledge and standards, especially in heavy industry. China's experience supports the assertion that globalization greatly increases wealth for poor countries.[43] Throughout the reform period, the government reduced tariffs and other trade barriers, with the overall tariff rate falling from 56% to 15%( Dell Inspiron Mini 9 battery). By 2001, less than 40% of imports were subject to tariffs and only 9 percent of import were subject to licensing and import quotas. Even during the early reform era, protectionist policies were often circumvented by smuggling.[45] When China joined the WTO, it agreed to considerably harsher conditions than other developing countries.[46] Trade has increased from under 10% of GDP to 64% of GDP over the same period( Dell Latitude D400 battery).[47] China is considered the most open large country; By 2005, China’s average statutory tariff on industrial products was 8.9 percent. For Argentina, Brazil, India, and Indonesia, the respective percentage figures are 30.9, 27.0, 32.4, and 36.9 percent.[48] China's trade surplus is considered by some in the United States as threatening American jobs. In the 2000s, the Bush administration pursued protectionist policies such as tariffs and quotas to limit the import of Chinese goods( Dell STUDIO 1450 battery).[32] Some scholars argue that China's growing trade surplus is the result of industries in more developed Asian countries moving to China, and not a new phenomenon.[32] China's trade policy, which allows producers to avoid paying the Value Added Tax (VAT) for exports and undervaluation of the currency since 2002, has resulted in an overdeveloped export sector and distortion of the economy overall, a result that could hamper future growth( Dell Vostro 1400 battery).[49] Foreign investment was also liberalized upon Deng's ascension. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were created in the early 1980s to attract foreign capital by exempting them from taxes and regulations. This experiment was successful and SEZs were expanded to cover the whole Chinese coast. Although FDI fell briefly after the 1989 student protests, it increased again to 160 billion by 2004. ( Dell Vostro 1500 battery) Services Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) In the 1990s, the financial sector was liberalized.[51] After China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the service sector was considerably liberalized and foreign investment was allowed. Restrictions on retail, wholesale and distribution were ended.[52] Banking, financial services, insurance and telecommunications were also opened up to foreign investment. ( Dell XPS GEN 2 battery) China's banking sector is dominated by four large state-owned banks, which are largely inefficient and monopolistic.[54] China's largest bank, ICBC, is the largest bank in the world. The financial sector is widely seen as a drag on the economy due to the inefficient state management.[55] Non-performing loans( Dell XPS M1210 battery), mostly made to local governments and unprofitable state-owned enterprises for political purposes,[56] are a big drain on the financial system and economy, reaching over 22% of GDP by 2000, with a drop to 6.3% by 2006 due to government recapitalization of these banks. In 2006, the total amount of non-performing loans was estimated at 160 billion USD( Dell XPS M1330 battery).[57] Observers recommend privatization of the banking system to solve this problem, a move that was partially carried out when the four banks were floated on the stock market.[58] China's financial markets, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, are relatively ineffective at raising capital, as they comprise only 11 percent of GDP( Dell XPS 1340 battery).[59] Due to the weakness of the banks, firms raise most of their capital through an informal, nonstandard financial sector developed during the 1980s and 1990s, consisting largely of underground businesses and private banks.[60] Internal finance is the most important method successful firms use to fund their activities. ( Dell XPS M1530 battery) Government finances Foreign currency reserves and gold minus external debt based on 2010 data from CIA Factbook In the pre-reform era, government was funded by profits from state-owned enterprises, much like the Soviet Union.[61] As the state sector fell in importance and profitability, government revenues, especially that of the central government in Beijing( Dell XPS M170 battery), fell substantially and the government relied on a confused system of inventory taxes. Government revenues fell from 35% of GDP to 11% of GDP in the mid-1990s, excluding revenue from state-owned enterprises, with the central government's budget at just 3% of GDP.[62] The tax system was reformed in 1994 when inventory taxes were unified into a single VAT of 17% on all manufacturing( Dell XPS M1710 battery), repair, and assembly activities and an excise tax on 11 items, with the VAT becoming the main income source, accounting for half of government revenue. The 1994 reform also increased the central government's share of revenues, increasing it to 9 percent of GDP.[63] Reasons for success Scholars have proposed a number of theories to explain the success of China's economic reforms in its move from a planned economy to a socialist market economy despite unfavorable factors such as the troublesome legacies of socialism( Dell XPS M1730 battery), considerable erosion of the work ethic, decades of anti-market propaganda, and the "lost generation" whose education disintegrated amid the disruption of the Cultural Revolution.[64] One notable theory is that decentralization of state authority allowed local leaders to experiment with various ways to privatize the state sector and energize the economy.[13] Although Deng was not the originator of many of the reforms, he gave approval to them( Dell XPS M2010 battery). Another theory focuses on internal incentives within the Chinese government, in which officials presiding over areas of high economic growth were more likely to be promoted. Scholars have noted that local and provincial governments in China were "...hungry for investment" and competed to reduce regulations and barriers to investment to boost economic growth and the officials' own careers( Dell Latitude E5400 battery). A third explanation believes that the success of the reformists are attributable to Deng's cultivation of his own followers in the government.[65] Herman Kahn explained the rise of Asian economic power saying the Confucian ethic was playing a "similar but more spectacular role in the modernization of East Asia than the Protestant ethic played in Europe".( Dell Latitude E5500 battery) China's success is also due to the export-led growth strategy used successfully by the Four Asian Tigers beginning with Japan in the 1960s - 1970s and other Newly industrialized counties.[67] The collapse of the Soviet Bloc and centrally planned economies in 1989 renewed impetus in the China to further reform its economy in a different course to avoid the same fate( Dell Latitude E6400 battery).[68] China also wanted to avoid the Russia under Boris Yeltsin with ad-hoc experiment with market capitalism which resulted in the rise of powerful oligarchs, corruption and loss of state revenue which exacerbated economic disparity.[69] Effect on inequality Gini-coefficient of national income distribution around the world (dark green: <0.25, red: >0.60) The economic reforms have increased inequality dramatically within China. Despite rapid economic growth( Dell Latitude E6500 battery) which has virtually eliminated poverty in urban China and reduced it greatly in rural regions and the fact that living standards for everyone in China have drastically increased in comparison to the pre-reform era, the Gini coefficient of China is estimated to be above 0.45, comparable to many South American countries.[70] Increased inequality is attributed to the disappearance of the welfare state and differences between coastal and interior provinces, the latter being burdened by a larger state sector( Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery).[71] Some Western scholars have suggested that reviving the welfare state and instituting a re-distributive income tax system is needed to relieve inequality,[72] while some Chinese economists have suggested that privatizing state monopolies and distributing the proceeds to the population can reduce inequality. ( Dell XPS M140 battery) Comparison to other developing economies The development trends of Chinese and Indian GDP (1950-2003). China's transition from socialism to a socialist market economy has often been compared with economies in Eastern Europe that are undergoing a similar transition. China's performance has been praised for avoiding the major shocks and inflation that plagued the Eastern Bloc.[74] The Eastern bloc economies saw declines of 13 to 65% in GDP at the beginning of reforms( Dell XPS 13 battery), while Chinese growth has been very strong since the beginning of reform.[75] China also managed to avoid the hyperinflation of 200 to 1,000% that Eastern Europe experienced.[76] This success is attributed to the gradualist and decentralized approach of the Chinese government, which allowed market institutions to develop to the point where they could replace state planning( Dell XPS 16 battery). This contrasts with the "big bang" approach of Eastern Europe, where the state-owned sector was rapidly privatized with employee buyouts, but retained much of the earlier, inefficient management.[77] Other factors thought to account for the differences are the greater urbanization of the CIS economies and differences in social welfare and other institutions( Dell XPS 1640 battery).[78] Another argument is that, in the Eastern European economies, political change is sometimes seen to have made gradualist reforms impossible, so the shocks and inflation were unavoidable.[79] China's economic growth has been compared with other developing countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, and India. GDP growth in China outstrips all other developing countries, with only India after 1990 coming close to China's experience( Dell XPS 1645 battery).[80] Scholars believes that high rates of investments, especially increases in capital invested per worker, have contributed to China's superior economic performance.[80] China's relatively free economy, with less government intervention and regulation, is cited by scholars as an important factor in China's superior performance compared to other developing countries. ( Dell XPS 1647 battery) Legacy and criticism The government retains monopolies in several sectors, such as petroleum and banking;[5] the inefficient state banking system has a large number of non-performing loans[57] and loose monetary policy has caused an asset bubble which threatens economic stability. The recent reversal of some reforms have left some observers dubbing 2008 the "( Dell Latitude 131L battery)...third anniversary of the end of reforms".[5] Nevertheless, observers believe that China's economy can continue growing at rates of 6–8 percent until 2025,[82] though a reduction in state intervention is considered necessary for sustained growth by some.[83] Despite reducing poverty and increasing China's wealth, Deng's reforms have been criticized by the Chinese New Left for increasing inequality and allowing private entrepreneurs to purchase state assets at reduced prices( Dell Latitude C400 battery). These accusations were especially intense during the Lang-Gu dispute, in which New Left academic Larry Lang accused entrepreneur Gu Sujung of usurping state assets, after which Gu was imprisoned.[84] The Hu-Wen Administration has adopted some New Left policies, such as halting privatizations and increasing the state sector's importance in the economy( Dell Latitude C500 battery), Keynesian policies that have been criticized by many Chinese economists who advocate a policy of deregulation, tax cuts, and privatization.[73] Other criticisms focus on the effects of industrialization on public health and the environment. Scholars believe that public health issues are unlikely to become major obstacles to the growth of China’s economy during the coming decades, and studies have shown that air quality and other environmental measures in China are better than those in developed countries( Dell Latitude C510 battery), such as the United States and Japan, at the same level of development. The May Fourth Movement (traditional Chinese: 五四運動; simplified Chinese: 五四运动; pinyin: Wǔsì Yùndòng) was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles( Dell Latitude C540 battery), especially the Shandong Problem. These demonstrations sparked national protests and marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism, a shift towards political mobilization and away from cultural activities, and a move towards populist base rather than intellectual elites. The broader use of the term "May Fourth Movement" often refers to the period during 1915-1921 more usually called the New Culture Movement( Dell Latitude C600 battery). Background Following the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown. This marked the end of thousands of years of powerful imperial rule, and theoretically ushered a new era in which political power rested with the people. However, the reality was that China was a fragmented nation dominated by warlords( Dell Latitude C610 battery), who were more concerned with their own political powers and private armies than national interests. The Chinese Beiyang government was occupied with suppressing internal affairs, and did little to counter the influence exerted by imperialist foreign powers. The Beiyang government made various concessions to foreigners in order to gain monetary and military support against their rivals( Dell Latitude C640 battery). Defeats by foreign powers and the presence of spheres of influence inflamed a sense of nationalism among the emerging middle class and cultural leaders. Leaders of the New Culture Movement believed that traditional Chinese values were responsible for the political weakness of the nation. This created a rather peculiar situation( Dell Latitude C800 battery), in which Chinese nationalists called for a rejection of traditional values and the selective adoption of Western ideals of science and democracy. Shandong Problem Main article: Shandong Problem China had entered World War I on the side of the Allied Triple Entente in 1917 with the condition that all German spheres of influence, such as Shandong [Shantung], would be returned to China; although in that year, 140,000 Chinese labourers (as a part of the British army, the Chinese Labour Corps) were sent to France. ( Dell Latitude C810 battery) The Versailles Treaty of April 1919 awarded German rights in Shandong Province to Japan. The representatives of the Chinese government put forth the following requests: the abolition of all privileges of foreign powers in China, such as extraterritoriality the cancelling of the "Twenty-One Demands" with the Japanese the return to China of the territory and rights of Shandong, which Japan had taken from Germany during World War I. The Western Allies dominated the meeting and paid little heed to the Chinese representatives' demands. Britain and France were primarily interested in punishing Germany( Dell Latitude C840 battery). Although the United States promoted Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the ideals of self-determination at the conference, Wilson was unable to advance these ideals in the face of stubborn resistance by David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and the U.S. Congress. American advocacy of self-determination at the League of Nations was attractive to Chinese intellectuals( Dell Latitude CPI battery), but the failure of the United States to follow through was seen as a betrayal. Chinese diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference became the incident that touched off the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, and became known as the "Shandong Problem". Protest On the morning of May 4, 1919, student representatives from thirteen different local universities met in Beijing and drafted five resolutions: to oppose the granting of Shandong to the Japanese under former German concessions. to draw awareness of China's precarious position to the masses in China( Dell Latitude CPX battery). to recommend a large-scale gathering in Beijing. to promote the creation of a Beijing student union. to hold a demonstration that afternoon in protest to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Protestors dissatisfied with the Treaty of Versailles for China Tsinghua University students burn Japanese goods. On the afternoon of May 4 over 3,000 students of Peking University and other schools gathered together in front of Tiananmen and held a demonstration( Dell Latitude D410 battery). The general opinion was that the Chinese government was "spineless".[1] They voiced their anger at the Allied betrayal of China and the government's inability to secure Chinese interests in the conference. A boycott of Japanese products during this period was advocated, which boosted the domestic Chinese industry slightly.[citation needed] Throughout the streets of China( Dell Latitude D420 battery), students packed the streets to protest China's concession to Japanese demands. During these demonstrations, students also insisted on the resignation of three Chinese officials involved in these proceedings. After burning the residence of one of the three despised officials, student protesters were arrested and severely assaulted( Dell Latitude D430 battery).[2] They shouted out such slogans as "Struggle for the sovereignty externally, get rid of the national traitors at home", "Do away with the 'Twenty-One Demands'", and "Don't sign the Versailles Treaty". The next day, students in Beijing as a whole went on strike, and students in other parts of the country responded one after another. From early June, in order to support the students' struggle, workers and businessmen in Shanghai also went on strike( Dell Latitude D500 battery). The center of the movement moved from Beijing to Shanghai. In addition to students, a wide array of different groups also publicly displayed disagreement with the Chinese government. The lower class was also very angry at the current state of affairs, such as mistreatment of workers and perpetual poverty of small peasants. Chancellors from thirteen of China's tertiary institutions initiated the rescue of student prisoners( Dell Latitude D505 battery). Congregations such as media outlets, citizen societies, and chambers of commerce offered their support for these students. Merchants further illustrated support for the students by resisting tax payments if China's government remained obstinate.[3] In Shanghai, these May Fourth events culminated into general strikes by merchants and workers that nearly devastated the entire Chinese economy( Dell Latitude D510 battery).[2] Under intense public outcry, the Beiyang government had to release the arrested students and dismiss Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang and Lu Zongyu from their posts. Also, the Chinese representatives in Paris refused to sign on the peace treaty: the May Fourth Movement won the initial victory. However, this move was more symbolic than anything else( Dell Latitude D520 battery). Japan still retained control of the Shandong Peninsula and the islands in the Pacific it had obtained during World War I. Even though these protests and marches did not manage to achieve all their objectives, the partial success of the movement exhibited the ability of China's various social classes to successfully collaborate, an ideal that would be admired by both Nationalists and Communists( Dell Latitude D600 battery).[2] [edit]Birth of Chinese Communism This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. For many years, the orthodox view in the People's Republic of China was that after the demonstrations in 1919 and their suppression, the discussion became more and more political. People like Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao shifted more to the Left and were among the leading founders of the 1921 Communist Party of China( Dell Latitude D610 battery), whilst other intellectuals, such as the Anarchist writer and agitator, Ba Jin also took part in the movement. Originally voluntarist or nihilist figures like Li Shicen and Zhu Qianzhi made similar turns to the Left as the 1920s saw China become increasingly turbulent. According to this view: The May Fourth Movement was a thoroughly anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolutionary movement. Young students acted as its pioneers. The Chinese working class went up on the political stage, and functioned as the main force in the later period of the movement( Dell Latitude D620 battery). Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and other intellectuals directed and promoted the development of the movement, and played leading roles in it. On the local level, future Communist Party leader Mao Zedong rallied opposition against Hunan's warlord Chang Ching-yao. The May Fourth Movement covered more than 20 provinces and over 100 cities of the country. It had a broader popular foundation than the Revolution of 1911. Its great contribution lay in arousing the people's consciousness and preparing for the unity of the revolutionary forces( Dell Latitude D630 battery). The May Fourth Movement promoted the spreading of Marxism in China, and prepared the ideological foundation for the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party. The October Revolution pointed out the direction for the Chinese revolution. The May Fourth Movement, which took place after the October Socialist Revolution, was a part of the world's Proletarian Revolution( Dell Latitude D800 battery). The May Fourth Movement served as an intellectual turning point in China; it was a seminal event that radicalized Chinese intellectual thought. Western-style liberal democracy had previously had a degree of traction amongst Chinese intellectuals, but after the Versailles Treaty (which was viewed as a betrayal of China's interests), lost much of its attractiveness( Dell Latitude D810 battery). Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, despite being rooted in moralism, were also seen as Western-centric and hypocritical. Many in the Chinese intellectual community believed that the United States had done little to convince the imperialist powers (especially Britain, France, and Japan) to adhere to the Fourteen Points, and observed that the United States itself had declined to join the League of Nations; as a result they turned away from the Western liberal democratic model( Dell Latitude D820 battery). Marxism began to take hold in Chinese intellectual thought, particularly among those already on the Left. It was during this time that communism was studied seriously by some Chinese intellectuals such as Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. Some historians[who?] have speculated that Chinese history might have taken a different course at this time had the United States taken a stronger position on Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and self-determination( Dell Latitude D830 battery). The United States was not a major imperialist power and was in a relatively strong position to take an anti-imperialist stance; however, it did not do so. As a result, China turned its attention to utilizing other political tools that could potentially resolve many of the nation's issues. These tools subsumed the concepts of Marxism and Leninism( Dell Latitude 2100 battery). [edit]Historical significance Scholars rank the New Culture and May Fourth Movements as significant turning points, along with the abolition of the civil service system in 1905 and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1911. Participants at the time, such as Hu Shi, referred to this era as the Chinese Renaissance because there was an intense focus on science and experimentation( Dell Latitude 2110 battery).[4] The challenge to traditional Chinese values, however, was also met with strong opposition, especially from the Kuomintang (nationalists). From their perspective, the movement destroyed the positive elements of Chinese tradition and placed a heavy emphasis on direct political actions and radical attitudes, characteristics of the emerging Chinese Communist Party( Dell Latitude E4300 battery). On the other hand, the Communist Party viewed the movement more favorably, although remaining suspicious of the early phase which emphasized the role of enlightened intellectuals, not revolution.[5] In its broader sense, the May Fourth Movement led to the establishment of radical intellectuals who went on to mobilize peasants and workers into the Communist party and gain the organizational strength that would solidify the success of the Communist Revolution. ( Dell Vostro 1310 battery) [edit]Criticism Chinese Muslims refused to follow the May Fourth Movement. Instead, they taught both modern, western education such as science, along with traditional Confucian literature and Classical Chinese languages with Islamic education and Arabic in their schools. They merely incorporated the new instead of destroying the old and replacing it. ( Dell Vostro 1320 battery) Chiang Kai-shek, as a nationalist, and Confucianist, was against the iconoclasm of the May Fourth Movement. He viewed some western ideas as foreign, as a Chinese nationalist, and that the introduction of western ideas and literature that the May Fourth Movement wanted was not welcome. He and Dr. Sun Yat-sen criticized these May Fourth intellectuals for corrupting morals of youth. ( Dell Vostro 1510 battery) The Kuomintang party, under Chiang Kai-shek's rule, carried out the opposite agenda of the May Fourthers, he started the New Life Movement, against western values, instead promomoting Confucianism and making it more Chinese. The Kuomintang purged China's education system of western ideas, introducing Confucianism into the curriculum( Dell Vostro 1520 battery). Education came under the total control of state, which meant, in effect, the Kuomintang party, via the Ministry of Education. Military and political classes on the Kuomintang's Three principles of the people were added. Textbooks, exams, degrees and educational instructors were all controlled by the state, as were all universities. ( Dell Vostro 2510 battery) [edit]Neotraditionalism vs. Western Thought Although the May Fourth Movement did find partial success at removing Chinese traditional culture,[citation needed] there were still proponents who steadfastly argued that China's traditions and values should be the fundamental foundation of the nation. From these opponents of Western civilization derived three neotraditional schools of thought: national essence( Dell Vostro 1014 battery), national character, and modern relevance of Confucianism. Each school of thought denounced the western values of individualism, materialism and utilitarianism as adequate avenues for the development of China. Each school possessed specific objectives. The "national essence" school sought to discover aspects of traditional culture that could potentially serve the national development of China( Dell Inspiron 1410 battery). Such traditional aspects consisted of various philosophical and religious practices that emerged parallel with Confucianism. Most particularly, China imported Buddhism, a religion from their neighboring country of India. Under the “national character” school, advocates promoted the traditional family system, the primary target of the May Fourth Movement( Dell Vostro 1015 battery). In this school, reformers viewed their Western counterparts as shells without morals. Finally, the modern relevance of Confucianism revolved around this notion that Confucian values were better than Western ones. Due to the fact that western culture primarily concentrated their efforts on rational analysis( Dell Inspiron 1088 battery), China’s neotraditionalist disputed that the concept was misguided especially in the realistic, altering milieu of the world. Most importantly, these three neo-traditionalist thoughts gave no consideration to the individual, which was the main theme of the May Fourth Movement( Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 battery).
François-Auguste-René Rodin (12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917), known as Auguste Rodin, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture,[1] he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition Sony VPCEH3T9E battery,[2] although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art. Sculpturally, Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay. Many of his most notable sculptures were roundly criticized during his lifetime. They clashed with the predominant figure sculpture tradition, in which works were decorative, formulaic, or highly thematic Sony VPCEH3N6E battery. Rodin's most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and allegory, modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality. Rodin was sensitive to the controversy surrounding his work, but refused to change his style. Successive works brought increasing favor from the government and the artistic community Sony VPCEH3N1E battery. From the unexpected realism of his first major figure — inspired by his 1875 trip to Italy — to the unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, Rodin's reputation grew, such that he became the preeminent French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist. Wealthy private clients sought Rodin's work after his World's Fair exhibit Sony VPCEH3D0E battery, and he kept company with a variety of high-profile intellectuals and artists. He married his life-long companion, Rose Beuret, in the last year of both their lives. His sculptures suffered a decline in popularity after his death in 1917, but within a few decades, his legacy solidified. Rodin remains one of the few sculptors widely known outside the visual arts community Sony VPCEH3B1E battery. Biography Formative years Rodin's signature on The Thinker Rodin was born in 1840 into a working-class family in Paris, the second child of Marie Cheffer and Jean-Baptiste Rodin, who was a police department clerk. He was largely self-educated,[3] and began to draw at age ten. Between ages 14 and 17, Rodin attended the Petite École, a school specializing in art and mathematics, where he studied drawing and painting Sony VPCEH2Z1E battery. His drawing teacher, Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, believed in first developing the personality of his students so that they observed with their own eyes and drew from their recollections. Rodin still expressed appreciation for his teacher much later in life.[4] It was at Petite École that he first met Jules Dalou and Alphonse Legros Sony VPCEH2S9E battery. In 1857, Rodin submitted a clay model of a companion to the Grand École in an attempt to win entrance; he did not succeed, and two further applications were also denied.[5] Given that entrance requirements at the Grand École were not particularly high,[6] the rejections were considerable setbacks. Rodin's inability to gain entrance may have been due to the judges' Neoclassical tastes, while Rodin had been schooled in light Sony VPCEH2Q1E battery, 18th-century sculpture. Leaving the Petite École in 1857, Rodin would earn a living as a craftsman and ornamenter for most of the next two decades, producing decorative objects and architectural embellishments. Rodin's sister Maria, two years his senior, died of peritonitis in a convent in 1862. Her brother was anguished, and felt guilty because he had introduced Maria to an unfaithful suitor. Turning away from art Sony VPCEH2P0E battery, Rodin briefly joined a Catholic order, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Saint Peter Julian Eymard, founder and head of the congregation, recognized Rodin's talent and, sensing his lack of suitability for the order, encouraged Rodin to continue with his sculpture. He returned to work as a decorator, while taking classes with animal sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye Sony VPCEH2N1E battery. The teacher's attention to detail — his finely rendered musculature of animals in motion — significantly influenced Rodin.[7] In 1864, Rodin began to live with a young seamstress named Rose Beuret, with whom he would stay — with ranging commitment — for the rest of his life. The couple had a son, Auguste-Eugène Beuret (1866–1934).[8] That year, Rodin offered his first sculpture for exhibition, and entered the studio of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse Sony VPCEH2M9E battery, a successful mass producer of objets d'art. Rodin worked as Carrier-Belleuse' chief assistant until 1870, designing roof decorations and staircase and doorway embellishments. With the arrival of the Franco-Prussian War, Rodin was called to serve in the National Guard, but his service was brief due to his near-sightedness.[9] Decorators' work had dwindled because of the war, yet Rodin needed to support his family Sony VPCEH2M1E battery; poverty was a continual difficulty for Rodin until about the age of 30.[10] Carrier-Belleuse soon asked Rodin to join him in Belgium, where they would work on ornamentation for Brussels' bourse. Rodin planned to stay in Belgium a few months, but he spent the next six years abroad. It was a pivotal time in his life.[10] He had acquired skill and experience as a craftsman, but no one had yet seen his art, which sat in his workshop, since he could not afford castings Sony VPCEH2L9E battery. Though his relationship with Carrier-Belleuse deteriorated, Rodin found other employment in Brussels, displaying some works at salons, and his companion Rose soon joined him there. Having saved enough money to travel, Rodin visited Italy for two months in 1875, where he was drawn to the work of Donatello and Michelangelo. Their work had a profound effect on his artistic direction Sony VPCEH2J1E battery.[11] Rodin said, "It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture."[12] Returning to Belgium, he began work on The Age of Bronze, a life-size male figure whose realism brought Rodin attention but led to accusations of sculptural cheating. Rodin in 1893 Artistic independence Rose Beuret and Rodin returned to Paris in 1877, moving into a small flat on the Left Bank. Misfortune surrounded Rodin: his mother, who had wanted to see her son marry, was dead, and his father was blind and senile Sony VPCEH2H1E battery, cared for by Rodin's sister-in-law, Aunt Thérèse. Rodin's eleven-year-old son Auguste, possibly developmentally delayed, was also in the ever-helpful Thérèse's care. Rodin had essentially abandoned his son for six years,[13] and would have a very limited relationship with him throughout his life. Father and son now joined the couple in their flat, with Rose as caretaker Sony VPCEH2F1E battery. The charges of fakery surrounding The Age of Bronze continued. Rodin increasingly sought more soothing female companionship in Paris, and Rose stayed in the background. Rodin earned his living collaborating with more established sculptors on public commissions, primarily memorials and neo-baroque architectural pieces in the style of Carpeaux.[14] In competitions for commissions he submitted models of Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Lazare Carnot, all to no avail. On his own time, he worked on studies leading to the creation of his next important work, St. John the Baptist Preaching Sony VPCEH2E0E battery. In 1880, Carrier-Belleuse — now art director of the Sèvres national porcelain factory — offered Rodin a part-time position as a designer. The offer was in part a gesture of reconciliation, and Rodin accepted. That part of Rodin which appreciated 18th-century tastes was aroused, and he immersed himself in designs for vases and table ornaments that brought the factory renown across Europe Sony VPCEH2D0E battery.[15] The artistic community appreciated his work in this vein, and Rodin was invited to Paris Salons by such friends as writer Léon Cladel. During his early appearances at these social events, Rodin seemed shy;[16] in his later years, as his fame grew, he displayed the loquaciousness and temperament for which he is better known. French statesman Leon Gambetta expressed a desire to meet Rodin, and the sculptor impressed him when they met at a salon Sony VPCEH2C0E battery. Gambetta spoke of Rodin in turn to several government ministers, likely including Edmund Turquet, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Fine Arts, whom Rodin eventually met.[16] Camille Claudel (1864–1943) Rodin's relationship with Turquet was rewarding: through him, he won the 1880 commission to create a portal for a planned museum of decorative arts. Rodin dedicated much of the next four decades to his elaborate Gates of Hell, an unfinished portal for a museum that was never built Sony VPCEH29FJ/W battery. Many of the portal's figures became sculptures in themselves, including Rodin's most famous, The Thinker and The Kiss. With the museum commission came a free studio, granting Rodin a new level of artistic freedom. Soon, he stopped working at the porcelain factory; his income came from private commissions. In 1883, Rodin agreed to supervise a course for sculptor Alfred Boucher in his absence, where he met the 18-year-old Camille Claudel Sony VPCEH29FJ/P battery. The two formed a passionate but stormy relationship and influenced each other artistically. Claudel inspired Rodin as a model for many of his figures, and she was a talented sculptor, assisting him on commissions. Although busy with The Gates of Hell, Rodin won other commissions. He pursued an opportunity to create a historical monument for the town of Calais Sony VPCEH29FJ/B battery. For a monument to French author Honoré de Balzac, Rodin was chosen in 1891. His execution of both sculptures clashed with traditional tastes, and met with varying degrees of disapproval from the organizations that sponsored the commissions. Still, Rodin was gaining support from diverse sources that propelled him toward fame Sony VPCEH28FN/L battery. In 1889, the Paris Salon invited Rodin to be a judge on its artistic jury. Though Rodin's career was on the rise, Claudel and Beuret were becoming increasingly impatient with Rodin's "double life". Claudel and Rodin shared an atelier at a small old castle, but Rodin refused to relinquish his ties to Beuret, his loyal companion during the lean years, and mother of his son Sony VPCEH28FJ/W battery. During one absence, Rodin wrote to Beuret, "I think of how much you must have loved me to put up with my caprices…I remain, in all tenderness, your Rodin."[17] Claudel and Rodin parted in 1898.[18] Claudel suffered a nervous breakdown several years later and was confined to an institution by her family until her death. [edit]Works In 1864, Rodin submitted his first sculpture for exhibition, The Man with the Broken Nose, to the Paris Salon. The subject was an elderly neighbourhood street porter Sony VPCEH28FJ/P battery. The unconventional bronze piece was not a traditional bust, but instead the head was "broken off" at the neck, the nose was flattened and crooked, and the back of the head was absent, having fallen off the clay model in an accident. The work emphasized texture and the emotional state of the subject; it illustrated the "unfinishedness" that would characterize many of Rodin's later sculptures Sony VPCEH28FJ/B battery.[19] The Salon rejected the piece. The Age of Bronze (1877) Early figures: the inspiration of Italy In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, The Age of Bronze, having returned from Italy. Modelled by a Belgian soldier, the figure drew inspiration from Michelangelo's Dying Slave, which Rodin had observed at the Louvre. Attempting to combine Michelangelo's mastery of the human form with his own sense of human nature, Rodin studied his model from all angles Sony VPCEH28FH/B battery, at rest and in motion; he mounted a ladder for additional perspective, and made clay models, which he studied by candlelight. The result was a life-size, well-proportioned nude figure, posed unconventionally with his right hand atop his head, and his left arm held out at his side, forearm parallel to the body. In 1877, the work debuted in Brussels and then was shown at the Paris Salon Sony VPCEH28FG/P battery. The statue's apparent lack of a theme was troubling to critics—commemorating neither mythology nor a noble historical event — and it is not clear whether Rodin intended a theme.[20] He first titled the work The Vanquished, in which form the left hand held a spear, but he removed the spear because it obstructed the torso from certain angles. After two more intermediary titles Sony VPCEH28FG/B battery, Rodin settled on The Age of Bronze, suggesting the Bronze Age, and in Rodin's words, "man arising from nature".[21] Later, however, Rodin said that he had had in mind "just a simple piece of sculpture without reference to subject".[21] Its mastery of form, light, and shadow made the work look so realistic that Rodin was accused of surmoulage — having taken a cast from a living model. Rodin vigorously denied the charges Sony VPCEH28FF/B battery, writing to newspapers and having photographs taken of the model to prove how the sculpture differed. He demanded an inquiry and was eventually exonerated by a committee of sculptors. Leaving aside the false charges, the piece polarized critics. It had barely won acceptance for display at the Paris Salon, and criticism likened it to "a statue of a sleepwalker" and called it "an astonishingly accurate copy of a low type" Sony VPCEH28FA/B battery.[21] Others rallied to defend the piece and Rodin's integrity. The government minister Turquet admired the piece, and The Age of Bronze was purchased by the state for 2,200 francs — what it had cost Rodin to have it cast in bronze.[21] St. John the Baptist Preaching (1878) A second male nude, St. John the Baptist Preaching, was completed in 1878. Rodin sought to avoid another charge of surmoulage by making the statue larger than life: St. John stands almost 6' 7"'' (2 m) Sony VPCEH27FG/W battery. While The Age of Bronze is statically posed, St. John gestures and seems to move toward the viewer. The effect of walking is achieved despite the figure having both feet firmly on the ground — a physical impossibility, and a technical achievement that was lost on most contemporary critics.[22] Rodin chose this contradictory position to, in his words, "display simultaneously…views of an object which in fact can be seen only successively" Sony VPCEH26FJ/W battery.[23] Despite the title, St. John the Baptist Preaching did not have an obviously religious theme. The model, an Italian peasant who presented himself at Rodin's studio, possessed an idiosyncratic sense of movement that Rodin felt compelled to capture. Rodin thought of John the Baptist, and carried that association into the title of the work.[23] In 1880, Rodin submitted the sculpture to the Paris Salon Sony VPCEH26EN/B battery. Critics were still mostly dismissive of his work, but the piece finished third in the Salon's sculpture category.[23] Regardless of the immediate receptions of St. John and The Age of Bronze, Rodin had achieved a new degree of fame. Students sought him at his studio, praising his work and scorning the charges of surmoulage. The artistic community knew his name Sony VPCEH26EH/P battery. [edit]The Gates of Hell The Gates of Hell (unfinished), Musée Rodin A commission to create a portal for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded to Rodin in 1880.[14] Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on The Gates of Hell, a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from Dante's Inferno in high relief. Often lacking a clear conception of his major works, Rodin compensated with hard work and a striving for perfection Sony VPCEH26EG/P battery.[24] He conceived The Gates with the surmoulage controversy still in mind: "…I had made the St. John to refute [the charges of casting from a model], but it only partially succeeded. To prove completely that I could model from life as well as other sculptors, I determined…to make the sculpture on the door of figures smaller than life."[24] Laws of composition gave way to the Gates' disordered and untamed depiction of Hell Sony VPCEH26EF/B battery. The figures and groups in this, Rodin's meditation on the condition of man, are physically and morally isolated in their torment.[25] The Gates of Hell comprised 186 figures in its final form.[25] Many of Rodin's best-known sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition,[7] such as The Thinker, The Three Shades, and The Kiss, and were only later presented as separate and independent works Sony VPCEH26EA/W battery. Other well-known works derived from The Gates are Ugolino, Fugit Amor, The Falling Man, and The Prodigal Son. The Thinker (originally titled The Poet, after Dante) was to become one of the most well-known sculptures in the world. The original was a 27.5-inch (700 mm)-high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the Gates' lintel, from which the figure would gaze down upon Hell. While The Thinker most obviously characterizes Dante Sony VPCEH25EN/W battery, aspects of the Biblical Adam, the mythological Prometheus,[14] and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him.[26][27] Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of The Thinker, stressing the figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it.[28] The Burghers of Calais (1884–ca. 1889) in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, England Sony VPCEH25EG/B battery[edit]The Burghers of Calais Main article: The Burghers of Calais The town of Calais had contemplated an historical monument for decades when Rodin learned of the project. He pursued the commission, interested in the medieval motif and patriotic theme. The mayor of Calais was tempted to hire Rodin on the spot upon visiting his studio, and soon the memorial was approved, with Rodin as its architect Sony VPCEH24FX/W battery. It would commemorate the six townspeople of Calais who offered their lives to save their fellow citizens. During the Hundred Years' War, the army of King Edward III besieged Calais, and Edward ordered that the town's population be killed en masse. He agreed to spare them if six of the principal citizens would come to him prepared to die, bareheaded and barefooted and with ropes around their necks Sony VPCEH24FX/P battery. When they came, he ordered that they be executed, but pardoned them when his queen, Philippa of Hainault, begged him to spare their lives. The Burghers of Calais depicts the men as they are leaving for the king's camp, carrying keys to the town's gates and citadel. Rodin began the project in 1884, inspired by the chronicles of the siege by Jean Froissart.[29] Though the town envisioned an allegorical, heroic piece centered on Eustache de Saint-Pierre, the eldest of the six men Sony VPCEH24FX/L battery, Rodin conceived the sculpture as a study in the varied and complex emotions under which all six men were laboring. One year into the commission, the Calais committee was not impressed with Rodin's progress. Rodin indicated his willingness to end the project rather than change his design to meet the committee's conservative expectations, but Calais said to continue Sony VPCEH24FX/B battery. In 1889, The Burghers of Calais was first displayed to general acclaim. It is a bronze sculpture weighing two tons (1,814 kg), and its figures are 6.6 ft (2 m) tall.[29] The six men portrayed do not display a united, heroic front;[30] rather, each is isolated from his brothers, individually deliberating and struggling with his expected fate. Rodin soon proposed that the monument's high pedestal be eliminated Sony VPCEH1Z1E battery, wanting to move the sculpture to ground level so that viewers could "penetrate to the heart of the subject".[31] At ground level, the figures' positions lead the viewer around the work, and subtly suggest their common movement forward.[32] The committee was incensed by the untraditional proposal, but Rodin would not yield. In 1895, Calais succeeded in having Burghers displayed in their preferred form Sony VPCEH1S9E battery: the work was placed in front of a public garden on a high platform, surrounded by a cast-iron railing. Rodin had wanted it located near the town hall, where it would engage the public. Only after damage during the First World War, subsequent storage, and Rodin's death was the sculpture displayed as he had intended. It is one of Rodin's best-known and most acclaimed works. Sony VPCEH1S8E battery[edit]Commissions and controversy Auguste Rodin in mid-career. Rodin observing work on the monument to Victor Hugo at the studio of his assistant Henri Lebossé in 1896 Commissioned to create a monument to French writer Victor Hugo in 1889, Rodin dealt extensively with the subject of artist and muse. Like many of Rodin's public commissions, Monument to Victor Hugo was met with resistance because it did not fit conventional expectations Sony VPCEH1S1E battery. Commenting on Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo, The Times in 1909 expressed that "there is some show of reason in the complaint that [Rodin's] conceptions are sometimes unsuited to his medium, and that in such cases they overstrain his vast technical powers".[33] The 1897 plaster model was not cast in bronze until 1964 Sony VPCEH1S0E battery. Monument to Balzac (1891–1898) The Société des Gens des Lettres, a Parisian organization of writers, planned a monument to French novelist Honoré de Balzac immediately after his death in 1850. The society commissioned Rodin to create the memorial in 1891, and Rodin spent years developing the concept for his sculpture. Challenged in finding an appropriate representation of Balzac given the author's rotund physique Sony VPCEH1M9E battery, Rodin produced many studies: portraits, full-length figures in the nude, wearing a frock coat, or in a robe—a replica of which Rodin had requested. The realized sculpture displays Balzac cloaked in the drapery, looking forcefully into the distance with deeply gouged features. Rodin's intent had been to show Balzac at the moment of conceiving a work[34] — to express courage, labor, and struggle Sony VPCEH1M1E battery.[35] When Balzac was exhibited in 1898, the negative reaction was not surprising.[26] The Société rejected the work, and the press ran parodies. Criticizing the work, Morey (1918) reflected, "there may come a time, and doubtless will come a time, when it will not seem outre to represent a great novelist as a huge comic mask crowning a bathrobe Sony VPCEH1L9E battery, but even at the present day this statue impresses one as slang."[7] A modern critic, indeed, indicates that Balzac is one of Rodin's masterpieces.[36] The monument had its supporters in Rodin's day; a manifesto defending him was signed by Monet, Debussy, and future Premier Georges Clemenceau, among many others Sony VPCEH1L8E battery.[37] Rather than try to convince skeptics of the merit of the monument, Rodin repaid the Société his commission and moved the figure to his garden. After this experience, Rodin did not complete another public commission. Only in 1939 was Monument to Balzac cast in bronze Sony VPCEH1L0E battery. Other works The Shade, High Museum of Art, Atlanta The popularity of Rodin's most famous sculptures tends to obscure his total creative output. A prolific artist, he created thousands of busts, figures, and sculptural fragments over more than five decades. He painted in oils (especially in his thirties) and in watercolors. The Musée Rodin holds 7,000 of his drawings and prints, in chalk and charcoal, and thirteen vigorous drypoints.[38][39] He also produced a single lithograph Sony VPCEH1J8E battery. Portraiture was an important component of Rodin's oeuvre, helping him to win acceptance and financial independence.[40] His first sculpture was a bust of his father in 1860, and he produced at least 56 portraits between 1877 and his death in 1917.[41] Early subjects included fellow sculptor Jules Dalou (1883) and companion Camille Claudel (1884) Sony VPCEH1J1E battery. Later, with his reputation established, Rodin made busts of prominent contemporaries such as English politician George Wyndham (1905), Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1906), Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1909), former Argentinian president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and French statesman Georges Clemenceau (1911) Sony VPCEH1E1E battery. Aesthetic A famous "fragment": The Walking Man Rodin was a naturalist, less concerned with monumental expression than with character and emotion.[42] Departing with centuries of tradition, he turned away from the idealism of the Greeks, and the decorative beauty of the Baroque and neo-Baroque movements. His sculpture emphasized the individual and the concreteness of flesh, and suggested emotion through detailed Sony VPCEH1AJ battery, textured surfaces, and the interplay of light and shadow. To a greater degree than his contemporaries, Rodin believed that an individual's character was revealed by his physical features.[2] Rodin's talent for surface modeling allowed him to let every part of the body speak for the whole. The male's passion in The Kiss is suggested by the grip of his toes on the rock, the rigidness of his back, and the differentiation of his hands.[7] Speaking of The Thinker, Rodin illuminated his aesthetic Sony VPCEH19FJ/W battery: "What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."[43] Sculptural fragments to Rodin were autonomous works, and he considered them the essence of his artistic statement. His fragments—perhaps lacking arms Sony VPCEH19FJ/P battery, legs, or a head—took sculpture further from its traditional role of portraying likenesses, and into a realm where forms existed for their own sake.[44] Notable examples are The Walking Man, Meditation without Arms, and Iris, Messenger of the Gods. Rodin saw suffering and conflict as hallmarks of modern art. "Nothing, really, is more moving than the maddened beast, dying from unfulfilled desire and asking in vain for grace to quell its passion." Sony VPCEH19FJ/B battery Charles Baudelaire echoed those themes, and was among Rodin's favorite poets. Rodin enjoyed music, especially the opera composer Gluck, and wrote a book about French cathedrals. He owned a work by the as-yet-unrecognized Van Gogh, and admired the forgotten El Greco.[45] [edit]Method A plaster of The Age of Bronze Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Rodin preferred his models to move naturally around his studio (despite their nakedness) Sony VPCEH18FJ/W battery.[7] The sculptor often made quick sketches in clay that were later fine-tuned, cast in plaster, and forged into bronze or carved in marble. Rodin's focus was on the handling of clay. George Bernard Shaw sat for a portrait and gave an idea of Rodin's technique: "While he worked, he achieved a number of miracles. At the end of the first fifteen minutes, after having given a simple idea of the human form to the block of clay Sony VPCEH18FJ/P battery, he produced by the action of his thumb a bust so living that I would have taken it away with me to relieve the sculptor of any further work." He described the evolution of his bust over a month, passing through "all the stages of art's evolution": first, a "Byzantine masterpiece", then "Bernini intermingled", then an elegant Houdon. "The hand of Rodin worked not as the hand of a sculptor works, but as the work of Elan Vital. The Hand of God is his own hand." Sony VPCEH18FJ/B batteryAfter he completed his work in clay, he employed highly-skilled assistants to re-sculpt his compositions at larger sizes (including any of his large-scale monuments such as the Thinker), to cast the clay compositions into plaster or bronze, and to carve his marbles. Rodin's major innovation was to capitalize on such multi-staged processes of nineteenth century sculpture and their reliance on plaster casting Sony VPCEH18FH/P battery. Since clay deteriorates rapidly if not kept wet or fired into a terra-cotta, sculptors used plaster casts as a means of securing the composition they would make out of the fugitive material that is clay. This was common practice amongst Rodin's contemporaries, and sculptors would exhibit plaster casts with the hopes that they would be commissioned to have the works made in a more permanent material Sony VPCEH18FG/L battery. Rodin, however, would have multiple plasters made and treat them as the raw material of sculpture, recombining their parts and figures into new compositions, and new names. As Rodin's practice developed into the 1890s, he became more and more radical in his pursuit of fragmentation, the combination of figures at different scales, and the making of new compositions from his earlier work. A prime example of this is the bold Walking Man (1899–1900) Sony VPCEH18FF/B battery, which was exhibited as his major one-person show in 1900. This is composed of two sculptures from the 1870s that Rodin found in his studio — a broken and damaged torso that had fallen into neglect and the lower extremities of a statuette version of his 1878 St. John the Baptist Preaching he was having re-sculpted at a reduced scale. Without finessing the join between upper and lower Sony VPCEH18FA/B battery, between torso and legs, Rodin created a work that many sculptors at the time and subsequently have seen as one of his strongest and most singular works. This is despite the fact that the object conveys two different styles, exhibits two different attitudes toward finish, and lacks any attempt to hide the arbitrary fusion of these two components Sony VPCEH17FJ/W battery. It was the freedom and creativity with which Rodin used these practices — along with his activation surfaces of sculptures through traces of his own touch and with his more open attitude toward bodily pose, sensual subject matter, and non-realistic surface — that marked Rodin's re-making of traditional 19th century sculptural techniques into the prototype for modern sculpture Sony VPCEH17FG/W battery. Later years A portrait of Rodin by his friend Alphonse Legros By 1900, Rodin's artistic reputation was entrenched. Gaining exposure from a pavilion of his artwork set up near the 1900 World's Fair (Exposition Universelle) in Paris, he received requests to make busts of prominent people internationally,[26] while his assistants at the atelier produced duplicates of his works. His income from portrait commissions alone totalled probably 200,000 francs a year. Sony VPCEH17FG/P batteryAs Rodin's fame grew, he attracted many followers, including the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and authors Octave Mirbeau, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and Oscar Wilde.[30] Rilke stayed with Rodin in 1905 and 1906, and did administrative work for him; he would later write a laudatory monograph on the sculptor. Rodin and Beuret's modest country estate in Meudon, purchased in 1897, was a host to such visitors as King Edward, dancer Isadora Duncan Sony VPCEH17FG/L battery, and harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. Rodin moved to the city in 1908, renting the main floor of the Hôtel Biron, an 18th-century townhouse. He left Beuret in Meudon, and began an affair with the American-born Duchesse de Choiseul.[48] [edit]Rodin and America While Rodin was beginning to be accepted in France by the time of The Burghers of Calais, he had not yet conquered the American market and because of his technique and the frankness of some of his work Sony VPCEH17FG/B battery, he did not have an easy time selling his work to American industrialists. Fortunately, he came to know Sarah Tyson Hallowell (1846–1924), a curator from Chicago who visited Paris to arrange exhibitions at the large Interstate Expositions of the 1870s and 1880s. Hallowell was not only a curator but an adviser and a facilitator who was trusted by a number of prominent American collectors to suggest works for their collections Sony VPCEH16EN/B battery, the most prominent of these being the Chicago hotelier Potter Palmer and his wife, Bertha Palmer (1849–1918). The next opportunity for Rodin in America was the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.[49] Hallowell wanted to help promote Rodin's work and he suggested a solo exhibition, which she wrote him was beaucoup moins beau que l'original but impossible, outside the rules. Instead, she suggested he send a number of works for her loan exhibition of French art from American collections and she told him she would list them as being part of an American collection Sony VPCEH16EH/W battery.[50] Rodin sent Hallowell three works, Cupid and Psyche, Sphinx and Andromeda. All nudes, these works provoked great controversy and were ultimately hidden behind a drape with special permission given for viewers to see them.[51] Fortunately, Bust of Dalou and Burgher of Calais were on display in the official French pavilion at the fair and so between the works that were on display and those that were not, he was noticed Sony VPCEH16EG/W battery. However, the works he gave Hallowell to sell found no takers, but she soon brought the controversial Quaker-born financier Charles Yerkes (1837–1905) into the fold and he purchased two large marbles for his Chicago manse;[51] Yerkes was likely the first American to own a Rodin sculpture.[52] Other collectors soon followed including the tastemaking Potter Palmers of Chicago and Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) of Boston, all arranged by Sarah Hallowell Sony VPCEH16EF/B battery. In appreciation for her efforts at unlocking the American market, Rodin eventually presented Hallowell with a bronze, a marble and a terra cotta. When Hallowell moved to Paris in 1893, she and Rodin continued their warm friendship and correspondence, which lasted to the end of the sculptor's life.[53] After Hallowell's death, her niece, the painter Harriet Hallowell Sony VPCEH16EA/P battery, inherited the Rodin's and after her death, the American heirs could not manage to match their value in order to export them, so they became the property of the French state.[54] [edit]Great Britain After the turn of the century, Rodin was a regular visitor to Great Britain, where he developed a loyal following by the beginning of the First World War. He first visited England in 1881, where his friend, the artist Alphonse Legros, had introduced him to the poet William Ernest Henley Sony VPCEH15EN/W battery. With his personal connections and enthusiasm for Rodin's art, Henley was most responsible for Rodin's reception in Britain.[55] (Rodin later returned the favor by sculpting a bust of Henley that was used as the frontispiece to Henley's collected works and, after his death, on his monument in London.[56] Through Henley, Rodin met Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Browning, in whom he found further support Sony VPCEH15EG/B battery.[57] Encouraged by the enthusiasm of British artists, students, and high society for his art, Rodin donated a significant selection of his works to the nation in 1914. Rodin in 1914 After the revitalization of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890, Rodin served as the body's vice-president.[58] In 1903, Rodin was elected president of the International Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers. He replaced its former president Sony VPCEH13FX/W battery, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, upon Whistler's death. His election to the prestigious position was largely due to the efforts of Albert Ludovici, father of English philosopher Anthony Ludovici. During his later creative years, Rodin's work turned increasingly toward the female form, and themes of more overt masculinity and femininity.[26] He concentrated on small dance studies, and produced numerous erotic drawings Sony VPCEH13FX/P battery, sketched in a loose way, without taking his pencil from the paper or his eyes from the model. Rodin met American dancer Isadora Duncan in 1900, attempted to seduce her,[59] and the next year sketched studies of her and her students. In July 1906, Rodin was also enchanted by dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, and produced some of his most famous drawings from the experience Sony VPCEH13FX/L battery.[60] Fifty-three years into their relationship, Rodin married Rose Beuret. The wedding was 29 January 1917, and Beuret died two weeks later, on 16 February.[61] Rodin was ill that year; in January, he suffered weakness from influenza,[62] and on 16 November his physician announced that "congestion of the lungs has caused great weakness Sony VPCEH13FX/B battery. The patient's condition is grave."[61] Rodin died the next day, age 77, at his villa in Meudon, Île-de-France, on the outskirts of Paris.[5] A cast of The Thinker was placed next to his tomb in Meudon; it was Rodin's wish that the figure serve as his headstone and epitaph.[63] In 1923, Marcell Tirel, Rodin's secretary, published a book alleging that Rodin's death was largely due to cold, and the fact that he had no heat at Meudon Sony VPCCA3SFX/R battery. Rodin requested permission to stay in the Hotel Biron, a museum of his works, but the director of the museum refused to let him stay there.[64][65] Legacy The grounds of Musée Rodin Rodin willed to the French state his studio and the right to make casts from his plasters. Because he encouraged the edition of his sculpted work, Rodin's sculptures are represented in many public and private collections. The Musée Rodin was founded in 1916 and opened in 1919 at the Hôtel Biron, where Rodin had lived, and it holds the largest Rodin collection Sony VPCCA3S1E battery, with more than 6,000 sculptures and 7,000 works on paper. The relative ease of making reproductions has also encouraged many forgeries: a survey of expert opinion placed Rodin in the top ten most-faked artists.[66] Rodin fought against forgeries of his works as early as 1901, and since his death, many cases of organized, large-scale forgeries have been revealed. A massive forgery was discovered by French authorities in the early 1990s and led to the conviction of art dealer Guy Hain. Sony VPCCA3E1E batteryTo deal with the complexity of bronze reproduction, France has promulgated several laws since 1956 which limit reproduction to twelve casts—the maximum number that can be made from an artist's plasters and still be considered his work. As a result of this limit, The Burghers of Calais, for example, is found in fourteen cities. Sony VPCCA38EC/R batteryThe Thinker (1879–1889) is among the most recognized works in all of sculpture. In the market for sculpture, plagued by fakes, the value of a piece increases significantly when its provenance can be established. A Rodin work with a verified history sold for US$4.8 million in 1999,[68] and Rodin's bronze Eve, grand modele—version sans rocher sold for $18.9 million at a 2008 Christie's auction in New York. Sony VPCCA38EC batteryArt critics concerned about authenticity have argued that taking a cast does not equal reproducing a Rodin sculpture—especially given the importance of surface treatment in Rodin's work.[70] During his lifetime, Rodin was compared to Michelangelo,[27] and was widely recognized as the greatest artist of the era.[71] In the three decades following his death, his popularity waned with changing aesthetic values Sony VPCCA37EC/B battery.[71] Since the 1950s, Rodin's reputation has re-ascended;[45] he is recognized as the most important sculptor of the modern era, and has been the subject of much scholarly work.[71][72] The sense of incompletion offered by some of his sculpture, such as The Walking Man, influenced the increasingly abstract sculptural forms of the 20th century. Sony VPCCA37EC battery Though highly honoured for his artistic accomplishments, Rodin did not spawn a significant, lasting school of followers. His notable students included Antoine Bourdelle, Charles Despiau, the American Malvina Hoffman, and his mistress Camille Claudel, whose sculpture received praise in France. The French order Légion d'honneur made him a Commander, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford Sony VPCCA36FW/W battery. Rodin restored an ancient role of sculpture—to capture the physical and intellectual force of the human subject[72]—and he freed sculpture from the repetition of traditional patterns, providing the foundation for greater experimentation in the 20th century. His popularity is ascribed to his emotion-laden representations of ordinary men and women-- Sony VPCCA36FW/B batteryto his ability to find the beauty and pathos in the human animal. His most popular works, such as The Kiss and The Thinker, are widely used outside the fine arts as symbols of human emotion and character. Vincent Willem van Gogh (UK /ˌvæn ˈɡɒx/, US /ˌvæn ˈɡoʊ/;[note 1] Dutch: [vɑŋ ˈɣɔχ] ( listen); 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color Sony VPCCA36FH/W battery, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, [1][2] he died at the age of 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).[3][note 2] His work was then known to only a handful of people and appreciated by fewer still Sony VPCCA36FG/B battery. Van Gogh began to draw as a child, and he continued to draw throughout the years that led up to his decision to become an artist. He did not begin painting until his late twenties, completing many of his best-known works during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints Sony VPCCA36FA/B battery. His work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes of flowers, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers, traveling between The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught for a time in England. One of his early aspirations was to become a pastor and from 1879 he worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium where he began to sketch people from the local community Sony VPCCA36EC/W battery. In 1885, he painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at the time consisted mainly of somber earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later, he moved to the south of France and was impacted by the strong sunlight he found there Sony VPCCA36EC battery. His work grew brighter in color, and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888. The extent to which his mental health affected his painting has been a subject of speculation since his death. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health, modern critics see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought about by his bouts of illness Sony VPCCA35FW/W battery. According to art critic Robert Hughes, van Gogh's late works show an artist at the height of his ability, completely in control and "longing for concision and grace".[4] Letters See also: The Letters of Vincent van Gogh Vincent c. 1871–1872 aged 18. This photograph was taken at the time when he was working at the branch of Goupil & Cie's gallery at The Hague.[5][6] Theo in 1888 at 31. Theo was a life-long supporter and friend to his brother. The two are buried together at Auvers-sur-Oise. The most comprehensive primary source for the understanding of van Gogh as an artist is the collection of letters between him and his younger brother, art dealer Theo van Gogh. Sony VPCCA35FW/B battery They lay the foundation for most of what is known about the thoughts and beliefs of the artist.[8][9] Theo provided his brother with both financial and emotional support. Their lifelong friendship, and most of what is known of van Gogh's thoughts and theories of art, is recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged between 1872 and 1890: more than 600 from Vincent to Theo and 40 from Theo to Vincent Sony VPCCA35FN/R battery. Although many are undated, art historians have generally been able to put them in chronological order. Problems remain, mainly in dating those from Arles although it is known that during that period, van Gogh wrote 200 letters to friends in Dutch, French and English.[10] The period when Vincent lived in Paris is the most difficult for historians to analyze because the brothers lived together and had no need to correspond. Sony VPCCA35FH/D batteryIn addition to letters to and from Theo, other surviving documents include those to Van Rappard, Émile Bernard, van Gogh's sister Wil and her friend Line Kruysse.[12] The letters were first annotated in 1913 by Theo's widow Johanna van Gogh-Bonger who explained that she published them with 'trepidation' because she did not want the drama in the artist's life to overshadow his work Sony VPCCA35FG/PI battery. Van Gogh himself was an avid reader of other artists' biographies and expected their lives to be in keeping with the character of their art.[7] Biography Main article: Vincent van Gogh chronology Early life See also: Van Gogh's family in his art Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, a village close to Breda in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, a predominantly Catholic area.[13][14] He was the oldest child of Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Vincent was given the name of his grandfather Sony VPCCA35FF/P battery, and of a brother stillborn exactly a year before his birth.[note 3] The practice of reusing a name was not unusual. Vincent was a common name in the Van Gogh family: his grandfather, Vincent (1789–1874), had received his degree of theology at the University of Leiden in 1811. Grandfather Vincent had six sons, three of whom became art dealers, including another Vincent who was referred to in van Gogh's letters as "Uncle Cent" Sony VPCCA35FA/PI battery. Grandfather Vincent had perhaps been named in turn after his own father's uncle, the successful sculptor Vincent van Gogh (1729–1802).[15][16] Art and religion were the two occupations to which the Van Gogh family gravitated. His brother Theodorus "Theo" was born on 1 May 1857. He had another brother, Cor, and three sisters: Elisabeth, Anna and Willemina "Wil". Sony VPCCA2Z0E batteryVincent c. 1866, approx. age 13 As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful. He attended the Zundert village school from 1860, where the single Catholic teacher taught around 200 pupils. From 1861, he and his sister Anna were taught at home by a governess, until 1 October 1864, when he went to Jan Provily's boarding school at Zevenbergen about 20 miles (32 km) away Sony VPCCA2SFX/R battery. He was distressed to leave his family home as he recalled later as an adult. On 15 September 1866, he went to the new middle school, Willem II College in Tilburg. Constantijn C. Huysmans, a successful artist in Paris, taught van Gogh to draw at the school and advocated a systematic approach to the subject. Vincent's interest in art began at an early age. He began to draw as a child and continued making drawings throughout the years leading to his decision to become an artist Sony VPCCA2S1E battery. Though well-done and expressive,[18] his early drawings do not approach the intensity he developed in his later work.[19] In March 1868, van Gogh abruptly left school and returned home. A later comment on his early years was in an 1883 letter to Theo in which he wrote, "My youth was gloomy and cold and sterile".[20] In July 1869, his uncle Cent helped him obtain a position with the art dealer Goupil & Cie in The Hague Sony VPCCA2S0E battery. After his training, in June 1873, Goupil transferred him to London, where he lodged at 87 Hackford Road, Brixton, and worked at Messrs. Goupil & Co., 17 Southampton Street.[21] This was a happy time for Vincent; he was successful at work and was, at 20, earning more than his father. Theo's wife later remarked that this was the happiest year of Vincent's life. He fell in love with his landlady's daughter Sony VPCCA2AJ battery, Eugénie Loyer, but when he finally confessed his feelings to her, she rejected him, saying that she was secretly engaged to a former lodger. He became increasingly isolated and fervent about religion; his father and uncle arranged for him to be transferred to Paris, where he became resentful at how art was treated as a commodity, a fact apparent to customers. On 1 April 1876, Goupil terminated his employment. Sony VPCCA1S3C/CN1 batteryVan Gogh returned to England for unpaid work as a supply teacher in a small boarding school overlooking the harbor in Ramsgate, where he made sketches of the view. When the proprietor of the school relocated to Isleworth, Middlesex, van Gogh moved with him, taking the train to Richmond and the remainder of the journey on foot.[23] The arrangement did not work out and he left to became a Methodist minister's assistant Sony VPCCA1S2C/CN1 battery, following his wish to "preach the gospel everywhere."[24] At Christmas, he returned home and found work in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months. He was not happy in this new position and spent much of his time either doodling or translating passages from the Bible into English, French and German.[25] His roommate at the time, a young teacher named Görlitz, recalled that van Gogh ate frugally, and preferred not to eat meat. Sony VPCCA1S1E/W batteryVan Gogh's religious zeal grew until he felt he had found his true vocation. To support his effort to become a pastor his family sent him to Amsterdam to study theology in May 1877, where he stayed with his uncle Jan van Gogh, a naval Vice Admiral. Vincent prepared for the entrance exam with his uncle Johannes Stricker; a respected theologian who published the first "Life of Jesus" in the Netherlands. Van Gogh failed the exam Sony VPCCA1S1E/P battery, and left his uncle Jan's house in July 1878. He then undertook, but failed, a three-month course at the Vlaamsche Opleidingsschool, a Protestant missionary school in Laeken, near Brussels.[29] The house where Van Gogh stayed in Cuesmes in 1880; while living here he decided to become an artist In January 1879, he took a temporary post as a missionary in the village of Petit Wasmes[note 5] in the coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium Sony VPCCA1S1E/G battery. Taking Christianity to what he saw as its logical conclusion, van Gogh lived like those he preached to, sleeping on straw in a small hut at the back of the baker's house where he was staying. The baker's wife reported hearing van Gogh sobbing at night in the hut. His choice of squalid living conditions did not endear him to the appalled church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood." Sony VPCCA1S1E/D battery He then walked to Brussels,[30] returned briefly to the village of Cuesmes in the Borinage but gave in to pressure from his parents to return home to Etten. He stayed there until around March the following year,[note 6] a cause of increasing concern and frustration for his parents. There was particular conflict between Vincent and his father; Theodorus made inquiries about having his son committed to the lunatic asylum at Geel. Sony VPCCA1S1E/B batteryHe returned to Cuesmes where he lodged with a miner named Charles Decrucq until October.[32] Increasingly interested in the people and scenes around him, van Gogh recorded his time there in his drawings and followed Theo's suggestion that he should take up art in earnest. He traveled to Brussels that autumn intending to follow Theo's recommendation to study with the prominent Dutch artist Willem Roelofs, who persuaded him Sony VPCCA1S1E battery, in spite of his aversion to formal schools of art, to attend the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, where he registered on 15 November 1880. At the Académie, he studied anatomy and the standard rules of modeling and perspective, about which he said, "...you have to know just to be able to draw the least thing."[33] Van Gogh aspired to become an artist in God's service Sony VPCCA1S1C/CN1 battery, stating: "...to try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another in a picture." Etten, Drenthe and The Hague See also: Early works of Vincent van Gogh Annotated by the artist in ink at lower left: At Eternity's Gate, 1882, lithograph, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art[34] Kee Vos Stricker with her son Jan c. 1879/1880. In April 1881, van Gogh moved to the Etten countryside with his parents where he continued drawing, often using neighbors as subjects. Through the summer he spent time walking and talking with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker Sony VPCCA1C5E battery, the daughter of his mother's older sister and Johannes Stricker, with whom he stayed in Amsterdam in 1878.[35] Kee, who had an eight-year-old son, was seven years older than van Gogh. He proposed marriage, but she refused with the words, "No, nay, never," ("nooit, neen, nimmer").[36][37] Late that November, van Gogh wrote a strongly worded letter to Johannes Sony VPCCA1AHJ battery,[38] and then hurried to Amsterdam where he spoke with him on several occasions.[39] Kee refused to see him, and her parents wrote, "Your persistence is disgusting." In desperation, he held his left hand in the flame of a lamp, with the words "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame."[40] He did not recall the event well, but later assumed that his uncle blew out the flame Sony VPCCA1AGJ battery. Kee's father made it clear to him that Kee's refusal should be heeded and that the two would not be married[41] because of van Gogh's inability to support himself.[42] Van Gogh's perception of his uncle and former tutor's hypocrisy affected him deeply and put an end to his religious faith forever.[43] That Christmas he refused to go to church, quarreling violently with his father as a result and leading him to leave home the same day for The Hague. Sony VPCCA1AFJ batteryRooftops, View from the Atelier The Hague, 1882, watercolour, Private collection. In January 1882, he settled in The Hague where he called on his cousin-in-law, Anton Mauve (1838–88) who was a Dutch realist painter and a leading member of the Hague School. Mauve introduced him to painting in both oil and watercolor and lent him money to set up a studio[46] but the two soon fell out, possibly over the issue of drawing from plaster casts. Sony VPCCA190 battery Mauve appears to have suddenly gone cold towards van Gogh and did not return a number of his letters.[48] Van Gogh supposed that he had learned of his new domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904) and her young daughter. He had met Sien towards the end of January when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. She had already borne two children who had died, although van Gogh was unaware of this Sony VPCCA18EC/D battery.[52] On 2 July, she gave birth to a baby boy, Willem.[53] When van Gogh's father discovered the details of their relationship, he put considerable pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her children, although Vincent at first defied him.[54][55] Van Gogh's uncle Cornelis, an art dealer, commissioned 12 ink drawings of views of the city, which van Gogh completed soon after arriving in The Hague, along with a further seven drawings that May.[56] In June, he spent three weeks in a hospital suffering from gonorrhea Sony VPCCA18EC battery.[57] During the summer he began to paint in oil.[58] In autumn 1883, after a year together, he left Sien and the two children. He had thought of moving the family out of the city but in the end made the break.[59] It is possible that lack of money pushed Sien back to prostitution—the home became less happy, and van Gogh may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. When he left, Sien gave her daughter to her mother and baby Willem to her brother Sony VPCCA17FX/G battery. She then moved to Delft, and later to Antwerp.[60] Willem remembered being taken to visit his mother in Rotterdam at around the age of 12, where his uncle tried to persuade Sien to marry in order to legitimize the child. Willem remembered his mother saying, "But I know who the father is. He was an artist I lived with nearly 20 years ago in The Hague. His name was van Gogh Sony VPCCA17FX/D battery." She then turned to Willem and said "You are called after him."[61] While Willem believed himself van Gogh's son, the timing of his birth makes this unlikely.[62] In 1904, Sien drowned herself in the River Scheldt. Van Gogh moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe, in the northern Netherlands. That December, driven by loneliness, he went to stay with his parents who had been posted to Nuenen, North Brabant. Sony VPCCA17EC/W batteryEmerging artist See also: Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands) Nuenen and Antwerp (1883–1886) The Potato Eaters, 1885, Van Gogh Museum In Nuenen, van Gogh devoted himself to drawing, and he gave money to boys to bring him birds' nests for subject matter for paintings,[note 8] and he made many sketches and paintings of weavers in their cottages.[64] In autumn 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbor's daughter and ten years his senior, often joined him on his painting forays Sony VPCCA17EC battery. She fell in love, and he reciprocated—though less enthusiastically. They decided to marry, but the idea was opposed by both families. As a result, Margot took an overdose of strychnine. She was saved when van Gogh rushed her to a nearby hospital.[53] On 26 March 1885, his father died of a heart attack and he grieved deeply at the loss. Sony VPCCA16FW/W batterySkull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, 1885–1886, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum For the first time, there was interest from Paris in his work. That spring, he completed what is generally considered his first major work, The Potato Eaters, the culmination of several years work painting peasant character studies.[66] In August 1885, his work was exhibited for the first time, in the windows of a paint dealer, Leurs, in The Hague Sony VPCCA16FH/B battery. When he was accused of forcing himself on one of his young peasant sitters Gordina de Groot who became pregnant that September,[note 9] the Catholic village priest forbade parishioners from modeling for him.[67] During 1885, he painted several groups of still-life paintings. From this period, Still-Life with Straw Hat and Pipe and Still-life with Earthen Pot and Clogs are characterized by smooth, meticulous brushwork and fine shading of colors Sony VPCCA16FG/W battery.[68] During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolors and nearly 200 oil paintings. His palette consisted mainly of somber earth tones, particularly dark brown, and he showed no sign of developing the vivid coloration that distinguishes his later, best-known work. When he complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, his brother wrote back Sony VPCCA16FG/B battery, telling him that the paintings were too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings.[69] In November 1885, he moved to Antwerp and rented a small room above a paint dealer's shop in the Rue des Images (Lange Beeldekensstraat).[70] He had little money and ate poorly, preferring to spend the money Theo sent on painting materials and models. Bread, coffee and tobacco were his staple intake. In February 1886 Sony VPCCA16EC/P battery, he wrote to Theo saying that he could only remember eating six hot meals since May of the previous year. His teeth became loose and painful.[71] While in Antwerp he applied himself to the study of color theory and spent time in museums, particularly studying the work of Peter Paul Rubens, gaining encouragement to broaden his palette to carmine, cobalt and emerald green Sony VPCCA16EC battery. He bought a number of Japanese Ukiyo-e woodcuts in the docklands, and incorporated their style into the background of a number of his paintings.[72] While in Antwerp, van Gogh began to drink absinthe heavily.[73] He was treated by Dr. Amadeus Cavenaile, whose practice was near the docklands,[note 10] possibly for syphilis;[note 11] the treatment of alum irrigation and sitz baths was jotted down by van Gogh in one of his notebooks. Sony VPCCA15FX/W battery Despite his rejection of academic teaching, he took the higher-level admission exams at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and in January 1886, matriculated in painting and drawing. For most of February, he was ill and run down by overwork, a poor diet and excessive smoking.[75][note 12] Paris (1886–1888) See also: Japonaiserie (Van Gogh) and Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris) Sony VPCCA15FW/W batteryCourtesan (after Eisen), 1887, Van Gogh Museum The Blooming Plumtree (after Hiroshige), 1887, Van Gogh Museum Portrait of Père Tanguy, 1887, Musée Rodin Van Gogh traveled to Paris in March 1886, where he shared Theo's Rue Laval apartment on Montmartre, to study at Fernand Cormon's studio. In June, they took a larger apartment further uphill, at 54 Rue Lepic. Because the brothers had no need to write letters to communicate, little is known about van Gogh's stay in Paris, and less is known about this time than earlier or later periods of his life. Sony VPCCA15FW/P battery In Paris he painted portraits of friends and acquaintances, still-life paintings, views of Le Moulin de la Galette, scenes in Montmartre, Asnières, and along the Seine. During his stay in Paris, he collected more Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints; he became interested in such works, when in 1885 in Antwerp he used them to decorate the walls of his studio. He collected hundreds of prints, which are visible in the backgrounds of several of his paintings Sony VPCCA15FW/D battery. In his 1887 Portrait of Père Tanguy several can be seen hanging on the wall behind the main figure. In The Courtesan or Oiran (after Kesai Eisen) (1887), van Gogh traced the figure from a reproduction on the cover of the magazine Paris Illustre, which he then graphically enlarged in the painting.[77] His 1888 Plum Tree in Blossom (After Hiroshige) is a vivid example of the admiration he had for the prints he collected. His version is slightly bolder than Hiroshige's original. Sony VPCCA15FW/B batteryAfter seeing Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli's work at the Galerie Delareybarette, which he admired, van Gogh immediately adopted a brighter palette and a bolder attack, particularly in paintings such as his Seascape at Saintes-Maries (1888). Two years later, in 1890, Vincent and Theo paid to have a book about Monticelli published, and van Gogh bought a number of Monticelli's paintings, adding them to his collection Sony VPCCA15FH/W battery. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1887, pastel drawing, Van Gogh Museum. For months, van Gogh worked at Cormon's studio where he frequented the circle of the British-Australian artist John Peter Russell,[82] and met fellow students like Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec—who painted a portrait of van Gogh with pastel. The group congregated at Julien "Père" Tanguy's paint store Sony VPCCA15FH/P battery; at that time the only place where Paul Cézanne's paintings were displayed. He had easy access to Impressionist works in Paris at the time. In 1886, two large vanguard exhibitions were staged; shows where Neo-Impressionism was first exhibited and seen, with works by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac becoming the talk of the town. Though Theo kept a stock of Impressionist paintings in his gallery on Boulevard Montmarte—by artists including Claude Monet Sony VPCCA15FH/L battery, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro—van Gogh seemingly had problems acknowledging developments in how artists view and paint their subject matter.[83] Conflicts arose between the brothers. At the end of 1886 Theo found that living with Vincent was "almost unbearable". By the spring of 1887, they were again at peace, although van Gogh moved to Asnières a northwestern suburb of Paris Sony VPCCA15FH/G battery, where he became acquainted with Signac. With Émile Bernard he adopted elements of pointillism, a technique in which a multitude of small colored dots are applied to the canvas that, when seen from a distance, create an optical blend of hues.[84] The style stresses the value of complementary colors—including blue and orange—to form vibrant contrasts that are enhanced when juxtaposed. Sony VPCCA15FH/B battery While in Asnières he painted parks and restaurants and the Seine, including Bridges across the Seine at Asnieres. In November 1887, Theo and Vincent met and befriended Paul Gauguin who had just arrived in Paris.[86] Towards the end of the year, Vincent arranged an exhibition of paintings by himself, Bernard, Anquetin, and probably Toulouse-Lautrec in the Grand-Bouillon Restaurant du Chalet, 43 Avenue de Clichy, in Montmartre Sony VPCCA15FG/W battery. In a contemporary account, Emile Bernard wrote of the event: "On the avenue de Clichy a new restaurant was opened. Vincent used to eat there. He proposed to the manager that an exhibition be held there .... Canvases by Anquetin, by Lautrec, by Koning ...filled the hall....It really had the impact of something new; it was more modern than anything that was made in Paris at that moment." Sony VPCCA15FG/R battery There Bernard and Anquetin sold their first paintings, and van Gogh exchanged work with Gauguin who soon departed to Pont-Aven. Discussions on art, artists and their social situations that started during this exhibition continued and expanded to include visitors to the show like Pissarro and his son Lucien, Signac and Seurat. Finally in February 1888, feeling worn out from life in Paris Sony VPCCA15FG/P battery, he left, having painted over 200 paintings during his two years in the city. Only hours before his departure, accompanied by Theo, he paid his first and only visit to Seurat in his atelier (studio).[88] Artistic breakthrough and final years Move to Arles (1888–1889) See also: Langlois Bridge at Arles (Van Gogh series) The Yellow House, 1888, Van Gogh Museum Bedroom in Arles, 1888, Van Gogh Museum Van Gogh moved to Arles hoping for refuge; at the time he was ill from drink and suffering from smoker's cough.[10] He arrived on 21 February 1888, and took a room at the Hôtel-Restaurant Carrel, which, idealistically, he had expected to look like one of Hokusai (1760–1849) or Utamaro's (1753–1806) prints. Sony VPCCA15FG/G battery He had moved to the town with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony, and the Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen (1858–1945), became his companion for two months. Arles appeared exotic and filthy to van Gogh. In a letter he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlesiennes going to their First Communion Sony VPCCA15FG/D battery, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinocerous, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world".[89] A hundred years later, van Gogh was remembered by 113-year-old Jeanne Calment—who, as a 13 year old, was serving in her uncle's fabric shop where van Gogh wanted to buy some canvas—as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable", and "very ugly, ungracious, impolite, sick". She also recalled selling him colored pencils. Sony VPCCA15FG/B batteryHe was enchanted by the local landscape and light. His works from the period are richly draped in yellow, ultramarine and mauve. His portrayals of the Arles landscape are informed by his Dutch upbringing; the patchwork of fields and avenues appear flat and lack perspective, but excel in their intensity of color.[10][89] The vibrant light in Arles excited him, and his newfound appreciation is seen in the range and scope of his work Sony VPCCA15FG battery. That March he painted local landscapes using a gridded "perspective frame". Three of these paintings were shown at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In April, he was visited by the American artist Dodge MacKnight, who was living nearby at Fontvieille.[5][92] On 1 May, he signed a lease for 15 francs a month in the eastern wing of the Yellow House at No. 2 Place Lamartine Sony VPCCA15FF/W battery. The rooms were unfurnished and uninhabited for some time. He was still at the Hôtel Restaurant Carrel, but the rate charged by the hotel was 5 francs a week, which he found excessive. He disputed the price, took the case to a local arbitrator and was awarded a twelve franc reduction on the total bill.[93] The Red Vineyard, November 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow). Sold to Anna Boch, 1890 The Night Café, 1888, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven Sony VPCCA15FF/P batteryPaul Gauguin's Armchair, 1888, Van Gogh Museum He moved from the Hôtel Carrel to the Café de la Gare on 7 May,[94] where he became friends with the proprietors, Joseph and Marie Ginoux. Although the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, van Gogh was able to utilize it as a studio.[95] Hoping to have a gallery to display his work, his project at this time was a series of paintings including Van Gogh's Chair (1888), Bedroom in Arles (1888) Sony VPCCA15FF/L battery, The Night Café (1888), Cafe Terrace at Night (September 1888), Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888), Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), all intended to form the décoration for the Yellow House.[96] van Gogh wrote about The Night Café: "I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime." Sony VPCCA15FF/G batteryHe visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer that June where he gave drawing lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant, Paul-Eugène Milliet[98] and painted boats on the sea and the village.[99] MacKnight introduced van Gogh to Eugène Boch, a Belgian painter who stayed at times in Fontvieille, and the two exchanged visits in July. Sony VPCCA15FF/B batteryGauguin's visit See also: Hospital in Arles (Van Gogh series) Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, August 1888, Neue Pinakothek, Munich The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, September 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands Joseph Roulin (The Postman), 1888, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Van Gogh's Chair, 1888, National Gallery, London When Gauguin agreed to visit Arles, van Gogh hoped for friendship and for his uptopian idea of a collective of artists. While waiting that August he painted sunflowers. When Boch visited again, van Gogh painted a portrait of him, as well as the study The Poet Against a Starry Sky. Boch's sister Anna (1848–1936), also an artist, purchased The Red Vineyard in 1890. Sony VPCCA15FA/W batteryIn preparation for Gauguin's visit he bought two beds, on advice from his friend the station's postal supervisor Joseph Roulin, whose portrait he painted, and on 17 September spent the first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House.[102][103] When Gauguin consented to work and live side-by-side in Arles with van Gogh, he started to work on The Décoration for the Yellow House Sony VPCCA15FA/P battery, probably the most ambitious effort he ever undertook.[104] van Gogh did two chair paintings: Van Gogh's Chair and Gauguin's Chair.[105] After repeated requests, Gauguin finally arrived in Arles on 23 October. During November, the two painted together. Gauguin painted van Gogh's portrait The Painter of Sunflowers: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, and uncharacteristically Sony VPCCA15FA/L battery, van Gogh painted some pictures from memory—deferring to Gauguin's ideas in this—as well as his The Red Vineyard. Their first joint outdoor painting exercise produced Les Alyscamps, and was conducted at the Alyscamps.[106] Paul Gauguin, The Painter of Sunflowers: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Sony VPCCA15FA/G battery. The two visited Montpellier that December and viewed works in the Alfred Bruyas collection by Courbet and Delacroix in the Musée Fabre,[107] but their relationship began to deteriorate. Van Gogh greatly admired Gauguin, and desperately wanted to be treated as his equal. But Gauguin was arrogant and domineering, a fact that often frustrated the Dutchman Sony VPCCA15FA/B battery. They quarreled fiercely about art; van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, as a situation he described as one of "excessive tension" reached crisis point.[108] On 23 December 1888, frustrated and ill, van Gogh confronted Gauguin with a razor blade, but in panic, left and fled to a local brothel. Deeply lonely at the time, he often visited the prostitutes at a brothel on Rue du Bout d'Aeles as his single emotional and sensuous point of contact with other people. While there, he cut off his left ear Sony VAIO VPCF135Z1E/B battery, though it is often claimed that it was only the lower part of his left earlobe.[note 13] He wrapped the severed ear in newspaper and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to "keep this object carefully." He staggered home, where he was later found by Gauguin lying unconscious with his head covered in blood. Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI batteryVan Gogh was taken to a hospital and remained in a critical state for several days. He asked for Gauguin continually over the next number of days, but the Frenchman stayed away. Gauguin told one of the policeman attending the case, "Be kind enough, Monsieur, to awaken this man with great care, and if he asks for me tell him I have left for Paris Sony VAIO VPCF136FG/BI battery; the sight of me might prove fatal for him."[110] Gauguin wrote of van Gogh, "His state is worse, he wants to sleep with the patients, chase the nurses, and washes himself in the coal bucket. That is to say, he continues the biblical mortifications."[110] Theo—notified by Gauguin—visited, as did both Madame Ginoux and Roulin. Gauguin left Arles and never saw van Gogh again. Sony VAIO VPCF135FG/B batteryIn January 1889, van Gogh returned to the Yellow House, but spent the following month between the hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and delusions that he was being poisoned. In March, the police closed his house after a petition by 30 townspeople, who called him "fou roux" (the redheaded madman). Paul Signac visited him in the hospital and van Gogh was allowed home in his company Sony VAIO VPCF127HG/BI battery. In April, he moved into rooms owned by Dr. Rey, after floods damaged paintings in his own home.[111][112] Around this time, he wrote, "Sometimes moods of indescribable anguish, sometimes moments when the veil of time and fatality of circumstances seemed to be torn apart for an instant." Two months later he had left Arles and entered an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E batterySaint-Rémy (May 1889 – May 1890) Main article: Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (Van Gogh series) The Starry Night, June 1889, The Museum of Modern Art, New York The Sower, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum On 8 May 1889, accompanied by his carer, the Reverend Salles, van Gogh committed himself to the hospital at Saint Paul-de-Mausole. A former monastery in Saint-Rémy less than 20 miles (32 km) from Arles, the monastery is located in an area of cornfields, vineyards and olive trees at the time run by a former naval doctor, Dr. Théophile Peyron Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E battery. Theo arranged for two small rooms—adjoining cells with barred windows. The second was to be used as a studio.[114] During his stay, the clinic and its garden became the main subjects of his paintings. He made several studies of the hospital interiors, such as Vestibule of the Asylum and Saint-Remy (September 1889). Some of the work from this time is characterized by swirls—including one of his best-known paintings The Starry Night. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery He was allowed short supervised walks, which lead to paintings of cypresses and olive trees, like Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background 1889, Cypresses 1889, Cornfield with Cypresses (1889), Country road in Provence by Night (1890). That September he also produced a further two versions of Bedroom in Arles Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E battery. Limited access to the world outside the clinic resulted in a shortage of subject matter. He was left to work on interpretations of other artist's paintings, such as Millet’s The Sower and Noon – Rest from Work (after Millet), as well as variations on his own earlier work. Van Gogh was an admirer of the Realism of Jules Breton, Gustave Courbet and Millet Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B battery and compared his copies to a musician's interpreting Beethoven.[117][118] Many of his most compelling works date from this period. His The Round of the Prisoners (1890) was painted after an engraving by Gustave Doré (1832–1883). It is suggested that the face of the prisoner in the center of the painting and looking toward the viewer is van Gogh himself, although the noted van Gogh scholar Jan Hulsker discounts this. Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ batteryTowards the end of his stay, van Gogh suffered a severe relapse lasting two month between February and April 1890. Nevertheless he was able to paint and draw a little during this time and he later wrote Theo that he had made a few small canvases "from memory ... reminisces of the North".[121] Amongst these was Two Peasant Women Digging in a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI battery. Hulsker believes that this small group of paintings formed the nucleus of a large number of drawings and study sheets depicting landscapes and figures that van Gogh worked on during this time. He comments that, save for this short period, van Gogh's illness had hardly any effect on his work but in these he sees a reflection of van Gogh's mental health at the time Sony VAIO VPCF119FC battery.[122] Also belonging to this period is Sorrowing Old Man ('At Eternity's Gate'), a color study that Hulsker describes as "another unmistakable remembrance of times long past".[123][124] The Round of the Prisoners, 1890, Pushkin Museum, Moscow Two Peasant Women Digging in a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset, 1890, Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Switzerland Sorrowing Old Man ('At Eternity's Gate'), 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo In February 1890 he painted five versions of L'Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux), based on a charcoal sketch Gauguin had produced when Madame Ginoux sat for both artists at the beginning of November 1888. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI batteryThe version intended for Madame Ginoux is lost. It was attempting to deliver this painting to Madame Ginoux in Arles that precipitated his February relapse.[126] His work was praised by Albert Aurier in the Mercure de France in January 1890, when he was described as "a genius".[127] In February invited by Les XX, a society of avant-garde painters in Brussels, he participated in their annual exhibition. At the opening dinner, Les XX member Henry de Groux insulted van Gogh's works Sony VAIO VPCF116FG/BI battery. Toulouse-Lautrec demanded satisfaction, and Signac declared he would continue to fight for van Gogh's honor if Lautrec should surrender. Later, when van Gogh's exhibit was on display with the Artistes Indépendants in Paris, Monet said that his work was the best in the show.[128] In February 1890, following the birth of his nephew Vincent Willem, he wrote in a letter to his mother, that with the new addition to the family Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B battery, he "started right away to make a picture for him, to hang in their bedroom, branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky."[129] Auvers-sur-Oise (May–July 1890) See also: Double-squares and Squares Daubigny's Garden, July 1890, Auvers, Kunstmuseum Basel, one of Van Gogh's late works[130] In May 1890, van Gogh left the clinic in Saint-Rémy to move nearer the physician Dr. Paul Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise, and also to Theo. Gachet was recommended by Camille Pissarro, had treated several other artists, and was himself an amateur artist. Van Gogh's first impression was that Gachet was " Sony VAIO VPCF21ZHJ battery...sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much."[131] In June 1890 he painted a number of portraits of the physician, including Portrait of Dr. Gachet, and his only etching; in each the emphasis is on Gachet's melancholic disposition. Van Gogh stayed at the Auberge Ravoux, where he paid 3 francs and 50 centimes to rent an attic room measuring 75 square feet (7.0 m2). Wheatfield Under Clouded Sky, July 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, (F778), painted in July 1890 during his last weeks. Sony VAIO VPCF21Z1E/BI batteryThe Church at Auvers, 1890, Musée d'Orsay, Paris Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890, was sold for US$ 82.5 million in 1990.[133] Private collection Before he left, In his last weeks at Saint-Rémy, van Gogh's thoughts returned to his "memories of the North",[134] and several of the approximately 70 oils he painted during his 70 days in Auvers-sur-Oise, such as The Church at Auvers, are reminiscent of northern scenes Sony VAIO VPCF21AHJ battery.[135] Wheat Field with Crows (July 1890) is an example of the double square technique he developed in the last weeks of his life. In its turbulent intensity, it is among his most haunting and elemental works.[136] It is often mistakenly believed to be his last work, Hulsker lists seven paintings that postdate it. Sony VAIO VPCF21AGJ batteryBarbizon painter Charles Daubigny had moved to Auvers in 1861, and this in turn drew other artists there, including Camille Corot and Honoré Daumier. In July 1890, van Gogh completed two paintings of Daubigny's Garden; one of these is likely to be his final work.[130] There are also paintings that show evidence of being unfinished, including Thatched Cottages by a Hill. Sony VAIO VPCF21AFJ batteryDeath Main article: Death of Vincent van Gogh Self-portrait, 1889, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London. Mirror-image self portrait with bandaged ear Still Life with Absinthe, 1887, Van Gogh Museum On February 22, 1890, van Gogh suffered a new crisis that was "the starting point for one of the saddest episodes in a life already rife with sad events".[126] This period lasted until the end of April, during which time he was unable to bring himself to write though he did continue to draw and paint. Sony VAIO VPCF219FJ/BI battery Hughes writes that from May 1889 to May 1890 he, "had fits of despair and hallucination during which he could not work, and in between them, long clear months in which he could and did, punctuated by extreme visionary ecstasy."[138] It is widely understood that on 27 July 1890, aged 37, van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver.[139] Where he was when he shot himself is unclear. Ingo Walther writes that "Some think van Gogh shot himself in the wheat field that had engaged his attention as an artist of late Sony VAIO VPCF217HG/BI battery; others think he did it at a barn near the inn."[140] Biographer David Sweetman writes that the bullet was deflected by a rib bone and passed through his chest without doing apparent damage to internal organs, probably stopped by his spine. He was able to walk back to the Auberge Ravoux. He was attended by two physicians, neither with the capability to perform surgery to remove the bullet Sony VAIO VPCF217HG battery, who left him alone in his room, smoking his pipe. The following morning (Monday), as soon as he was notified, Theo rushed to be with Vincent, to find him in surprisingly good shape; within hours, however, he began to fail, the result of untreated infection in the wound. Vincent died in the evening, 29 hours after he shot himself. Theo reported his brother's last words as "The sadness will last forever." Sony VAIO VPCF14ZHJ batteryVincent and Theo buried together in Auvers-sur-Oise. Vincent's stone bears the inscription: Ici Repose Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Theo's Ici Repose Theodore van Gogh (1857–1891) Van Gogh was buried on 30 July in the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise at a funeral attended by Theo van Gogh, Andries Bonger, Charles Laval, Lucien Pissarro, Émile Bernard, Julien Tanguy and Dr. Gachet amongst some 20 family and friends, as well as a number of locals Sony VAIO VPCF14AHJ battery. The funeral was described by Émile Bernard in a letter to Albert Aurier.[142][143] Theo suffered from syphilis and his health declined rapidly after Vincent's death. Weak and unable to come to terms with Vincent's absence, he died six months later, on 25 January, at Den Dolder.[144] The original burial plot was leased for 15 years; the intention was to bury Vincent alongside Theo. Vincent's remains were exhumed on 13 June 1905 Sony VAIO VPCF14AGJ battery, in the presence of Jo Bonger, Dr. Gachet and others, and relocated, eventually for Theo to be buried beside him. The precise location of the original grave is no longer known. In 1914, the year she had van Gogh's letters published, Jo Bonger had Theo moved from Utrecht and reburied with Vincent.[145] While many of Vincent's late paintings are somber, they are essentially optimistic and reflect his desire to return to lucid mental health right up to the time of his death Sony VAIO VPCF14AFJ battery. Yet some of his final works reflect his deepening concerns. Referring to his paintings of wheatfields under troubled skies, he commented in a letter to his brother Theo: "I did not have to go out of my way very much in order to try to express sadness and extreme loneliness." Nevertheless, he adds in the same paragraph: " ... these canvases will tell you what I cannot say in words, that is, how healthy and invigorating I find the countryside". Sony VAIO VPCF149FJ/BI batteryThere has been much debate over the years as to the source of van Gogh's illness and its effect on his work. Over 150 psychiatrists have attempted to label its root, with some 30 different diagnoses.[148] Diagnoses include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, syphilis, poisoning from swallowed paints, temporal lobe epilepsy and acute intermittent porphyria Sony VAIO VPCF148FJ/B battery. Any of these could have been the culprit and been aggravated by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia and consumption of alcohol, especially absinthe. In Van Gogh: the Life, a biography published in 2011, authors Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith argue that van Gogh did not commit suicide. They contend that he was shot accidentally by two boys he knew who had “a malfunctioning gun”.[149] However experts at the Van Gogh Museum remain unconvinced. Sony VAIO VPCF13ZHJ batteryWork The Old Mill, 1888, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background, 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Main article: List of works by Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh drew and painted with watercolors while at school; few of these works survive and authorship is challenged on some of those that do.[151] When he committed to art as an adult, he began at an elementary level, copying the Cours de dessin, a drawing course edited by Charles Bargue. Within two years he had begun to seek commissions Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery. In spring 1882, his uncle, Cornelis Marinus, owner of a well-known gallery of contemporary art in Amsterdam, asked him for drawings of the Hague. Van Gogh's work did not live up to his uncle's expectations. Marinus offered a second commission, this time specifying the subject matter in detail, but was once again disappointed with the result. Nevertheless, van Gogh persevered Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery. He improved the lighting of his studio by installing variable shutters and experimented with a variety of drawing materials. For more than a year he worked on single figures—highly elaborated studies in "Black and White",[152] which at the time gained him only criticism. Today, they are recognized as his first masterpieces.[153] White House at Night, 1890, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, painted six weeks before the artist's death Sony VAIO VPCF13AHJ batteryEarly in 1883, he began to work on multi-figure compositions, which he based on his drawings. He had some of them photographed, but when his brother remarked that they lacked liveliness and freshness, he destroyed them and turned to oil painting. By Autumn 1882, his brother had enabled him financially to turn out his first paintings Sony VAIO VPCF13AGJ battery, but all the money Theo could supply was soon spent. Then, in spring 1883, van Gogh turned to renowned Hague School artists like Weissenbruch and Blommers, and received technical support from them, as well as from painters like De Bock and Van der Weele, both second generation Hague School artists.[154] When he moved to Nuenen after the intermezzo in Drenthe he began a number of large-sized paintings but destroyed most of them Sony VAIO VPCF13AFJ battery. The Potato Eaters and its companion pieces—The Old Tower on the Nuenen cemetery and The Cottage—are the only ones to have survived. Following a visit to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh was aware that many of his faults were due to lack of technical experience.[154] So in November 1885 he traveled to Antwerp and later to Paris to learn and develop his skill. Sony VAIO VPCF138FJ/BI batteryMore or less acquainted with Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist techniques and theories, van Gogh went to Arles to develop these new possibilities. But within a short time, older ideas on art and work reappeared: ideas such as working with serial imagery on related or contrasting subject matter, which would reflect on the purposes of art. As his work progressed, he painted many Self-portraits Sony VAIO VPCF138FJ/B battery. Already in 1884 in Nuenen he had worked on a series that was to decorate the dining room of a friend in Eindhoven. Similarly in Arles, in spring 1888 he arranged his Flowering Orchards into triptychs, began a series of figures that found its end in The Roulin Family series, and finally, when Gauguin had consented to work and live in Arles side-by-side with Van Gogh, he started to work on The Décorations for the Yellow House Sony VAIO VPCF138FC/BI battery, which was by some accounts the most ambitious effort he ever undertook.[104] Most of his later work is involved with elaborating on or revising its fundamental settings. In the spring of 1889, he painted another, smaller group of orchards. In an April letter to Theo, he said, "I have 6 studies of Spring, two of them large orchards. There is little time because these effects are so short-lived." Sony VAIO VPCF135FG batteryArt historian Albert Boime believes that van Gogh—even in seemingly fantastical compositions like Starry Night—based his work in reality.[157] The White House at Night, shows a house at twilight with a prominent star surrounded by a yellow halo in the sky. Astronomers at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos calculated that the star is Venus, which was bright in the evening sky in June 1890 when Van Gogh is believed to have painted the picture. Sony VAIO VPCF12AHJ batterySelf portraits See also: Self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh Self-Portrait, Spring 1887, Oil on pasteboard, 42 × 33.7 cm., Art Institute of Chicago (F 345). Self-Portrait, September 1889, (F 627), Oil on canvas, 65 cm × 54 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Self-portrait without beard, end September 1889, (F 525), Oil on canvas, 40 × 31 cm., Private collection. This was Van Gogh's last self portrait, given as a birthday gift to his mother. Sony VAIO VPCF12AGJ batterySelf-portrait, 1889, National Gallery of Art. All self-portraits executed in Saint-Rémy show the artist's head from the right, i.e. the side with the unmutilated ear, since he painted himself as he saw himself in the mirror. Van Gogh created many self-portraits during his lifetime. He was a prolific self-portraitist, who painted himself 37 times between 1886 and 1889.[159] In all, the gaze of the painter is seldom directed at us; even when it is a fixed gaze, he appears to look elsewhere Sony VAIO VPCF12AFJ battery. The paintings vary in intensity and color and some portray the artist with beard, some beardless, some with bandages—depicting the episode in which he severed his ear. Self-portrait Without Beard, from late September 1889, is one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for $71.5 million in 1998 in New York. At the time, it was the third (or an inflation-adjusted fourth) most expensive painting ever sold Sony VAIO VPCF129FJ/BI battery. It was also van Gogh's last self-portrait, given as a birthday gift to his mother.[5] All of the self-portraits painted in Saint-Rémy show the artist's head from the right, the side opposite his mutilated ear, as he painted himself reflected in his mirror. During the final weeks of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise, he produced many paintings, but no self-portraits, a period in which he returned to painting the natural world. Sony VAIO VPCF128FJ/B batteryPortraits See also: Portraits by Vincent van Gogh and Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series) L'Arlesienne: Madame Ginoux with Books, November 1888. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (F488). Patience Escalier, second version August 1888, Private collection (F444) La Mousmé, 1888, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Le Zouave (half-figure), June 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F423) Van Gogh, known for his landscapes, seemed to find painting portraits his greatest ambition.[165] He said of portrait studies, "The only thing in painting that excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Sony VAIO VPCF127FJ/W batteryTo his sister he wrote, "I should like to paint portraits which appear after a century to people living then as apparitions. By which I mean that I do not endeavor to achieve this through photographic resemblance, but my means of our impassioned emotions—that is to say using our knowledge and our modern taste for color as a means of arriving at the expression and the intensification of the character." Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ batteryOf painting portraits, van Gogh wrote: "in a picture I want to say something comforting as music is comforting. I want to paint men and women with that something of the eternal which the halo used to symbolize, and which we seek to communicate by the actual radiance and vibration of our coloring." Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ batteryCypresses See also: Olive Trees (series) One of the most popular and widely known series of van Gogh's paintings are his Cypresses. During the Summer of 1889, at sister Wil's request, he made several smaller versions of Wheat Field with Cypresses.[168] The works are characterised by swirls and densely painted impasto—and produced one of his best-known paintings—The Starry Night Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ battery. Other works from the series have similar stylistic elements including Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background (1889) Cypresses (1889), Cypresses with Two Figures (1889–1890), Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889), (van Gogh made several versions of this painting that year), Road with Cypress and Star (1890), and Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888). These have become synonymous with van Gogh's work through their stylistic uniqueness Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ battery. According to art historian Ronald Pickvance, Road with Cypress and Star, May 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum. Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889, National Gallery, London. Cypresses, 1889, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Cypresses with Two Figures, 1889–90, Kröller-Müller Museum (F620). Road with Cypress and Star (1890), is compositionally as unreal and artificial as the Starry Night. Pickvance goes on to say the painting Road with Cypress and Star represents an exalted experience of reality, a conflation of North and South Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ battery, what both van Gogh and Gauguin referred to as an "abstraction". Referring to Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background, on or around 18 June 1889, in a letter to Theo, he wrote, "At last I have a landscape with olives and also a new study of a Starry Night."[169] Hoping to also have a gallery for his work, his major project at this time was a series of paintings including Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), and Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888) that all intended to form the décorations for the Yellow House. Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ batteryFlowering Orchards See also: Flowering Orchards Cherry Tree, 1888, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. View of Arles, Flowering Orchards, 1889, Neue Pinakothek. The series of Flowering Orchards, sometimes referred to as the Orchards in Blossom paintings, were among the first groups of work that van Gogh completed after his arrival in Arles, Provence in February 1888. The 14 paintings in this group are optimistic, joyous and visually expressive of the burgeoning Springtime. They are delicately sensitive, silent, quiet and unpopulated Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H battery. About The Cherry Tree Vincent wrote to Theo on 21 April 1888 and said he had 10 orchards and: one big (painting) of a cherry tree, which I've spoiled.[172] The following spring he painted another smaller group of orchards, including View of Arles, Flowering Orchards.[156] Van Gogh was taken by the landscape and vegetation of the South of France, and often visited the farm gardens near Arles. Because of the vivid light supplied by the Mediterranean climate his palette significantly brightened. Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/Z battery From his arrival, he was interested in capturing the effect of the seasons on the surrounding landscape and plant life. Flowers See also: Sunflowers (series of paintings) Van Gogh painted several versions of landscapes with flowers, as seen in View of Arles with Irises, and paintings of flowers, including Irises, Sunflowers,[174] lilacs and roses. Some reflect his interests in the language of color, and also in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/B battery. View of Arles with Irises, 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Irises, 1889, Getty Center, Los Angeles He completed two series of sunflowers: the first while he was in Paris in 1887, and the second during his stay in Arles the following year. The first series shows living flowers in the ground. In the second series, they are dying in vases. The 1888 paintings were created during a rare period of optimism for the artist Sony VAIO VGN-CS31Z/Q battery. He intended them to decorate a bedroom where Gauguin was supposed to stay in Arles that August, when the two would create the community of artists van Gogh had long hoped for. The flowers are rendered with thick brushstrokes (impasto) and heavy layers of paint.[176] In an August 1888 letter to Theo, he wrote, "I am hard at it, painting with the enthusiasm of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won't surprise you when you know that what I'm at is the painting of some sunflowers. If I carry out this idea there will be a dozen panels Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/W battery. So the whole thing will be a symphony in blue and yellow. I am working at it every morning from sunrise on, for the flowers fade so quickly. I am now on the fourth picture of sunflowers. This fourth one is a bunch of 14 flowers ... it gives a singular effect."[176] Wheat fields Wheatfield with Crows, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam See also: Wheat Fields (Van Gogh series) and The Wheat Field Van Gogh made several painting excursions during visits to the landscape around Arles. He made a number of paintings featuring harvests, wheat fields and other rural landmarks of the area, including The Old Mill (1888) Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/V battery; a good example of a picturesque structure bordering the wheat fields beyond. It was one of seven canvases sent to Pont-Aven on 4 October 1888 as exchange of work with Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard, Charles Laval, and others. At various times in his life, van Gogh painted the view from his window—at The Hague, Antwerp, Paris. These works culminated in The Wheat Field series, which depicted the view he could see from his adjoining cells in the asylum at Saint-Rémy. Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/T batteryWriting in July 1890, van Gogh said that he had become absorbed "in the immense plain against the hills, boundless as the sea, delicate yellow".[180] He had become captivated by the fields in May when the wheat was young and green. The weather worsened in July, and he wrote to Theo of "vast fields of wheat under troubled skies", adding that he did not "need to go out of my way to try and express sadness and extreme loneliness" Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/R battery.[181]In particular, the work Wheatfield with Crows serves as a compelling and poignant expression of the artist's state of mind in his final days, a painting Hulsker discusses as being associated with "melancholy and extreme loneliness," a painting with a "somber and threatening aspect", a "doom-filled painting with threatening skies and ill-omened crows. Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/P batteryLegacy Posthumous fame Main article: Posthumous fame of Vincent van Gogh Painter on the Road to Tarascon, August 1888, Vincent van Gogh on the road to Montmajour, oil on canvas, 48 × 44 cm., formerly Museum Magdeburg, believed to have been destroyed by fire in World War II Following his first exhibitions in the late 1880s, van Gogh's fame grew steadily among colleagues, art critics, dealers and collectors. Sony VAIO VGN-CS28 battery After his death, memorial exhibitions were mounted in Brussels, Paris, The Hague and Antwerp. In the early 20th century, there were retrospectives in Paris (1901 and 1905), and Amsterdam (1905), and important group exhibitions in Cologne (1912), New York (1913) and Berlin (1914).[184] These had a noticeable impact on later generations of artists.[185] By the mid 20th century van Gogh was seen as one of the greatest and most recognizable painters in history. Sony VAIO VGN-CS28/Q battery In 2007 a group of Dutch historians compiled the "Canon of Dutch History" to be taught in schools and included van Gogh as one of the fifty topics of the canon, alongside other national icons such as Rembrandt and De Stijl.[188] Together with those of Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold, as estimated from auctions and private sales. Those sold for over $100 million (today's equivalent) include Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Sony VAIO VGN-CS27 battery Portrait of Joseph Roulin and Irises.[190] A Wheatfield with Cypresses was sold in 1993 for $57 million, a spectacularly high price at the time, while his Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear was sold privately in the late 1990s for an estimated $80/$90 million.[191] Influence In his final letter to Theo, Vincent admitted that as he did not have any children, he viewed his paintings as his progeny. Reflecting on this, the historian Simon Schama concluded that he "did have a child of course, Expressionism, and many, many heirs Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/W battery." Schama mentioned a wide number of artists who have adapted elements of van Gogh's style, including Willem de Kooning, Howard Hodgkin and Jackson Pollock.[192] The Fauves extended both his use of color and freedom in application,[193] as did German Expressionists of the Die Brücke group, and as other early modernists.[194] Abstract Expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s is seen as in part inspired from van Gogh's broad Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/R battery, gestural brush strokes. In the words of art critic Sue Hubbard: "At the beginning of the twentieth century Van Gogh gave the Expressionists a new painterly language that enabled them to go beyond surface appearance and penetrate deeper essential truths. It is no coincidence that at this very moment Freud was also mining the depths of that essentially modern domain—the subconscious Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/P battery. This beautiful and intelligent exhibition places Van Gogh where he firmly belongs; as the trailblazer of modern art."[195] In 1957, Francis Bacon (1909–1992) based a series of paintings on reproductions of van Gogh's The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, the original of which was destroyed during World War II. Bacon was inspired by not only an image he described as "haunting" Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/C battery, but also van Gogh himself, whom Bacon regarded as an alienated outsider, a position which resonated with Bacon. The Irish artist further identified with van Gogh's theories of art and quoted lines written in a letter to Theo, "[R]eal painters do not paint things as they are...They paint them as they themselves feel them to be".[196] An exhibition devoted to Vincent van Gogh's letters took place in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from October 2009 to January 2010[197] and then moved to the Royal Academy in London from late January to April Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/W battery.
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (for Latin: stannum) and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4 Sony VPCEH3T9E battery. Tin is the 49th most abundant element and has, with 10 stable isotopes, the largest number of stable isotopes in the periodic table. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as tin dioxide, SnO2. This silvery, malleable post-transition metal is not easily oxidized in air and is used to coat other metals to prevent corrosion. The first alloy, used in large scale since 3000 BC Sony VPCEH3N6E battery, was bronze, an alloy of tin and copper. After 600 BC pure metallic tin was produced. Pewter, which is an alloy of 85–90% tin with the remainder commonly consisting of copper, antimony and lead, was used for flatware from the Bronze Age until the 20th century. In modern times tin is used in many alloys, most notably tin/lead soft solders, typically containing 60% or more of tin Sony VPCEH3N1E battery. Another large application for tin is corrosion-resistant tin plating of steel. Because of its low toxicity, tin-plated metal is also used for food packaging, giving the name to tin cans, which are made mostly of steel. Characteristics Physical properties Droplet of molten tin Tin is a malleable, ductile and highly crystalline silvery-white metal. When a bar of tin is bent, a crackling sound known as the tin cry can be heard due to the twinning of the crystals.[2] Tin melts at a low temperature of about 232 °C, which is further reduced to 177.3 °C for 11-nm particles. Sony VPCEH3D0E batteryβ-tin (the metallic form, or white tin), which is stable at and above room temperature, is malleable. In contrast, α-tin (nonmetallic form, or gray tin), which is stable below 13.2 °C, is brittle. α-tin has a diamond cubic crystal structure, similar to diamond, silicon or germanium. α-tin has no metallic properties at all because its atoms form a covalent structure where electrons cannot move freely Sony VPCEH3B1E battery. It is a dull-gray powdery material with no common uses, other than a few specialized semiconductor applications.[2] These two allotropes, α-tin and β-tin, are more commonly known as gray tin and white tin, respectively. Two more allotropes, γ and σ, exist at temperatures above 161 °C and pressures above several GPa.[4] Although the α-β transformation temperature is nominally 13.2 °C Sony VPCEH2Z1E battery, impurities (e.g. Al, Zn, etc.) lower the transition temperature well below 0 °C, and upon addition of Sb or Bi the transformation may not occur at all, increasing the durability of the tin.[5][6] Commercial grades of tin (99.8%) resist transformation because of the inhibiting effect of the small amounts of bismuth, antimony, lead and silver present as impurities. Alloying elements such as copper, antimony, bismuth, cadmium and silver increase its hardness Sony VPCEH2S9E battery. Tin tends rather easily to form hard, brittle intermetallic phases, which are often undesirable. It does not form wide solid solution ranges in other metals in general, and there are few elements that have appreciable solid solubility in tin. Simple eutectic systems, however, occur with bismuth, gallium, lead, thallium and zinc. Sony VPCEH2Q1E batteryTin becomes a superconductor below 3.72 K.[7] In fact, tin was one of the first superconductors to be studied; the Meissner effect, one of the characteristic features of superconductors, was first discovered in superconducting tin crystals.[8] [edit]Chemical properties Tin resists corrosion from water but can be attacked by acids and alkalis. Tin can be highly polished and is used as a protective coat for other metals.[2] In this case the formation of a protective oxide layer is used to prevent further oxidation Sony VPCEH2P0E battery. This oxide layer forms on pewter and other tin alloys.[9] Tin acts as a catalyst when oxygen is in solution and helps accelerate chemical attack.[2] [edit]Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of tin Tin is the element with the greatest number of stable isotopes, ten; these include all those with atomic masses between 112 and 124, with the exception of 113, 121 and 123. Of these, the most abundant ones are 120Sn (at almost a third of all tin), 118Sn, and 116Sn, while the least abundant one is 115Sn Sony VPCEH2N1E battery. The isotopes possessing even mass numbers have no nuclear spin while the odd ones have a spin of +1/2. Tin, with its three common isotopes 115Sn, 117Sn and 119Sn, is among the easiest elements to detect and analyze by NMR spectroscopy, and its chemical shifts are referenced against SnMe4.[note 1][10] This large number of stable isotopes is thought to be a direct result of tin possessing an atomic number of 50, which is a "magic number" in nuclear physics Sony VPCEH2M9E battery. There are 28 additional unstable isotopes that are known, encompassing all the remaining ones with atomic masses between 99 and 137. Aside from 126Sn, which has a half-life of 230,000 years, all the radioactive isotopes have a half-life of less than a year. The radioactive 100Sn is one of the few nuclides possessing a "doubly magic" nucleus and was discovered relatively recently Sony VPCEH2M1E battery, in 1994.[11] Another 30 metastable isomers have been characterized for isotopes between 111 and 131, the most stable of which being 121mSn, with a half-life of 43.9 years. Etymology The English word 'tin' is Germanic; related words are found in the other Germanic languages—German zinn, Swedish tenn, Dutch tin, etc.—but not in other branches of Indo-European except by borrowing (e.g. Irish tinne). Its origin is unknown. Sony VPCEH2L9E batteryThe Latin name stannum originally meant an alloy of silver and lead, and came to mean 'tin' in the 4th century BCE[13]—the earlier Latin word for it was plumbum candidum 'white lead'. Stannum apparently came from an earlier stāgnum (meaning the same thing),[12] the origin of the Romance and Celtic terms for 'tin'.[12][14] The origin of stannum/stāgnum is unknown; it may be pre-Indo-European. Sony VPCEH2J1E battery The Meyers Konversationslexikon speculates on the contrary that stannum is derived from Cornish stean, and is proof that Cornwall in the first centuries AD was the main source of tin. [edit]History Main article: Tin sources and trade in ancient times Ceremonial giant bronze dirk of the Plougrescant-Ommerschans type, Plougrescant, France, 1500–1300 BC. Tin extraction and use can be dated to the beginnings of the Bronze Age around 3000 BC, when it was observed that copper objects formed of polymetallic ores with different metal contents had different physical properties. Sony VPCEH2H1E batteryThe earliest bronze objects had tin or arsenic content of less than 2% and are therefore believed to be the result of unintentional alloying due to trace metal content in the copper ore.[17] The addition of a second metal to copper increases its hardness, lowers the melting temperature, and improves the casting process by producing a more fluid melt that cools to a denser, less spongy metal.[17] This was an important innovation that allowed for the much more complex shapes cast in closed moulds of the Bronze Age Sony VPCEH2F1E battery. Arsenical bronze objects appear first in the Near East where arsenic is commonly found in association with copper ore, but the health risks were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age.[18] This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures. Sony VPCEH2E0E batteryCassiterite (SnO2), the tin oxide form of tin, was most likely the original source of tin in ancient times. Other forms of tin ores are less abundant sulfides such as stannite that require a more involved smelting process. Cassiterite often accumulates in alluvial channels as placer deposits due to the fact that it is harder, heavier, and more chemically resistant than the granite in which it typically forms. Sony VPCEH2D0E batteryThese deposits can be easily seen in river banks as cassiterite is usually black, purple or otherwise dark in colour, a feature exploited by early Bronze Age prospectors. It is likely that the earliest deposits were alluvial in nature, and perhaps exploited by the same methods used for panning gold in placer deposits.[citation needed] [edit]Compounds and chemistry See also Category: Tin compounds In the great majority of its compounds, tin has the oxidation state II or IV Sony VPCEH2C0E battery. [edit]Inorganic compounds Halide compounds are known for both oxidation states. For Sn(IV), all four halides are well known: SnF4, SnCl4, SnBr4, and SnI4. The three heavier members are volatile molecular compounds, whereas the tetrafluoride is polymeric. All four halides are known for Sn(II) also: SnF2, SnCl2, SnBr2, and SnI2. All are polymeric solids. Of these eight compounds, only the iodides are coloured. Sony VPCEH29FJ/W batteryTin(II) chloride (also known as stannous chloride) is the most important tin halide in a commercial sense. Illustrating the routes to such compounds, chlorine reacts with tin metal to give SnCl4 whereas the reaction of hydrochloric acid and tin gives SnCl2 and hydrogen gas. Alternatively SnCl4 and Sn combine to stannous chloride via a process called comproportionation: Sony VPCEH29FJ/P batterySnCl4 + Sn → 2 SnCl2 Tin can form many oxides, sulfides, and other chalcogenide derivatives. The dioxide SnO2 (cassiterite) forms when tin is heated in the presence of air.[20] SnO2 is amphoteric, which means that it dissolves in both acidic and basic solutions.[22] There are also stannates with the structure [Sn(OH)6]2−, like K2[Sn(OH)6], although the free stannic acid H2[Sn(OH)6] is unknown Sony VPCEH29FJ/B battery. The sulfides of tin exist in both the +2 and +4 oxidation states: tin(II) sulfide and tin(IV) sulfide (mosaic gold). Ball-and-stick models of the structure of solid stannous chloride (SnCl2). [edit]Hydrides Stannane (SnH4), where tin is in the +4 oxidation state, is unstable. Organotin hydrides are however well known, e.g. tributyltin hydride (Sn(C4H9)3H).[2] These compound release transient tributyl tin radicals, rare examples of compounds of tin(III) Sony VPCEH28FN/L battery. [edit]Organotin compounds Organotin compounds, sometimes called stannanes, are chemical compounds with tin-carbon bonds.[25] Of the compounds of tin, the organic derivatives are the most useful commercially.[26] Some organotin compounds are highly toxic and have been used as biocides. The first organotin compound to be reported was diethyltin diiodide ((C2H5)2SnI2), reported by Edward Frankland in 1849. Sony VPCEH28FJ/W batteryMost organotin compounds are colorless liquids or solids that are stable to air and water. They adopt tetrahedral geometry. Tetraalkyl- and tetraaryltin compounds can be prepared using Grignard reagents:[26] SnCl4 + 4 RMgBr → R4Sn + 4 MgBrCl The mixed halide-alkyls, which are more common and more important commercially than the tetraorgano derivatives, are prepared by redistribution reactions Sony VPCEH28FJ/P battery: SnCl4 + R4Sn → 2 SnCl2R2 Divalent organotin compounds are uncommon, although more common than related divalent organogermanium and organosilicon compounds. The greater stabilization enjoyed by Sn(II) is attributed to the "inert pair effect". Organotin(II) compounds include both stannylenes (formula: R2Sn, as seen for singlet carbenes) and distannylenes (R4Sn2), which are roughly equivalent to alkenes. Both classes exhibit unusual reactions. Sony VPCEH28FJ/B batteryOccurrence See also Category: Tin minerals Sample of cassiterite, the main ore of tin. Map showing tin output in 2005. Granular pieces of cassiterite, which are collected by placer mining Tin is generated via the long S-process in low-medium mass stars (with masses of 0.6 to 10 times that of Sun). It arises via beta decay of heavy isotopes of indium.[29] Tin is the 49th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, representing 2 ppm compared with 75 ppm for zinc, 50 ppm for copper, and 14 ppm for lead. Sony VPCEH28FH/B batteryTin does not occur as the native element but must be extracted from various ores. Cassiterite (SnO2) is the only commercially important source of tin, although small quantities of tin are recovered from complex sulfides such as stannite, cylindrite, franckeite, canfieldite, and teallite. Minerals with tin are almost always associated with granite rock, usually at a level of 1% tin oxide content. Sony VPCEH28FG/P batteryBecause of the higher specific gravity of tin dioxide, about 80% of mined tin is from secondary deposits found downstream from the primary lodes. Tin is often recovered from granules washed downstream in the past and deposited in valleys or under sea. The most economical ways of mining tin are through dredging, hydraulic methods or open cast mining Sony VPCEH28FG/B battery. Most of the world's tin is produced from placer deposits, which may contain as little as 0.015% tin.[32] It was estimated in January 2008 that there were 6.1 million tons of economically recoverable primary reserves, from a known base reserve of 11 million tons.[33] Below are listed the nations with the largest known reserves. Estimates of tin production have historically varied with the dynamics of economic feasibility and the development of mining technologies Sony VPCEH28FF/B battery, but it is estimated that, at current consumption rates and technologies, the Earth will run out of tin that can be mined in 40 years.[34] However Lester Brown has suggested tin could run out within 20 years based on an extremely conservative extrapolation of 2% growth per year.[35] Secondary, or scrap, tin is also an important source of the metal. The recovery of tin through secondary production, or recycling of scrap tin, is increasing rapidly Sony VPCEH28FA/B battery. Whereas the United States has neither mined since 1993 nor smelted tin since 1989, it was the largest secondary producer, recycling nearly 14,000 tons in 2006.[33] New deposits are reported to be in southern Mongolia,[37] and in 2009, new deposits of tin were discovered in Colombia, South America, by the Seminole Group Colombia CI, SAS.[38][39] [edit]Production Tin is produced by carbothermic reduction of the oxide ore with carbon or coke. Both reverberatory furnace and electric furnace can be used. Sony VPCEH27FG/W battery[edit]Mining and smelting Main article: Tin mining [edit]Industry The ten largest companies produced most of world's tin in 2007. It is not clear which of these companies include tin smelted from the mine at Bisie, Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is controlled by a renegade militia and produces 15,000 tons. Most of the world's tin is traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME), from 8 countries, under 17 brands. Sony VPCEH26FJ/W batteryPrices of tin were at US$11,900 per ton as of Nov 24, 2008. Prices reached an all-time high of nearly $25,000 per ton in May 2008, largely because of the effect of the decrease of tin production from Indonesia. Exchanges London Metal Exchange (LME), contract market Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM), contract market Indonesia Tin Exchange (INATIN), the solely physical market for tin will formally launchs at January 12, 2012[45] (postponed to February 1, 2012 due to 10 days holiday of Chinese Lunar New year) Sony VPCEH26EN/B batteryApplications World consumption of refined tin by end use, 2006 In 2006, about half of tin produced was used in solder. The rest was divided between tin plating, tin chemicals, brass and bronze, and niche uses.[46] Solder A coil of lead-free solder wire Tin has long been used as a solder in the form of an alloy with lead, tin accounting for 5 to 70% w/w. Tin forms a eutectic mixture with lead containing 63% tin and 37% lead. Such solders are primarily used for solders for joining pipes or electric circuits Sony VPCEH26EH/P battery. Since the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) came into effect on 1 July 2006, the use of lead in such alloys has decreased. Replacing lead has many problems, including a higher melting point, and the formation of tin whiskers causing electrical problems. Replacement alloys are rapidly being found, however. Sony VPCEH26EG/P battery[edit]Tin plating Tin bonds readily to iron and is used for coating lead or zinc and steel to prevent corrosion. Tin-plated steel containers are widely used for food preservation, and this forms a large part of the market for metallic tin. A tinplate canister for preserving food was first manufactured in London in 1812.[48] Speakers of British English call them "tins" Sony VPCEH26EF/B battery, while speakers of American English call them "cans" or "tin cans". One thus-derived use of the slang term "tinnie" or "tinny" means "can of beer". The tin whistle is so called because it was first mass-produced in tin-plated steel. Specialized alloys Pewter plate Tin in combination with other elements forms a wide variety of useful alloys. Tin is most commonly alloyed with copper. Pewter is 85–99% tin;[51] Babbitt metal has a high percentage of tin as well.[52][53] Bronze is mostly copper (12% tin) Sony VPCEH26EA/W battery, while addition of phosphorus gives phosphor bronze. Bell metal is also a copper-tin alloy, containing 22% tin. Tin has also sometimes been used in coinage; for example, it once formed a single figure percentage of the American[54] and Canadian[55] pennies. Because copper is often the major metal in such coins, and zinc is sometimes present as well, these could technically be called bronze and/or brass alloys Sony VPCEH25EN/W battery. Tin plated metal from can The niobium-tin compound Nb3Sn is commercially used as wires for superconducting magnets, due to the material's high critical temperature (18 K) and critical magnetic field (25 T). A superconducting magnet weighing only a couple of kilograms is capable of producing magnetic fields comparable to a conventional electromagnet weighing tons. Sony VPCEH25EG/B batteryA addition of a few percent tin is commonly used in zirconium alloys for the cladding of nuclear fuel.[57] Most metal pipes in a pipe organ are made of varying amounts of a tin/lead alloy, with 50%/50% being the most common. The amount of tin in the pipe defines the pipe's tone, since tin is the most tonally resonant of all metals. When a tin/lead alloy cools, the lead cools slightly faster and produces a mottled or spotted effect. This metal alloy is referred to as spotted metal. Sony VPCEH24FX/W batteryOther applications A 21st century reproduction barn lantern made of punched tin. Punched tin, also called pierced tin, is an artisan technique originating in central Europe for creating housewares that are both functional and decorative. Decorative piercing designs exist in a wide variety, based on geography or the artisan's personal creations. Punched tin lanterns are the most common application of this artisan technique Sony VPCEH24FX/P battery. The light of a candle shining through the pierced design creates a decorative light pattern in the room where it sits. Punched tin lanterns and other punched tin articles were created in the New World from the earliest European settlement. A well-known example is the Revere type lantern, named after Paul Revere. Sony VPCEH24FX/L batteryBefore the modern era, in some areas of the Alps, a goat or sheep's horn would be sharpened and a tin panel would be punched out using the alphabet and numbers from one to nine. This learning tool was known appropriately as "the horn". Modern reproductions are decorated with such motifs as hearts and tulips Sony VPCEH24FX/B battery. In America, pie safes and food safes came into use in the days before refrigeration. These were wooden cupboards of various styles and sizes - either floor standing or hanging cupboards meant to discourage vermin and insects and to keep dust from perishable foodstuffs. These cabinets had tinplate inserts in the doors and sometimes in the sides, punched out by the homeowner Sony VPCEH1Z1E battery, cabinetmaker or a tinsmith in varying designs to allow for air circulation. Modern reproductions of these articles remain popular in North America.[61] Window glass is most often made by floating molten glass on top of molten tin (creating float glass) in order to produce a flat surface. This is called the "Pilkington process".[62] Tin is also used as a negative electrode in advanced Li-ion batteries. Its application is somewhat limited by the fact Sony VPCEH1S9E battery, that some tin surfaces catalyze decomposition of carbonate-based electrolytes used in Li-ion batteries.[63] Tin(II) fluoride is added to some dental care products[64][65] as stannous fluoride (SnF2). Tin(II) fluoride can be mixed with calcium abrasives while the more common sodium fluoride gradually becomes biologically inactive combined with calcium compounds.[66] It has also been shown to be more effective than sodium fluoride in controlling gingivitis. Sony VPCEH1S8E battery[edit]Organotin compounds Main article: Organotin chemistry Of all the chemical compounds of tin, the organotin compounds are most heavily used. Worldwide industrial production probably exceeds 50,000 tonnes.[68] [edit]PVC stabilizers The major commercial application of organotin compounds is in the stabilization of PVC plastics. In the absence of such stabilizers, PVC would otherwise rapidly degrade under heat, light, and atmospheric oxygen, to give discolored, brittle products. Tin scavenges labile chloride ions (Cl-), which would otherwise initiate loss of HCl from the plastic material. Sony VPCEH1S1E battery Typical tin compounds are carboxylic acid derivatives of dibutyltin dichloride, such as the dilaurate.[70] [edit]Biocides Organotin compounds can have a relatively high toxicity, which is both advantageous and problematic. They have been used for their biocidal effects in/as fungicides, pesticides, algaecides, wood preservatives, and antifouling agents.[69] Tributyltin oxide is used as a wood preservative. Sony VPCEH1S0E battery Tributyltin was used as additive for ship paint to prevent growth of marine organisms on ships, with use declining after organotin compounds were recognized as persistent organic pollutants with an extremely high toxicity for some marine organisms, for example the dog whelk.[72] The EU banned the use of organotin compounds in 2003,[73] while concerns over the toxicity of these compounds to marine life and their effects on the reproduction and growth of some marine species, Sony VPCEH1M9E battery (some reports describe biological effects to marine life at a concentration of 1 nanogram per liter) have led to a worldwide ban by the International Maritime Organization.[74] Many nations now restrict the use of organotin compounds to vessels over 25 meters long.[69] [edit]Organic chemistry Some tin reagents are useful in organic chemistry. In the largest application, stannous chloride is a common reducing agent for the conversion of nitro and oxime groups to amines. The Stille reaction couples organotin compounds with organic halides or pseudohalides. Sony VPCEH1M1E batteryGold ( /ˈɡoʊld/) is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum "gold") and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element Sony VPCEH1L9E battery. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements solid under standard conditions. The metal therefore occurs often in free elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, usually with tellurium. Gold resists attacks by individual acids, but it can be dissolved by the aqua regia (nitro-hydrochloric acid), so named because it dissolves gold. Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide Sony VPCEH1L8E battery, which have been used in mining. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property that has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, giving rise to the term the acid test. Gold has been a valuable and highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since long before the beginning of recorded history. Gold standards have been the most common basis for monetary policies throughout human history Sony VPCEH1L0E battery, being widely supplanted by fiat currency starting in the 1930's. Last US Gold Certificates and coined gold coins for circulating medium were issued in the USA in 1932. In Europe, most countries left the gold standard with the Start of WWI in 1914 and with huge War debts, failed to return to gold as a medium of exchange Sony VPCEH1J8E battery. Gold has also been frequently linked to a wide variety of symbolisms and ideologies. A total of 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, as of 2009.[2] This is roughly equivalent to 5.3 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 8500 m3, or a cube 20.4 m on a side. The world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Sony VPCEH1J1E batteryBesides its widespread monetary and symbolic functions, gold has many practical uses in dentistry, electronics, and other fields. Its high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, and conductivity of electricity led to many uses of gold, including electric wiring, colored-glass production and even gold leaf eating Sony VPCEH1E1E battery. Characteristics Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become transparent. The transmitted light appears greenish blue, because gold strongly reflects yellow and red.[4] Such semi-transparent sheets also strongly reflect infrared light Sony VPCEH1AJ battery, making them useful as infrared (radiant heat) shields in visors of heat-resistant suits, and in sun-visors for spacesuits.[5] Gold readily creates alloys with many other metals. These alloys can be produced to modify the hardness and other metallurgical properties, to control melting point or to create exotic colors (see below).[6] Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity and reflects infrared radiation strongly Sony VPCEH19FJ/W battery. Chemically, it is unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive reagents, and is therefore well suited for use in coins and jewelry and as a protective coating on other, more reactive, metals. However, it is not chemically inert. Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (gold(I) or aurous compounds) and +3 (gold(III) or auric compounds). Gold ions in solution are readily reduced and precipitated out as gold metal by adding any other metal as the reducing agent Sony VPCEH19FJ/P battery. The added metal is oxidized and dissolves allowing the gold to be displaced from solution and be recovered as a solid precipitate. High quality pure metallic gold is tasteless and scentless, in keeping with its resistance to corrosion (it is metal ions which confer taste to metals).[7] In addition, gold is very dense, a cubic meter weighing 19,300 kg. By comparison, the density of lead is 11,340 kg/m3, and that of the densest element, osmium, is 22,610 kg/m3 Sony VPCEH19FJ/B battery. Color Different colors of Ag-Au-Cu alloys Whereas most other pure metals are gray or silvery white, gold is yellow. This color is determined by the density of loosely bound (valence) electrons; those electrons oscillate as a collective "plasma" medium described in terms of a quasiparticle called plasmon. The frequency of these oscillations lies in the ultraviolet range for most metals, but it falls into the visible range for gold due to subtle relativistic effects that affect the orbitals around gold atoms. Sony VPCEH18FJ/W battery Similar effects impart a golden hue to metallic caesium (see relativistic quantum chemistry). Common colored gold alloys such as rose gold can be created by the addition of various amounts of copper and silver, as indicated in the triangular diagram to the left. Alloys containing palladium or nickel are also important in commercial jewelry as these produce white gold alloys. Less commonly, addition of manganese, aluminium, iron, indium and other elements can produce more unusual colors of gold for various applications. Sony VPCEH18FJ/P battery[edit]Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of gold Gold has only one stable isotope, 197Au, which is also its only naturally occurring isotope. Thirty-six radioisotopes have been synthesized ranging in atomic mass from 169 to 205. The most stable of these is 195Au with a half-life of 186.1 days. The least stable is 171Au, which decays by proton emission with a half-life of 30 µs Sony VPCEH18FJ/B battery. Most of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses below 197 decay by some combination of proton emission, α decay, and β+ decay. The exceptions are 195Au, which decays by electron capture, and 196Au, which decays most often by electron capture (93%) with a minor β- decay path (7%).[10] All of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses above 197 decay by β- decay. Sony VPCEH18FH/P batteryAt least 32 nuclear isomers have also been characterized, ranging in atomic mass from 170 to 200. Within that range, only 178Au, 180Au, 181Au, 182Au, and 188Au do not have isomers. Gold's most stable isomer is 198m2Au with a half-life of 2.27 days. Gold's least stable isomer is 177 m2Au with a half-life of only 7 ns. 184 m1Au has three decay paths: β+ decay, isomeric transition, and alpha decay. No other isomer or isotope of gold has three decay paths. Sony VPCEH18FG/L batteryUse and applications Monetary exchange Gold has been widely used throughout the world as a vehicle for monetary exchange, either by issuance and recognition of gold coins or other bare metal quantities, or through gold-convertible paper instruments by establishing gold standards in which the total value of issued money is represented in a store of gold reserves Sony VPCEH18FF/B battery. However, production has not grown in relation to the world's economies. Today, gold mining output is declining.[12] With the sharp growth of economies in the 20th century, and increasing foreign exchange, the world's gold reserves and their trading market have become a small fraction of all markets and fixed exchange rates of currencies to gold were no longer sustained Sony VPCEH18FA/B battery. At the beginning of World War I the warring nations moved to a fractional gold standard, inflating their currencies to finance the war effort. After World War II gold was replaced by a system of convertible currency following the Bretton Woods system. Gold standards and the direct convertibility of currencies to gold have been abandoned by world governments Sony VPCEH17FJ/W battery, being replaced by fiat currency in their stead. Switzerland was the last country to tie its currency to gold; it backed 40% of its value until the Swiss joined the International Monetary Fund in 1999.[13] Pure gold is too soft for day-to-day monetary use and is typically hardened by alloying with copper, silver or other base metals. The gold content of alloys is measured in carats (k). Pure gold is designated as 24k. English gold coins intended for circulation from 1526 into the 1930s were typically a standard 22k alloy called crown gold, for hardness Sony VPCEH17FG/W battery(American gold coins for circulation after 1837 contained the slightly lower amount of 0.900 fine gold, or 21.6 kt). [edit]Investment Main article: Gold as an investment Gold Price per gram between Jan 1971 and Jan 2012. The graph shows nominal price in US Dollars, the price in 1971 and 2011 US Dollars Many holders of gold store it in form of bullion coins or bars as a hedge against inflation or other economic disruptions. However, some economists do not believe gold serves as a hedge against inflation or currency depreciation. Sony VPCEH17FG/P batteryThe ISO 4217 currency code of gold is XAU. Modern bullion coins for investment or collector purposes do not require good mechanical wear properties; they are typically fine gold at 24k, although the American Gold Eagle, the British gold sovereign, and the South African Krugerrand continue to be minted in 22k metal in historical tradition. The special issue Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin contains the highest purity gold of any bullion coin, at 99.999% or 0.99999 Sony VPCEH17FG/L battery, while the popular issue Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin has a purity of 99.99%. Several other 99.99% pure gold coins are available. In 2006, the United States Mint began production of the American Buffalo gold bullion coin with a purity of 99.99%. The Australian Gold Kangaroos were first coined in 1986 as the Australian Gold Nugget but changed the reverse design in 1989. Other popular modern coins include the Austrian Vienna Philharmonic bullion coin and the Chinese Gold Panda Sony VPCEH17FG/B battery. [edit]Jewelry Main article: Jewellery Moche gold necklace depicting feline heads. Larco Museum Collection. Lima-Peru Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, color and other properties. Alloys with lower caratage, typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain higher percentages of copper, or other base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy. Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder color. Sony VPCEH16EN/B batteryEighteen-carat gold containing 25% copper is found in antique and Russian jewelry and has a distinct, though not dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold. Fourteen-carat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium, although rarely done except in specialized jewelry Sony VPCEH16EH/W battery. Blue gold is more brittle and therefore more difficult to work with when making jewelry.[15] Fourteen and eighteen carat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18-carat gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silvery in appearance. Nickel is toxic, however, and its release from nickel white gold is controlled by legislation in Europe. Sony VPCEH16EG/W batteryAlternative white gold alloys are available based on palladium, silver and other white metals,[15] but the palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel. High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to corrosion than are either pure silver or sterling silver. The Japanese craft of Mokume-gane exploits the color contrasts between laminated colored gold alloys to produce decorative wood-grain effects Sony VPCEH16EF/B battery. [edit]Medicine In medieval times, gold was often seen as beneficial for the health, in the belief that something so rare and beautiful could not be anything but healthy. Even some modern esotericists and forms of alternative medicine assign metallic gold a healing power.[16] Some gold salts do have anti-inflammatory properties and are used as pharmaceuticals in the treatment of arthritis and other similar conditions Sony VPCEH16EA/P battery. Gold based injections have been explored as a means to help to reduce the pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis.[17] However, only salts and radioisotopes of gold are of pharmacological value, as elemental (metallic) gold is inert to all chemicals it encounters inside the body. Gold alloys are used in restorative dentistry, especially in tooth restorations, such as crowns and permanent bridges Sony VPCEH15EN/W battery. The gold alloys' slight malleability facilitates the creation of a superior molar mating surface with other teeth and produces results that are generally more satisfactory than those produced by the creation of porcelain crowns. The use of gold crowns in more prominent teeth such as incisors is favored in some cultures and discouraged in others Sony VPCEH15EG/B battery. Colloidal gold preparations (suspensions of gold nanoparticles) in water are intensely red-colored, and can be made with tightly controlled particle sizes up to a few tens of nanometers across by reduction of gold chloride with citrate or ascorbate ions. Colloidal gold is used in research applications in medicine, biology and materials science Sony VPCEH13FX/W battery. The technique of immunogold labeling exploits the ability of the gold particles to adsorb protein molecules onto their surfaces. Colloidal gold particles coated with specific antibodies can be used as probes for the presence and position of antigens on the surfaces of cells.[18] In ultrathin sections of tissues viewed by electron microscopy, the immunogold labels appear as extremely dense round spots at the position of the antigen. Sony VPCEH13FX/P batteryGold, or alloys of gold and palladium, are applied as conductive coating to biological specimens and other non-conducting materials such as plastics and glass to be viewed in a scanning electron microscope. The coating, which is usually applied by sputtering with an argon plasma, has a triple role in this application. Gold's very high electrical conductivity drains electrical charge to earth Sony VPCEH13FX/L battery, and its very high density provides stopping power for electrons in the electron beam, helping to limit the depth to which the electron beam penetrates the specimen. This improves definition of the position and topography of the specimen surface and increases the spatial resolution of the image. Gold also produces a high output of secondary electrons when irradiated by an electron beam Sony VPCEH13FX/B battery, and these low-energy electrons are the most commonly used signal source used in the scanning electron microscope.[20] The isotope gold-198, (half-life 2.7 days) is used in some cancer treatments and for treating other diseases.[21][22] [edit]Food and drink Gold can be used in food and has the E number 175.[23] Gold leaf, flake or dust is used on and in some gourmet foods, notably sweets and drinks as decorative ingredient.[24] Gold flake was used by the nobility in Medieval Europe as a decoration in food and drinks Sony VPCCA3SFX/R battery, in the form of leaf, flakes or dust, either to demonstrate the host's wealth or in the belief that something that valuable and rare must be beneficial for one's health. Danziger Goldwasser (German: Gold water of Danzig) or Goldwasser (English: Goldwater) is a traditional German herbal liqueur[25] produced in what is today Gdańsk, Poland, and Schwabach, Germany, and contains flakes of gold leaf. There are also some expensive (~$1000) cocktails which contain flakes of gold leaf.[26] However, since metallic gold is inert to all body chemistry, it has no taste, it provides no nutrition, and it leaves the body unaltered. Sony VPCCA3S1E battery[edit]Industry The 220 kg gold brick displayed in Jinguashi Gold Museum, Taiwan, Republic of China. The world's largest gold bar has a mass of 250 kg. Toi museum, Japan. A gold nugget of 5 mm in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 square meter. Toi museum, Japan. Gold solder is used for joining the components of gold jewelry by high-temperature hard soldering or brazing Sony VPCCA3E1E battery. If the work is to be of hallmarking quality, gold solder must match the carat weight of the work, and alloy formulas are manufactured in most industry-standard carat weights to color match yellow and white gold. Gold solder is usually made in at least three melting-point ranges referred to as Easy, Medium and Hard. By using the hard, high-melting point solder first, followed by solders with progressively lower melting points Sony VPCCA38EC/R battery, goldsmiths can assemble complex items with several separate soldered joints. Gold can be made into thread and used in embroidery. Gold produces a deep, intense red color when used as a coloring agent in cranberry glass. In photography, gold toners are used to shift the color of silver bromide black-and-white prints towards brown or blue tones, or to increase their stability. Used on sepia-toned prints, gold toners produce red tones. Kodak published formulas for several types of gold toners, which use gold as the chloride. Sony VPCCA38EC batteryAs gold is a good reflector of electromagnetic radiation such as infrared and visible light as well as radio waves, it is used for the protective coatings on many artificial satellites, in infrared protective faceplates in thermal protection suits and astronauts' helmets and in electronic warfare planes like the EA-6B Prowler Sony VPCCA37EC/B battery. Gold is used as the reflective layer on some high-end CDs. Automobiles may use gold for heat shielding. McLaren uses gold foil in the engine compartment of its F1 model.[29] Gold can be manufactured so thin that it appears transparent. It is used in some aircraft cockpit windows for de-icing or anti-icing by passing electricity through it. The heat produced by the resistance of the gold is enough to deter ice from forming. Sony VPCCA37EC battery[edit]Electronics The concentration of free electrons in gold metal is 5.90×1022 cm−3. Gold is highly conductive to electricity, and has been used for electrical wiring in some high-energy applications (only silver and copper are more conductive per volume, but gold has the advantage of corrosion resistance). For example, gold electrical wires were used during some of the Manhattan Project's atomic experiments Sony VPCCA36FW/W battery, but large high current silver wires were used in the calutron isotope separator magnets in the project. Though gold is attacked by free chlorine, its good conductivity and general resistance to oxidation and corrosion in other environments (including resistance to non-chlorinated acids) has led to its widespread industrial use in the electronic era as a thin layer coating electrical connectors of all kinds, thereby ensuring good connection. For example, gold is used in the connectors of the more expensive electronics cables, such as audio, video and USB cables Sony VPCCA36FW/B battery. The benefit of using gold over other connector metals such as tin in these applications is highly debated. Gold connectors are often criticized by audio-visual experts as unnecessary for most consumers and seen as simply a marketing ploy. However, the use of gold in other applications in electronic sliding contacts in highly humid or corrosive atmospheres, and in use for contacts with a very high failure cost Sony VPCCA36FH/W battery (certain computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines) remains very common.[31] Besides sliding electrical contacts, gold is also used in electrical contacts because of its resistance to corrosion, electrical conductivity, ductility and lack of toxicity.[32] Switch contacts are generally subjected to more intense corrosion stress than are sliding contacts. Fine gold wires are used to connect semiconductor devices to their packages through a process known as wire bonding Sony VPCCA36FG/B battery. [edit]Commercial chemistry Gold is attacked by and dissolves in alkaline solutions of potassium or sodium cyanide, to form the salt gold cyanide—a technique that has been used in extracting metallic gold from ores in the cyanide process. Gold cyanide is the electrolyte used in commercial electroplating of gold onto base metals and electroforming Sony VPCCA36FA/B battery. Gold chloride (chloroauric acid) solutions are used to make colloidal gold by reduction with citrate or ascorbate ions. Gold chloride and gold oxide are used to make highly valued cranberry or red-colored glass, which, like colloidal gold suspensions, contains evenly sized spherical gold nanoparticles. Sony VPCCA36EC/W battery[edit]History The Turin Papyrus Map Funerary mask of Tutankhamun Jason returns with the golden fleece on an Apulian red-figure calyx krater, ca. 340–330 BC. Gold artifacts found at the Nahal Kana cave cemetery dated during the 1980's, showed these to be from within the Chalcolithic, and considered the earliest find from the Levant (Gopher et al. 1990). [34] Gold artifacts in the Balkans also appear from the 4th millennium BC Sony VPCCA36EC battery, such as those found in the Varna Necropolis near Lake Varna in Bulgaria, thought by one source (La Niece 2009) to be the earliest "well-dated" find of gold artifacts. [35] Gold artifacts such as the golden hats and the Nebra disk appeared in Central Europe from the 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age. Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which king Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was "more plentiful than dirt" in Egypt. Sony VPCCA35FW/W battery Egypt and especially Nubia had the resources to make them major gold-producing areas for much of history. The earliest known map is known as the Turin Papyrus Map and shows the plan of a gold mine in Nubia together with indications of the local geology. The primitive working methods are described by both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, and included fire-setting. Large mines were also present across the Red Sea in what is now Saudi Arabia Sony VPCCA35FW/B battery. The legend of the golden fleece may refer to the use of fleeces to trap gold dust from placer deposits in the ancient world. Gold is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, starting with Genesis 2:11 (at Havilah) and is included with the gifts of the magi in the first chapters of Matthew New Testament Sony VPCCA35FN/R battery. The Book of Revelation 21:21 describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets "made of pure gold, clear as crystal". The south-east corner of the Black Sea was famed for its gold. Exploitation is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia around 610 BC.[37] From the 6th or 5th century BC, the Chu (state) circulated the Ying Yuan, one kind of square gold coin Sony VPCCA35FH/D battery. In Roman metallurgy, new methods for extracting gold on a large scale were developed by introducing hydraulic mining methods, especially in Hispania from 25 BC onwards and in Dacia from 106 AD onwards. One of their largest mines was at Las Medulas in León (Spain), where seven long aqueducts enabled them to sluice most of a large alluvial deposit Sony VPCCA35FG/PI battery. The mines at Roşia Montană in Transylvania were also very large, and until very recently, still mined by opencast methods. They also exploited smaller deposits in Britain, such as placer and hard-rock deposits at Dolaucothi. The various methods they used are well described by Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia written towards the end of the first century AD Sony VPCCA35FF/P battery. The Mali Empire in Africa was famed throughout the old world for its large amounts of gold. Mansa Musa, ruler of the empire (1312–1337) became famous throughout the old world for his great hajj to Mecca in 1324. When he passed through Cairo in July 1324, he was reportedly accompanied by a camel train that included thousands of people and nearly a hundred camels Sony VPCCA35FA/PI battery. He gave away so much gold that it depressed the price in Egypt for over a decade.[38] A contemporary Arab historian remarked: Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year. The mithqal did not go below 25 dirhams and was generally above, but from that time its value fell and it cheapened in price and has remained cheap till now. The mithqal does not exceed 22 dirhams or less Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery. This has been the state of affairs for about twelve years until this day by reason of the large amount of gold which they brought into Egypt and spent there [...] —Chihab Al-Umari[39] The European exploration of the Americas was fueled in no small part by reports of the gold ornaments displayed in great profusion by Native American peoples, especially in Central America, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The Aztecs regarded gold as literally the product of the gods, calling it "god excrement" (teocuitlatl in Nahuatl). Sony VPCCA2SFX/R battery However, for the indigenous peoples of North America, gold was considered useless, and they saw much greater value in other minerals, which were directly related to their utility, such as obsidian, flint, and slate.[41] Although the price of some platinum group metals can be much higher, gold has long been considered the most desirable of precious metals, and its value has been used as the standard for many currencies (known as the gold standard) in history Sony VPCCA2S1E battery. Gold has been used as a symbol for purity, value, royalty, and particularly roles that combine these properties. Gold as a sign of wealth and prestige was ridiculed by Thomas More in his treatise Utopia. On that imaginary island, gold is so abundant that it is used to make chains for slaves, tableware and lavatory-seats. When ambassadors from other countries arrive, dressed in ostentatious gold jewels and badges Sony VPCCA2S0E battery, the Utopians mistake them for menial servants, paying homage instead to the most modestly dressed of their party. There is an age-old tradition of biting gold to test its authenticity. Although this is certainly not a professional way of examining gold, the bite test was not to check if the coin was gold (90% gold coins are fairly strong) but to see if the coin was gold plated LEAD (Specific Gravity of 14 g/cc with gold 19.3) A Lead coin would be very soft and thus teeth marks would result Sony VPCCA2AJ battery. Fake gold coins were a common problem before 1932 so weighing a coin and also sliding a coin through a "counterfeit detector" slot was common (making a lead coin thicker would add weight thus why slide it through a measured slot). Most establishments (especially USA Western saloons) would never accept a gold (or silver) coin of high value before weighing such an item Sony VPCCA1S3C/CN1 battery. Gold in antiquity was relatively easy to obtain geologically; however, 75% of all gold ever produced has been extracted since 1910.[42] It has been estimated that all gold ever refined would form a single cube 20 m (66 ft) on a side (equivalent to 8,000 m3).[42] One main goal of the alchemists was to produce gold from other substances, such as lead — presumably by the interaction with a mythical substance called the philosopher's stone Sony VPCCA1S2C/CN1 battery. Although they never succeeded in this attempt, the alchemists promoted an interest in what can be done with substances, and this laid a foundation for today's chemistry. Their symbol for gold was the circle with a point at its center (☉), which was also the astrological symbol and the ancient Chinese character for the Sun. For modern creation of artificial gold by neutron capture, see gold synthesis Sony VPCCA1S1E/W battery. During the 19th century, gold rushes occurred whenever large gold deposits were discovered. The first documented discovery of gold in the United States was at the Reed Gold Mine near Georgeville, North Carolina in 1803.[43] The first major gold strike in the United States occurred in a small north Georgia town called Dahlonega.[44] Further gold rushes occurred in California Sony VPCCA1S1E/P battery, Colorado, the Black Hills, Otago in New Zealand, Australia, Witwatersrand in South Africa, and the Klondike in Canada. Because of its historically high value, much of the gold mined throughout history is still in circulation in one form or another. [edit]Occurrence This 156-troy-ounce (4.9 kg) nugget, known as the Mojave Nugget, was found by an individual prospector in the Southern California Desert using a metal detector Sony VPCCA1S1E/G battery. Gold's atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher atomic number elements which occur naturally. Like all elements with atomic numbers larger than iron, gold is thought to have been formed from a supernova nucleosynthesis process. Their explosions scattered metal-containing dusts (including heavy elements like gold) into the region of space in which they later condensed into our solar system and the Earth. Sony VPCCA1S1E/D battery Because the Earth was molten when it was just formed, almost all of the gold present on Earth sank into the core. Most of the gold that is present today in the Earth's crust and mantle was delivered to Earth by asteroid impacts during the late heavy bombardment.[46] On Earth, whenever elemental gold occurs, it appears most often as a metal solid solution of gold with silver, i.e. a gold silver alloy Sony VPCCA1S1E/B battery. Such alloys usually have a silver content of 8–10%. Electrum is elemental gold with more than 20% silver. Electrum's color runs from golden-silvery to silvery, dependent upon the silver content. The more silver, the lower the specific gravity. Relative sizes of an 860 kg block of gold ore, and the 30 g of gold that can be extracted from it. Toi gold mine, Japan Sony VPCCA1S1E battery. Gold left behind after a pyrite cube was oxidized to hematite. Note cubic shape of cavity. Gold is found in ores in rock formed from the Precambrian time onward. [35] Sometimes occurring as very small to microscopic particles, this ore is often found together with quartz or sulfide minerals such as Fool's Gold, which is a pyrite Sony VPCCA1S1C/CN1 battery.[47] These are called lode deposits. The metal in a native state is also found in the form of free flakes, grains or larger nuggets [35] that have been eroded from rocks and end up in alluvial deposits (called placer deposits). Such free gold is always richer at the surface of gold-bearing veins owing to the oxidation of accompanying minerals followed by weathering, and washing of the dust into streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welded by water action to form nuggets Sony VPCCA1C5E battery. Gold sometimes occurs combined with tellurium as the minerals calaverite, krennerite, nagyagite, petzite and sylvanite, and as the rare bismuthide maldonite (Au2Bi) and antimonide aurostibite (AuSb2). Gold also occurs in rare alloys with copper, lead, and mercury: the minerals auricupride (Cu3Au), novodneprite (AuPb3) and weishanite ((Au, Ag)3Hg2) Sony VPCCA1AHJ battery. Recent research suggests that microbes can sometimes play an important role in forming gold deposits, transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits.[48] The world's oceans contain gold. Measured concentrations of gold in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific are 50–150 fmol/L or 10–30 parts per quadrillion (about 10–30 g/km3) Sony VPCCA1AGJ battery. In general, Au concentrations for Atlantic and Pacific samples are the same (~50 fmol/L) but less certain. Mediterranean deep waters contain higher concentrations of Au (100–150 fmol/L) attributed to wind-blown dust and/or rivers. At 10 parts per quadrillion the Earth's oceans would hold 15,000 tons of gold.[49] These figures are three orders of magnitude less than reported in the literature prior to 1988, indicating contamination problems with the earlier data Sony VPCCA1AFJ battery. A number of people have claimed to be able to economically recover gold from sea water, but so far they have all been either mistaken or acted in an intentional deception. A so-called reverend, Prescott Jernegan ran a gold-from-seawater swindle in the United States in the 1890s. A British fraudster ran the same scam in England in the early 1900s Sony VPCCA190 battery.[50] Fritz Haber (the German inventor of the Haber process) did research on the extraction of gold from sea water in an effort to help pay Germany's reparations following World War I.[51] Based on the published values of 2 to 64 ppb of gold in seawater a commercially successful extraction seemed possible. After analysis of 4,000 water samples yielding an average of 0.004 ppb it became clear that the extraction would not be possible and he stopped the project Sony VPCCA18EC/D battery.[52] No commercially viable mechanism for performing gold extraction from sea water has yet been identified. Gold synthesis is not economically viable and is unlikely to become so in the foreseeable future. [edit]Gallery of specimens of crystalline native gold Native gold nuggets "Rope gold" from Lena River, Sakha Republic, Russia. Size: 2.5×1.2×0.7 cm. Crystalline gold from Mina Zapata, Santa Elena de Uairen, Venezuela. Size: 3.7×1.1×0.4 cm. Gold leaf from Harvard Mine, Jamestown, California, USA. Size 9.3×3.2× >0.1 cm. [edit]Production Main articles: Gold prospecting, Gold mining, Gold extraction, and List of countries by gold production Sony VPCCA18EC batteryGlobal gold output in 2005. The entrance to an underground gold mine in Victoria, Australia Pure gold precipitate produced by the aqua regia refining process Gold extraction is most economical in large, easily mined deposits. Ore grades as little as 0.5 mg/kg (0.5 parts per million, ppm) can be economical. Typical ore grades in open-pit mines are 1–5 mg/kg (1–5 ppm); ore grades in underground or hard rock mines are usually at least 3 mg/kg (3 ppm). Because ore grades of 30 mg/kg (30 ppm) are usually needed before gold is visible to the naked eye, in most gold mines the gold is invisible Sony VPCCA17FX/G battery. Since the 1880s, South Africa has been the source for a large proportion of the world's gold supply, with about 50% of all gold ever produced having come from South Africa. Production in 1970 accounted for 79% of the world supply, producing about 1,480 tonnes. 2008 production was 2,260 tonnes. In 2007 China (with 276 tonnes) overtook South Africa as the world's largest gold producer, the first time since 1905 that South Africa has not been the largest. Sony VPCCA17FX/D batteryThe city of Johannesburg located in South Africa was founded as a result of the Witwatersrand Gold Rush which resulted in the discovery of some of the largest gold deposits the world has ever seen. Gold fields located within the basin in the Free State and Gauteng provinces are extensive in strike and dip requiring some of the world's deepest mines, with the Savuka and TauTona mines being currently the world's deepest gold mine at 3,777 m Sony VPCCA17EC/W battery. The Second Boer War of 1899–1901 between the British Empire and the Afrikaner Boers was at least partly over the rights of miners and possession of the gold wealth in South Africa. Other major producers are the United States, Australia, Russia and Peru. Mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of gold used in the United States. In South America, the controversial project Pascua Lama aims at exploitation of rich fields in the high mountains of Atacama Desert, at the border between Chile and Argentina Sony VPCCA17EC battery. Today about one-quarter of the world gold output is estimated to originate from artisanal or small scale mining.[54] After initial production, gold is often subsequently refined industrially by the Wohlwill process which is based on electrolysis or by the Miller process, that is chlorination in the melt. The Wohlwill process results in higher purity, but is more complex and is only applied in small-scale installations. Sony VPCCA16FW/W batteryOther methods of assaying and purifying smaller amounts of gold include parting and inquartation as well as cupellation, or refining methods based on the dissolution of gold in aqua regia.[57] At the end of 2009, it was estimated that all the gold ever mined totaled 165,000 tonnes.[2] This can be represented by a cube with an edge length of about 20.28 meters. At $1,600 per ounce, 165,000 tons of gold would have a value of $8.8 trillion Sony VPCCA16FH/B battery. The average gold mining and extraction costs were about US$317/oz in 2007, but these can vary widely depending on mining type and ore quality; global mine production amounted to 2,471.1 tonnes.[58] Most of the gold used in manufactured goods, jewelry, and works of art is eventually recovered and recycled. Some gold used in spacecraft and electronic equipment cannot be profitably recovered Sony VPCCA16FG/W battery, but it is generally used in these applications in the form of extremely thin layers or extremely fine wires so that the total quantity used (and lost) is small compared to the total amount of gold produced and stockpiled. Thus there is little true consumption of new gold in the economic sense; the stock of gold remains essentially constant (at least in the modern world) while ownership shifts from one party to another. Sony VPCCA16FG/B battery One estimate is that 85% of all the gold ever mined is still available in the world's easily recoverable stocks, with 15% having been lost, or used in non-recyclable industrial uses.[60] [edit]Consumption The consumption of gold produced in the world is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. India is the world's largest single consumer of gold, as Indians buy about 25% of the world's gold,[61] purchasing approximately 800 tonnes of gold every year, mostly for jewelry. India is also the largest importer of gold Sony VPCCA16EC/P battery; in 2008, India imported around 400 tonnes of gold.[62] Indian households hold 18,000 tonnes of gold which represents 11% of the global stock and worth more than $950 billion.[63] Pollution Gold production is associated with contribution to hazardous pollution.[65] The ore generally containing less than one ppm gold metal, is ground and mixed with sodium cyanide or mercury to react with gold in the ore for gold separation Sony VPCCA16EC battery. Cyanide is highly poisonous chemical, which can kill living creatures when exposed in minute quantities. Many cyanide spills[66] from gold mines have taken place worldwide both in developed and poor countries which killed the marine life in long stretch of affected rivers. Environmentalists consider these pollution disasters as major environmental disasters Sony VPCCA15FX/W battery. When mercury is used in gold production, minute quantity of mercury compounds enter in to water bodies causing heavy metal contamination of water. Mercury enters in to human food chain in the form of methyl mercury through fish, etc. Mercury poisoning in humans causes incurable severe retardation of brain functions Sony VPCCA15FW/W battery. Thirty tonnes of used ore is dumped as waste for producing one finger ring of gold.[69] Gold ore dumps are the source of many heavy elements such as cadmium, lead, zinc, copper, arsenic, selenium and mercury. Water is unsuitable for human consumption if these Heavy metal (chemistry) are found in more than one ppm concentration. When sulfide bearing minerals in these ore dumps are exposed to air and water Sony VPCCA15FW/P battery, the sulfide transforms in to sulfuric acid which in turn dissolves the heavy metals facilitating their passage in to surface water and ground water. This process is called acid mine drainage. The gold ore dumps are considered as long term man made hazardous waste next only to nuclear waste dumps.[69] Billions of dollars need to be spent to mitigate the heavy metals pollution from worldwide gold ore dumps which are increasing every year Sony VPCCA15FW/D battery. Gold extraction is also highly energy intensive industry (25 kWh of electricity per one gram of gold production) to extract ore from deep mines and to grind the large quantity of ore for further chemical extraction.[70] Chemistry Gold (III) chloride solution in water Although gold is a noble metal, it forms many diverse compounds. The oxidation state of gold in its compounds ranges from −1 to +5, but Au(I) and Au(III) dominate its chemistry. Au(I), referred to as the aurous ion Sony VPCCA15FW/B battery, is the most common oxidation state with soft ligands such as thioethers, thiolates, and tertiary phosphines. Au(I) compounds are typically linear. A good example is Au(CN)2−, which is the soluble form of gold encountered in mining. Curiously, aurous complexes of water are rare. The binary gold halides, such as AuCl, form zigzag polymeric chains, again featuring linear coordination at Au. Most drugs based on gold are Au(I) derivatives. Sony VPCCA15FH/W batteryAu(III) (auric) is a common oxidation state, and is illustrated by gold(III) chloride, Au2Cl6. The gold atom centers in Au(III) complexes, like other d8 compounds, are typically square planar, with chemical bonds that have both covalent and ionic character. Aqua regia, a 1:3 mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, dissolves gold. Nitric acid oxidizes the metal to +3 ions, but only in minute amounts, typically undetectable in the pure acid because of the chemical equilibrium of the reaction Sony VPCCA15FH/P battery. However, the ions are removed from the equilibrium by hydrochloric acid, forming AuCl4− ions, or chloroauric acid, thereby enabling further oxidation. Some free halogens react with gold.[72] Gold also reacts in alkaline solutions of potassium cyanide. With mercury, it forms an amalgam. [edit]Less common oxidation states Less common oxidation states of gold include −1, +2, and +5. The −1 oxidation state occurs in compounds containing the Au− anion, called aurides. Caesium auride (CsAu), for example, crystallizes in the caesium chloride motif Sony VPCCA15FH/L battery.[73] Other aurides include those of Rb+, K+, and tetramethylammonium (CH3)4N+.[74] Gold has the highest Pauling electronegativity of any metal, with a value of 2.54, making the auride anion relatively stable. Gold(II) compounds are usually diamagnetic with Au–Au bonds such as [Au(CH2)2P(C6H5)2]2Cl2. The evaporation of a solution of Au(OH)3 in concentrated H2SO4 produces red crystals of gold(II) sulfate, Au2(SO4)2. Originally thought to be a mixed-valence compound, it has been shown to contain Au4+2 cations Sony VPCCA15FH/G battery. A noteworthy, legitimate gold(II) complex is the tetraxenonogold(II) cation, which contains xenon as a ligand, found in [AuXe4](Sb2F11)2. Gold pentafluoride, along with its derivative anion, AuF− 6, and its difluorine complex, gold heptafluoride, is the sole example of gold(V), the highest verified oxidation state.[78] Some gold compounds exhibit aurophilic bonding, which describes the tendency of gold ions to interact at distances that are too long to be a conventional Au–Au bond but shorter than van der Waals bonding. The interaction is estimated to be comparable in strength to that of a hydrogen bond Sony VPCCA15FH/B battery. [edit]Mixed valence compounds Well-defined cluster compounds are numerous.[74] In such cases, gold has a fractional oxidation state. A representative example is the octahedral species {Au(P(C6H5)3)}62+. Gold chalcogenides, such as gold sulfide, feature equal amounts of Au(I) and Au(III). Toxicity Pure metallic (elemental) gold is non-toxic and non-irritating when ingested[79] and is sometimes used as a food decoration in the form of gold leaf Sony VPCCA15FG/W battery. Metallic gold is also a component of the alcoholic drinks Goldschläger, Gold Strike, and Goldwasser. Metallic gold is approved as a food additive in the EU (E175 in the Codex Alimentarius). Although gold ion is toxic, the acceptance of metallic gold as a food additive is due to its relative chemical inertness, and resistance to being corroded or transformed into soluble salts (gold compounds) by any known chemical process which would be encountered in the human body Sony VPCCA15FG/R battery. Soluble compounds (gold salts) such as gold chloride are toxic to the liver and kidneys. Common cyanide salts of gold such as potassium gold cyanide, used in gold electroplating, are toxic by virtue of both their cyanide and gold content. There are rare cases of lethal gold poisoning from potassium gold cyanide. Gold toxicity can be ameliorated with chelation therapy with an agent such as Dimercaprol Sony VPCCA15FG/P battery. Gold metal was voted Allergen of the Year in 2001 by the American Contact Dermatitis Society. Gold contact allergies affect mostly women.[82] Despite this, gold is a relatively non-potent contact allergen, in comparison with metals like nickel.[83] Price Gold price history in 1960-2011 Like other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and by grams. When it is alloyed with other metals the term carat or karat is used to indicate the purity of gold present, with 24 carats being pure gold and lower ratings proportionally less Sony VPCCA15FG/G battery. The purity of a gold bar or coin can also be expressed as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness, such as 0.995 being very pure. The price of gold is determined through trading in the gold and derivatives markets, but a procedure known as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in September 1919, provides a daily benchmark price to the industry. The afternoon fixing was introduced in 1968 to provide a price when US markets are open Sony VPCCA15FG/D battery. Historically gold coinage was widely used as currency; when paper money was introduced, it typically was a receipt redeemable for gold coin or bullion. In a monetary system known as the gold standard, a certain weight of gold was given the name of a unit of currency. For a long period, the United States government set the value of the US dollar so that one troy ounce was equal to $20.67 ($664.56/kg) Sony VPCCA15FG/B battery, but in 1934 the dollar was devalued to $35.00 per troy ounce ($1125.27/kg). By 1961, it was becoming hard to maintain this price, and a pool of US and European banks agreed to manipulate the market to prevent further currency devaluation against increased gold demand. A Swiss-cast 1 kg gold bar. On March 17, 1968, economic circumstances caused the collapse of the gold pool, and a two-tiered pricing scheme was established whereby gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00 per troy ounce ($1.13/g) Sony VPCCA15FG battery but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to fluctuate; this two-tiered pricing system was abandoned in 1975 when the price of gold was left to find its free-market level. Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as a store of value although the level has generally been declining. The largest gold depository in the world is that of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York Sony VPCCA15FF/W battery, which holds about 3%[84] of the gold ever mined, as does the similarly laden U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. In 2005 the World Gold Council estimated total global gold supply to be 3,859 tonnes and demand to be 3,754 tonnes, giving a surplus of 105 tonnes.[85] Since 1968 the price of gold has ranged widely, from a high of $850/oz ($27,300/kg) on January 21, 1980, to a low of $252.90/oz ($8,131/kg) on June 21, 1999 (London Gold Fixing). Sony VPCCA15FF/P battery The period from 1999 to 2001 marked the "Brown Bottom" after a 20-year bear market.[87] Prices increased rapidly from 1991, but the 1980 high was not exceeded until January 3, 2008 when a new maximum of $865.35 per troy ounce was set.[88] Another record price was set on March 17, 2008 at $1023.50/oz ($32,900/kg). Sony VPCCA15FF/L batteryIn late 2009, gold markets experienced renewed momentum upwards due to increased demand and a weakening US dollar. On December 2, 2009, Gold passed the important barrier of US$1200 per ounce to close at $1215.[89] Gold further rallied hitting new highs in May 2010 after the European Union debt crisis prompted further purchase of gold as a safe asset. Sony VPCCA15FF/G battery On March 1, 2011, gold hit a new all-time high of $1432.57, based on investor concerns regarding ongoing unrest in North Africa as well as in the Middle East.[92] Since April 2001 the gold price has more than quintupled in value against the US dollar, hitting a new all-time high of $1,913.50 on August 23, 2011,[93] prompting speculation that this long secular bear market has ended and a bull market has returned. Sony VPCCA15FF/B batterySymbolism Gold bars at the Emperor Casino in Macau Gold has been highly valued in many societies throughout the ages. In keeping with this it has often had a strongly positive symbolic meaning closely connected to the values held in the highest esteem in the society in question. Gold may symbolize power, strength, wealth, warmth, happiness, love, hope, optimism, intelligence, justice, balance, perfection, summer, harvest and the sun Sony VPCCA15FA/W battery. Great human achievements are frequently rewarded with gold, in the form of gold medals, golden trophies and other decorations. Winners of athletic events and other graded competitions are usually awarded a gold medal (e.g., the Olympic Games). Many awards such as the Nobel Prize are made from gold as well. Other award statues and prizes are depicted in gold or are gold plated Sony VPCCA15FA/P battery (such as the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Emmy Awards, the Palme d'Or, and the British Academy Film Awards). Aristotle in his ethics used gold symbolism when referring to what is now commonly known as the golden mean. Similarly, gold is associated with perfect or divine principles, such as in the case of the golden ratio and the golden rule. Gold is further associated with the wisdom of aging and fruition. The fiftieth wedding anniversary is golden. Our precious latter years are sometimes considered "golden years" Sony VPCCA15FA/L battery. The height of a civilization is referred to as a "golden age". In Christianity gold has sometimes been associated with the extremities of utmost evil and the greatest sanctity. In the Book of Exodus, the Golden Calf is a symbol of idolatry. In the Book of Genesis, Abraham was said to be rich in gold and silver, and Moses was instructed to cover the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant with pure gold. In Christian art the halos of Christ, Mary and the Christian saints are golden Sony VPCCA15FA/G battery. Medieval kings were inaugurated under the signs of sacred oil and a golden crown, the latter symbolizing the eternal shining light of heaven and thus a Christian king's divinely inspired authority. Those who had something of gold, were in possession of something of great value on earth and a substance to even help souls to paradise Sony VPCCA15FA/B battery—according to Christopher Columbus[95] Wedding rings have long been made of gold. It is long lasting and unaffected by the passage of time and may aid in the ring symbolism of eternal vows before God and/or the sun and moon and the perfection the marriage signifies. In Orthodox Christianity, the wedded couple is adorned with a golden crown during the ceremony, an amalgamation of symbolic rites Sony VAIO VPCF135Z1E/B battery. In popular culture gold holds many connotations but is most generally connected to terms such as good or great, such as in the phrases: "has a heart of gold", "that's golden!", "golden moment", "then you're golden!" and "golden boy". Gold also still holds its place as a symbol of wealth and through that, in many societies, success Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI battery.
Tungsten, is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74. The word tungsten comes from the Swedish language tung sten directly translatable to heavy stone.[3] A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781 Sony VPCEH3T9E battery, and first isolated as a metal in 1783. Its important ores include wolframite and scheelite. The free element is remarkable for its robustness, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all the non-alloyed metals and the second highest of all the elements after carbon. Also remarkable is its high density of 19.3 times that of water, comparable to that of uranium and gold Sony VPCEH3N6E battery, and much higher (about 1.7 times) than that of lead.[4] Tungsten with minor amounts of impurities is often brittle[5] and hard, making it difficult to work. However, very pure tungsten, though still hard, is more ductile, and can be cut with a hard-steel hacksaw.[6] The unalloyed elemental form is used mainly in electrical applications. Tungsten's many alloys have numerous applications, most notably in incandescent light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes (as both the filament and target), and superalloys Sony VPCEH3N1E battery. Tungsten's hardness and high density give it military applications in penetrating projectiles. Tungsten compounds are most often used industrially as catalysts. Tungsten is the only metal from the third transition series that is known to occur in biomolecules, where it is used in a few species of bacteria. It is the heaviest element known to be used by any living organism. Tungsten interferes with molybdenum and copper metabolism, and is somewhat toxic to animal life Sony VPCEH3D0E battery. History In 1781, Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered that a new acid, tungstic acid, could be made from scheelite (at the time named tungsten). Scheele and Torbern Bergman suggested that it might be possible to obtain a new metal by reducing this acid.[9] In 1783, José and Fausto Elhuyar found an acid made from wolframite that was identical to tungstic acid Sony VPCEH3B1E battery. Later that year, in Spain, the brothers succeeded in isolating tungsten by reduction of this acid with charcoal, and they are credited with the discovery of the element.[10][11] In World War II, tungsten played a significant role in background political dealings. Portugal, as the main European source of the element, was put under pressure from both sides, because of its deposits of wolframite ore at Panasqueira Sony VPCEH2Z1E battery. Tungsten's resistance to high temperatures and its strengthening of alloys made it an important raw material for the arms industry.[12] [edit]Etymology The name "tungsten" (from the Nordic tung sten, meaning "heavy stone") is used in English, French, and many other languages as the name of the element. Tungsten was the old Swedish name for the mineral scheelite. The other name "wolfram" (or "volfram") Sony VPCEH2S9E battery, used for example in most European (especially Germanic and Slavic) languages, is derived from the mineral wolframite, and this is also the origin of its chemical symbol, W.[6] The name "wolframite" is derived from German "wolf rahm" ("wolf soot" or "wolf cream"), the name given to tungsten by Johan Gottschalk Wallerius in 1747. This, in turn, derives from "Lupi spuma", the name Georg Agricola used for the element in 1546 Sony VPCEH2Q1E battery, which translates into English as "wolf's froth" or "cream" (the etymology is not entirely certain), and is a reference to the large amounts of tin consumed by the mineral during its extraction.[13] Characteristics Physical properties In tungsten's raw form, it is a hard steel-gray metal that is often brittle and hard to work. If made very pure, tungsten retains its hardness (which exceeds that of many steels), and becomes malleable enough that it can be worked easily. Sony VPCEH2P0E battery It is worked by forging, drawing, extruding or sintering. Of all metals in pure form, tungsten has the highest melting point (3,422 °C, 6,192 °F), lowest vapor pressure (at temperatures above 1,650 °C, 3,000 °F) and the highest tensile strength.[14] Tungsten has the lowest coefficient of thermal expansion of any pure metal. The low thermal expansion and high melting point and strength of tungsten originate from strong covalent bonds formed between tungsten atoms by the 5d electrons. Sony VPCEH2N1E battery Alloying small quantities of tungsten with steel greatly increases its toughness.[4] Tungsten exists in two major crystalline forms: α and β. The former has a body-centered cubic structure and is the most stable form. The structure of the β phase is called A15 cubic; it is metastable, but can coexist with the α phase at ambient conditions owing to non-equilibrium synthesis or stabilization by impurities Sony VPCEH2M9E battery. Contrary to the α phase which crystallizes in isometric grains, the β form exhibits a columnar habit. The α phase has a three times lower electrical resistivity[16] and a much lower superconducting transition temperature TC than the β phase: ca. 0.015 K vs. 1–4 K; mixing the two phases allows obtaining intermedicate TC values.[17][18] The TC value can also be raised by alloying tungsten with another metal (e.g. 7.9 K for W-Tc). Sony VPCEH2M1E batterySuch tungsten alloys are sometimes used in low-temperature superconducting circuits.[20][21][22] [edit]Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of tungsten Naturally occurring tungsten consists of five isotopes whose half-lives are so long that they can be considered stable. Theoretically, all five can decay into isotopes of element 72 (hafnium) by alpha emission, but only 180W has been observed[23] to do so with a half-life of (1.8 ± 0.2)×1018 years Sony VPCEH2L9E battery; on average, this yields about two alpha decays of 180W in one gram of natural tungsten per year.[24] The other naturally occurring isotopes have not been observed to decay, constraining their half-lives to be[24] 182W, T1/2 > 8.3×1018 years 183W, T1/2 > 2.9×1019 years 184W, T1/2 > 1.3×1019 years 186W, T1/2 > 2.7×1019 years Another 30 artificial radioisotopes of tungsten have been characterized, the most stable of which are 181W with a half-life of 121.2 days, 185W with a half-life of 75.1 days, 188W with a half-life of 69.4 days, 178W with a half-life of 21.6 days, and 187W with a half-life of 23.72 h.[24] All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than 3 hours Sony VPCEH2J1E battery, and most of these have half-lives below 8 minutes.[24] Tungsten also has 4 meta states, the most stable being 179mW (T½ 6.4 minutes). [edit]Chemical properties Main article: Tungsten compounds Elemental tungsten resists attack by oxygen, acids, and alkalis.[25] The most common formal oxidation state of tungsten is +6, but it exhibits all oxidation states from −2 to +6.[25][26] Tungsten typically combines with oxygen to form the yellow tungstic oxide, WO3, which dissolves in aqueous alkaline solutions to form tungstate ions, WO2− 4 Sony VPCEH2H1E battery. Tungsten carbides (W2C and WC) are produced by heating powdered tungsten with carbon. W2C is resistant to chemical attack, although it reacts strongly with chlorine to form tungsten hexachloride (WCl6).[4] In aqueous solution, tungstate gives the heteropoly acids and polyoxometalate anions under neutral and acidic conditions. As tungstate is progressively treated with acid, it first yields the soluble, metastable "paratungstate A" anion, W7O6– Sony VPCEH2F1E battery24, which over time converts to the less soluble "paratungstate B" anion, H2W12O10– 42.[27] Further acidification produces the very soluble metatungstate anion, H2W12O6– 40, after which equilibrium is reached. The metatungstate ion exists as a symmetric cluster of twelve tungsten-oxygen octahedra known as the Keggin anion. Many other polyoxometalate anions exist as metastable species Sony VPCEH2E0E battery. The inclusion of a different atom such as phosphorus in place of the two central hydrogens in metatungstate produces a wide variety of heteropoly acids, such as phosphotungstic acid H3PW12O40. Tungsten trioxide can form intercalation compounds with alkali metals. These are known as bronzes; an example is sodium tungsten bronze. Occurrence Tungsten is found in the minerals wolframite (iron-manganese tungstate, (Fe,Mn)WO4), scheelite (calcium tungstate, (CaWO4), ferberite (FeWO4) and hübnerite (MnWO4). China produced 51,000 tonnes of tungsten concentrate in 2009 Sony VPCEH2D0E battery, which was 83% of the world output. In the prelude to WWII China's production of tungsten played a role as China could use this leverage to demand material assistance from the US government.[28] Most of the remaining production originated from Russia (2,500 t), Canada (1,964 t), Bolivia (1,023 t), Austria (900 t), Portugal (900 t), Thailand (600 t), Brazil (500 t), Peru (500 t) and Rwanda (500 t). Sony VPCEH2C0E battery Tungsten is also considered to be a conflict mineral due to the unethical mining practices observed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[30][31] [edit]Biological role Tungsten, at atomic number 74, is the heaviest element known to be biologically functional, with the next heaviest being iodine (Z = 53). Although not in eukaryotes, tungsten is used by some bacteria. For example, enzymes called oxidoreductases use tungsten similarly to molybdenum by using it in a tungsten-pterin complex with molybdopterin (molybdopterin Sony VPCEH29FJ/W battery, despite its name, does not contain molybdenum, but may complex with either molybdenum or tungsten in use by living organisms). Tungsten-using enzymes typically reduce carboxylic acids to aldehydes.[32] The tungsten oxidoreductases may also catalyse oxidations. The first tungsten-requiring enzyme to be discovered also requires selenium, and in this case the tungsten-selenium pair may function analogously to the molybdenum-sulfur pairing of some molybdenum cofactor-requiring enzymes. Sony VPCEH29FJ/P batteryOne of the enzymes in the oxidoreductase family which sometimes employ tungsten (bacterial formate dehydrogenase H) is known to use a selenium-molybdenum version of molybdopterin.[34] Although a tungsten-containing xanthine dehydrogenase from bacteria has been found to contain tungsten-molydopterin and also non-protein bound selenium, a tungsten-selenium molybdopterin complex has not been definitively described. Sony VPCEH29FJ/B batteryIn soil, tungsten metal oxidizes to the tungstate anion. It can be selectively or non-selectively imported by some prokaryotic organisms and may substitute for molybdate in certain enzymes. Its effect on the action of these enzymes is in some cases inhibitory and in others positive.[36] The soil's chemistry determines how the tungsten polymerizes; alkaline soils cause monomeric tungstates; acidic soils cause polymeric tungstates. Sony VPCEH28FN/L batterySodium tungstate and lead have been studied for their effect on earthworms. Lead was found to be lethal at low levels and sodium tungstate was much less toxic, but the tungstate completely inhibited their reproductive ability.[38] Tungsten has been studied as a biological copper metabolic antagonist, in a role similar to the action of molybdenum. It has been found that tetrathiotungstates may be used as biological copper chelation chemicals, similar to the tetrathiomolybdates. Sony VPCEH28FJ/W battery[edit]Production Wolframite Tungsten output in 2005 About 61,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrates were produced in the year 2009.[29] Tungsten is extracted from its ores in several stages. The ore is eventually converted to tungsten(VI) oxide (WO3), which is heated with hydrogen or carbon to produce powdered tungsten.[9] Because of tungsten's high melting point, it is not commercially feasible to cast tungsten ingots Sony VPCEH28FJ/P battery. Instead, powdered tungsten is mixed with small amounts of powdered nickel or other metals, and sintered. During the sintering process, the nickel diffuses into the tungsten, producing an alloy. Tungsten can also be extracted by hydrogen reduction of WF6: WF6 + 3 H2 → W + 6 HF or pyrolytic decomposition:[40] WF6 → W + 3 F2 (ΔHr = +) Tungsten is not traded as a futures contract and cannot be tracked on exchanges like the London Metal Exchange. The price for pure metal is around $20,075 per tonne as of October 2008. Sony VPCEH28FJ/B batteryApplications Close-up of a tungsten filament inside a halogen lamp Tungsten carbide ring (jewelry) Approximately half of the tungsten is consumed for the production of hard materials — namely tungsten carbide — with the remaining major use being in alloys and steels. Less than 10% is used in other chemical compounds.[42] [edit]Hard materials Tungsten is mainly used in the production of hard materials based on tungsten carbide, one of the hardest carbides, with a melting point of 2770 °C Sony VPCEH28FH/B battery. WC is an efficient electrical conductor, but W2C is less so. WC is used to make wear-resistant abrasives and cutters and knives for drills, circular saws, milling and turning tools used by the metalworking, woodworking, mining, petroleum and construction industries[4] and accounts for about 60% of current tungsten consumption. Sony VPCEH28FG/P batteryThe jewelry industry makes rings of sintered tungsten carbide, tungsten carbide/metal composites, and also metallic tungsten. Sometimes manufacturers or retailers refer to tungsten carbide as a metal, but it is a ceramic.[44] Because of tungsten carbide's hardness, rings made of this material are extremely abrasion resistant, and will hold a burnished finish much longer than rings made of metallic tungsten Sony VPCEH28FG/B battery. Tungsten carbide rings are brittle, however, and may crack under a sharp blow.[45] [edit]Alloys The hardness and density of tungsten are applied in obtaining heavy metal alloys. A good example is high speed steel, which can contain as much as 18% tungsten.[46] Tungsten's high melting point makes tungsten a good material for applications like rocket nozzles, for example in the UGM-27 Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile. Sony VPCEH28FF/B battery Superalloys containing tungsten, such as Hastelloy and Stellite, are used in turbine blades and wear-resistant parts and coatings. [edit]Armaments Tungsten, usually alloyed with nickel and iron or cobalt to form heavy alloys, is used in kinetic energy penetrators as an alternative to depleted uranium, in applications where uranium's additional pyrophoric properties are not required (for example, in ordinary small arms bullets designed to penetrate body armor) Sony VPCEH28FA/B battery. Similarly, tungsten alloys have also been used in cannon shells, grenades and missiles, to create supersonic shrapnel. Tungsten has also been used in Dense Inert Metal Explosives, which use it as dense powder to reduce collateral damage while increasing the lethality of explosives within a small radius.[48] [edit]Chemical applications Tungsten(IV) sulfide is a high temperature lubricant and is a component of catalysts for hydrodesulfurization.[49] MoS2 is more commonly used for such applications Sony VPCEH27FG/W battery.[50] Tungsten oxides are used in ceramic glazes and calcium/magnesium tungstates are used widely in fluorescent lighting. Crystal tungstates are used as scintillation detectors in nuclear physics and nuclear medicine. Other salts that contain tungsten are used in the chemical and tanning industries. Sony VPCEH26FJ/W batteryTungsten oxide (WO3) is incorporated into selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts found in coal-fired power plants. These catalysts convert nitrogen oxides (NOx) to nitrogen (N2) and water (H2O) using ammonia (NH3). The tungsten oxide helps with the physical strength of the catalyst and extends catalyst life. Sony VPCEH26EN/B battery[edit]Niche uses Applications requiring its high density include weights, counterweights, ballast keels for yachts, tail ballast for commercial aircraft, and as ballast in race cars for NASCAR and Formula One; depleted uranium is also used for these purposes, due to similarly high density. It is an ideal material to use as a dolly for riveting Sony VPCEH26EH/P battery, where the mass necessary for good results can be achieved in a compact bar. High-density alloys of tungsten with nickel, copper or iron are used in high-quality darts[52] (to allow for a smaller diameter and thus tighter groupings) or for fishing lures (tungsten beads allow the fly to sink rapidly). Some types of strings for musical instruments are wound with tungsten wires Sony VPCEH26EG/P battery. [edit]Gold substitution Its density, similar to that of gold, allows tungsten to be used in jewelry as an alternative to gold or platinum.[6][53] Metallic tungsten is harder than gold alloys (though not as hard as tungsten carbide), and is hypoallergenic, making it useful for rings that will resist scratching, especially in designs with a brushed finish Sony VPCEH26EF/B battery. Because the density is so similar to gold (tungsten is only 0.36% less dense), tungsten can also be used in counterfeiting of gold bars, such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold, which has been observed since the 1980s,[57] or taking an existing gold bar, drilling holes, and replacing the removed gold with tungsten rods.[58] The densities are not exactly the same, and other properties of gold and tungsten differ, but gold-plated tungsten will pass superficial tests. Sony VPCEH26EA/W batteryGold-plated tungsten is available commercially from China (the main source of tungsten), both in jewelry and as bars.[59] [edit]Electronics Because it retains its strength at high temperatures and has a high melting point, elemental tungsten is used in many high-temperature applications,[60] such as light bulb, cathode-ray tube, and vacuum tube filaments, heating elements, and rocket engine nozzles. Sony VPCEH25EN/W battery Its high melting point also makes tungsten suitable for aerospace and high-temperature uses such as electrical, heating, and welding applications, notably in the gas tungsten arc welding process (also called tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding). Because of its conductive properties and relative chemical inertness, tungsten is also used in electrodes, and in the emitter tips in electron-beam instruments that use field emission guns, such as electron microscopes Sony VPCEH25EG/B battery. In electronics, tungsten is used as an interconnect material in integrated circuits, between the silicon dioxide dielectric material and the transistors. It is used in metallic films, which replace the wiring used in conventional electronics with a coat of tungsten (or molybdenum) on silicon.[40] The electronic structure of tungsten makes it one of the main sources for X-ray targets,[61][62] and also for shielding from high-energy radiations (such as in the radiopharmaceutical industry for shielding radioactive samples of FDG) Sony VPCEH24FX/W battery. Tungsten powder is used as a filler material in plastic composites, which are used as a nontoxic substitute for lead in bullets, shot, and radiation shields. Since this element's thermal expansion is similar to borosilicate glass, it is used for making glass-to-metal seals.[14] Precautions Because tungsten is rare and its compounds are generally inert, the effects of tungsten on the environment are limited. The median lethal dose LD50 depends strongly on the animal and the method of administration and varies between 59 mg/kg (intravenous, rabbit) and 5000 mg/kg (tungsten metal powder, intraperitoneal, rats Sony VPCEH24FX/P battery). Patent claim Tungsten is unique amongst the elements in that it has been the subject of legal proceedings. In 1928, a US court rejected General Electric's attempt to patent it, overturning U.S. Patent 1,082,933 granted in 1913 to William D. Coolidge. Platinum ( /ˈplætɨnəm/ or /ˈplætənəm/) is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina, which is literally translated into "little silver".[1][2] It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal Sony VPCEH24FX/L battery. Even though it has six naturally occurring isotopes, platinum is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust and has an average abundance of approximately 5 μg/kg. It is the least reactive metal. It occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits, mostly in South Africa, which accounts for 80% of the world production Sony VPCEH24FX/B battery. As a member of the platinum group of elements, as well as of the group 10 of the periodic table of elements, platinum is generally non-reactive. It exhibits a remarkable resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures, and as such is considered a noble metal. As a result, platinum is often found chemically uncombined as native platinum Sony VPCEH1Z1E battery. Because it occurs naturally in the alluvial sands of various rivers, it was first used by pre-Columbian South American natives to produce artifacts. It was referenced in European writings as early as 16th century, but it was not until Antonio de Ulloa published a report on a new metal of Colombian origin in 1748 that it became investigated by scientists Sony VPCEH1S9E battery. Platinum is used in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment, and jewelry. Because only a few hundred tonnes are produced annually, it is a scarce material, and is highly valuable and is a major precious metal commodity. Being a heavy metal, it leads to health issues upon exposure to its salts, but due to its corrosion resistance, it is not as toxic as some metals. Sony VPCEH1S8E battery Its compounds, most notably cisplatin, are applied in chemotherapy against certain types of cancer.[4] Characteristics Physical As a pure metal, platinum is silvery-white, lustrous, ductile, and malleable.[5] Platinum is more ductile than gold, silver and copper, thus being the most ductile of pure metals, but gold is still more malleable than platinum [6][7] It does not oxidize at any temperature, although it is corroded by halogens, cyanides, sulfur, and caustic alkalis. Platinum is insoluble in hydrochloric and nitric acid, but dissolves in hot aqua regia to form chloroplatinic acid, H2PtCl6. Sony VPCEH1S1E batteryPlatinum's resistance to wear and tarnish is well suited for making fine jewelry. The metal has an excellent resistance to corrosion and high temperature and has stable electrical properties. All of these characteristics have been used for industrial applications.[9] Chemical See also: Platinum group Platinum dissolves in hot aqua regia The most common oxidation states of platinum are +2 and +4. The +1 and +3 oxidation states are less common, and are often stabilized by metal bonding in bimetallic (or polymetallic) species Sony VPCEH1S0E battery. As is expected, tetracoordinate platinum(II) compounds tend to adopt 16-electron square planar geometries. While elemental platinum is generally unreactive, it dissolves in hot aqua regia to give soluble hexachloroplatinic acid ("H2PtCl6", formally (H3O)2PtCl6·nH2O ):[10] Pt + 4 HNO3 + 6 HCl → H2PtCl6 + 4 NO2 + 4 H2O As a soft acid, platinum has a great affinity for sulfur, such as on dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO); numerous DMSO complexes have been reported and care should be taken in the choice of reaction solvent. Sony VPCEH1M9E batteryIsotopes Main article: Isotopes of platinum Platinum has six naturally occurring isotopes: 190Pt, 192Pt, 194Pt, 195Pt, 196Pt, and 198Pt. The most abundant of these is 195Pt, comprising 33.83% of all platinum. It is the only stable isotope with a non-zero spin; with a spin of 1/2, 195Pt satellite peaks are often observed in 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy (i.e. Pt-phosphine and Pt-alkyl complexes) Sony VPCEH1M1E battery. 190Pt is the least abundant at only 0.01%. Of the naturally occurring isotopes, only 190Pt is unstable, though it decays with a half-life of 6.5×1011 years. 198Pt can undergo alpha decay, but its decay had never been observed (the half-life is known to be longer than 3.2×1014 years), therefore it is considered stable. Platinum also has 31 synthetic isotopes ranging in atomic mass from 166 to 202, making the total number of known isotopes 37 Sony VPCEH1L9E battery. The least stable of these is 166Pt with a half-life of 300 µs, while the most stable is 193Pt with a half-life of 50 years. Most platinum isotopes decay by some combination of beta decay and alpha decay. 188Pt, 191Pt, and 193Pt decay primarily by electron capture. 190Pt and 198Pt have double beta decay paths. Sony VPCEH1L8E batteryOccurrence A native platinum nugget, Kondyor mine, Khabarovsk Krai Platinum output in 2005 Platinum is an extremely rare metal,[13] occurring at a concentration of only 0.005 ppm in the Earth's crust. It is sometimes mistaken for silver (Ag). Platinum is often found chemically uncombined as native platinum and alloyed with iridium as platiniridium. Most often the native platinum is found in secondary deposits; platinum is combined with the other platinum group metals in alluvial deposits Sony VPCEH1L0E battery. The alluvial deposits used by pre-Columbian people in the Chocó Department, Colombia are still a source for platinum group metals. Another large alluvial deposit is in the Ural Mountains, Russia, and it is still mined.[8] In nickel and copper deposits, platinum group metals occur as sulfides (e.g., (Pt,Pd)S), tellurides (e.g., PtBiTe), antimonides (PdSb), and arsenides (e.g., PtAs2), and as end alloys with nickel or copper. Platinum arsenide, sperrylite (PtAs2) Sony VPCEH1J8E battery, is a major source of platinum associated with nickel ores in the Sudbury Basin deposit in Ontario, Canada. At Platinum, Alaska, about 545,000 troy ounces had been mined between 1927 and 1975. The mine ceased operations in 1990.[16] The rare sulfide mineral cooperite, (Pt,Pd,Ni)S, contains platinum along with palladium and nickel. Cooperite occurs in the Merensky Reef within the Bushveld complex, Gauteng, South Africa. Sony VPCEH1J1E batteryIn 1865, chromites were identified in the Bushveld region of South Africa, followed by the discovery of platinum in 1906.[18] The largest known primary reserves are in the Bushveld complex in South Africa.[19] The large copper–nickel deposits near Norilsk in Russia, and the Sudbury Basin, Canada, are the two other large deposits Sony VPCEH1E1E battery. In the Sudbury Basin, the huge quantities of nickel ore processed make up for the fact platinum is present as only 0.5 ppm in the ore. Smaller reserves can be found in the United States,[19] for example in the Absaroka Range in Montana.[20] In 2009, South Africa was the top producer of platinum, with an almost 80% share, followed by Russia at 11%; world production in 2009 was 178,000 kg. Sony VPCEH1AJ batteryIn 2010 July its been announced that Platinum is present in the state of Tamil Nadu, India[22] and a MOU has been signed between Geological Survey of India with TAMIN – Tamil Nadu Minerals Ltd.[23] Platinum exists in higher abundances on the Moon and in meteorites. Correspondingly, platinum is found in slightly higher abundances at sites of bolide impact on the Earth that are associated with resulting post-impact volcanism, and can be mined economically; the Sudbury Basin is one such example. Sony VPCEH19FJ/W batteryCompounds Halides Hexachloroplatinic acid mentioned above is probably the most important platinum compound, as it serves as the precursor for many other platinum compounds. By itself, it has various applications in photography, zinc etchings, indelible ink, plating, mirrors, porcelain coloring, and as a catalyst. Sony VPCEH19FJ/P batteryTreatment of hexachloroplatinic acid with an ammonium salt, such as ammonium chloride, gives ammonium hexachloroplatinate,[10] which is relatively insoluble in ammonium solutions. Heating this ammonium salt in the presence of hydrogen reduces it to elemental platinum. Potassium hexachloroplatinate is similarly insoluble, and hexachloroplatinic acid has been used in the determination of potassium ions by gravimetry. Sony VPCEH19FJ/B batteryWhen hexachloroplatinic acid is heated, it decomposes through platinum(IV) chloride and platinum(II) chloride to elemental platinum, although the reactions do not occur stepwise:[27] (H3O)2PtCl6·nH2O PtCl4 + 2 HCl + (n + 2) H2O PtCl4 PtCl2 + Cl2 PtCl2 Pt + Cl2 All three reactions are reversible. Platinum(II) and platinum(IV) bromides are known as well. Platinum hexafluoride is a strong oxidizer capable of oxidizing oxygen Sony VPCEH18FJ/W battery. [edit]Oxides Platinum(IV) oxide, PtO2, also known as Adams' catalyst, is a black powder which is soluble in KOH solutions and concentrated acids.[28] PtO2 and the less common PtO both decompose upon heating.[5] Platinum(II,IV) oxide, Pt3O4, is formed in the following reaction: 2 Pt2+ + Pt4+ + 4 O2− → Pt3O4 Platinum also forms a trioxide, where it is present in the +4 oxidation state. [edit]Other compounds Unlike palladium acetate, platinum(II) acetate is not commercially available. Where a base is desired, the halides have been used in conjunction with sodium acetate.[11] The use of platinum(II) acetylacetonate has also been reported. Sony VPCEH18FJ/P batterySeveral barium platinides have been synthesized in which platinum exhibits negative oxidation states ranging from −1 to −2. These include BaPt, Ba3Pt2, and Ba2Pt.[30] Caesium platinide, Cs2Pt, a dark-red transparent crystalline compound[31] has been shown to contain Pt2− anions.[32] Platinum also exhibits negative oxidation states at surfaces reduced electrochemically. Sony VPCEH18FJ/B batteryThe negative oxidation states exhibited by platinum are unusual for metallic elements, and they are attributed to the relativistic stabilization of the 6s orbitals.[32] Zeise's salt, containing an ethylene ligand, was one of the first organometallic compounds discovered. Dichloro(cycloocta-1,5-diene)platinum(II) is a commercially available olefin complex, which contains easily displaceable cod ligands ("cod" being an abbreviation of 1,5-cyclooctadiene). The cod complex and the halides are convenient starting points to platinum chemistry. Sony VPCEH18FH/P batteryCisplatin, or cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) is the first of a series of square planar platinum(II)-containing chemotherapy drugs, including carboplatin and oxaliplatin. These compounds are capable of crosslinking DNA, and kill cells by similar pathways to alkylating chemotherapeutic agents. Sony VPCEH18FG/L batteryThe hexachloroplatinate ion The anion of Zeise's salt Dichloro(cycloocta-1,5-diene)platinum(II) Cisplatin History Platinum occurs naturally in the alluvial sands of various rivers, though there is little evidence of its use by ancient people. However, the metal was used by pre-Columbian Americans near modern-day Esmeraldas, Ecuador to produce artifacts of a white gold-platinum alloy. The first European reference to platinum appears in 1557 in the writings of the Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger as a description of an unknown noble metal found between Darién and Mexico Sony VPCEH18FF/B battery, "which no fire nor any Spanish artifice has yet been able to liquefy."[35] This alchemical symbol for platinum was made by joining the symbols of silver and gold. Antonio de Ulloa is credited with the discovery of platinum. In 1741, Charles Wood,[36] a British metallurgist, found various samples of Colombian platinum in Jamaica, which he sent to William Brownrigg for further investigation. Antonio de Ulloa, also credited with the discovery of platinum, returned to Spain from the French Geodesic Mission in 1746 after having been there for eight years Sony VPCEH18FA/B battery. His historical account of the expedition included a description of platinum as being neither separable nor calcinable. Ulloa also anticipated the discovery of platinum mines. After publishing the report in 1748, Ulloa did not continue to investigate the new metal. In 1758, he was sent to superintend mercury mining operations in Huancavelica. Sony VPCEH17FJ/W batteryIn 1750, after studying the platinum sent to him by Wood, Brownrigg presented a detailed account of the metal to the Royal Society, mentioning that he had seen no mention of it in any previous accounts of known minerals.[37] Brownrigg also made note of platinum's extremely high melting point and refractoriness toward borax. Other chemists across Europe soon began studying platinum, including Andreas Sigismund Marggraf[38] Torbern Bergman Sony VPCEH17FG/W battery, Jöns Jakob Berzelius, William Lewis, and Pierre Macquer. In 1752, Henrik Scheffer published a detailed scientific description of the metal, which he referred to as "white gold", including an account of how he succeeded in fusing platinum ore with the aid of arsenic. Scheffer described platinum as being less pliable than gold, but with similar resistance to corrosion. Sony VPCEH17FG/P batteryCarl von Sickingen researched platinum extensively in 1772. He succeeded in making malleable platinum by alloying it with gold, dissolving the alloy in hot aqua regia, precipitating the platinum with ammonium chloride, igniting the ammonium chloroplatinate, and hammering the resulting finely divided platinum to make it cohere. Franz Karl Achard made the first platinum crucible in 1784 Sony VPCEH17FG/L battery. He worked with the platinum by fusing it with arsenic, then later volatilizing the arsenic.[35] Since the other platinum family members were not discovered yet (platinum was the first in the list), Scheffer and Sickingen made the false assumption that due to its hardness – which is slightly more than for pure iron – platinum was a relatively non pliable material, even brittle at times, when in fact its ductility and malleability are close to that of gold Sony VPCEH17FG/B battery. Their assumptions could not be avoided since the platinum they experimented with was highly contaminated with minute amounts of the platinum family elements such as Osmium and Iridium amongst others, which embrittled the platinum alloy. Alloying this impure platinum residue called "plyoxen" with gold was the only solution at the time to obtain a pliable compound, but nowadays Sony VPCEH16EN/B battery, very pure platinum is available and extremely long wire can be drawn from pure platinum, very easily, due to its crystalline structure which is similar to that of many soft metals.[39] In 1786, Charles III of Spain provided a library and laboratory to Pierre-François Chabaneau to aid in his research of platinum. Chabaneau succeeded in removing various impurities from the ore, including gold, mercury, lead, copper, and iron. This led him to believe he was working with a single metal, but in truth the ore still contained the yet-undiscovered platinum group metals Sony VPCEH16EH/W battery. This led to inconsistent results in his experiments. At times, the platinum seemed malleable, but when it was alloyed with iridium, it would be much more brittle. Sometimes the metal was entirely incombustible, but when alloyed with osmium, it would volatilize. After several months, Chabaneau succeeded in producing 23 kilograms of pure, malleable platinum by hammering and compressing the sponge form while white-hot Sony VPCEH16EG/W battery. Chabeneau realized the infusibility of platinum would lend value to objects made of it, and so started a business with Joaquín Cabezas producing platinum ingots and utensils. This started what is known as the "platinum age" in Spain.[35] In 2007, Gerhard Ertl won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for determining the detailed molecular mechanisms of the catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide over platinum (catalytic converter). Sony VPCEH16EF/B batteryProduction 1,000 cubic centimeters of 99.9% pure platinum, worth about US$910,000 at 30 October 2009 prices Platinum, along with the rest of the platinum metals, is obtained commercially as a by-product from nickel and copper mining and processing. During electrorefining of copper, noble metals such as silver, gold and the platinum group metals as well as selenium and tellurium settle to the bottom of the cell as "anode mud" Sony VPCEH16EA/P battery, which forms the starting point for the extraction of the platinum group metals.[41][42] If pure platinum is found in placer deposits or other ores, it is isolated from them by various methods of subtracting impurities. Because platinum is significantly denser than many of its impurities, the lighter impurities can be removed by simply floating them away in a liquid. Platinum is also nonmagnetic, while nickel and iron are both magnetic Sony VPCEH15EN/W battery. These two impurities are thus removed by running an electromagnet over the mixture. Because platinum has a higher melting point than most other substances, many impurities can be burned or melted away without melting the platinum. Finally, platinum is resistant to hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, while other substances are readily attacked by them. Metal impurities can be removed by stirring the mixture in either of the two acids and recovering the remaining platinum Sony VPCEH15EG/B battery.[43] One suitable method for purification for the raw platinum, which contains platinum, gold, and the other platinum group metals, is to process it with aqua regia, in which palladium, gold and platinum are dissolved, while osmium, iridium, ruthenium and rhodium stay unreacted. The gold is precipitated by the addition of iron(III) chloride and after filtering off the gold Sony VPCEH13FX/W battery, the platinum is precipitated as ammonium chloroplatinate by the addition of ammonium chloride. Ammonium chloroplatinate can be converted to the metal by heating.[44] Applications Cross section of a metal-core catalytic converter Of the 239 tonnes of platinum sold in 2006, 130 tonnes were used for vehicle emissions control devices, 49 tonnes for jewelry, 13.3 tonnes in electronics, and 11.2 tonnes in the chemical industry as a catalyst. The remaining 35.5 tonnes went to various other minor applications, such as electrodes, anticancer drugs, oxygen sensors, spark plugs and turbine engines. Sony VPCEH13FX/P battery[edit]Catalysis The most common use of platinum is as a catalyst in chemical reactions, many times as platinum black. It has been employed in this application since the early 19th century, when platinum powder was used to catalyze the ignition of hydrogen. Its most important application is in automobiles as a catalytic converter Sony VPCEH13FX/L battery, which allows the complete combustion of low concentrations of unburned hydrocarbons from the exhaust into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Platinum is also used in the petroleum industry as a catalyst in a number of separate processes, but especially in catalytic reforming of straight run naphthas into higher-octane gasoline which becomes rich in aromatic compounds Sony VPCEH13FX/B battery. PtO2, also known as Adams' catalyst, is used as a hydrogenation catalyst, specifically for vegetable oils.[25] Platinum metal also strongly catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas.[46] Standard International Prototype Meter bar From 1889 to 1960, the meter was defined as the length of a platinum-iridium (90:10) alloy bar, known as the International Prototype Meter bar. The previous bar was made of platinum in 1799. The International Prototype Kilogram remains defined by a cylinder of the same platinum-iridium alloy made in 1879. Sony VPCCA3SFX/R batteryThe standard hydrogen electrode also uses a platinized platinum electrode due to its corrosion resistance, and other attributes.[48] Precious metal Platinum Eagle Main articles: Platinum as an investment and Platinum coin Platinum is a precious metal commodity; its bullion has the ISO currency code of XPT. Coins, bars, and ingots are traded or collected. Platinum finds use in jewelry, usually as a 90–95% alloy, due to its inertness and shine. Jewelry trade publications advise jewelers to present minute surface scratches (which they term patina) as a desirable feature. Sony VPCCA3S1E batteryIn watchmaking, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, Rolex, Breitling, and other companies use platinum for producing their limited edition watch series. Watchmakers appreciate the unique properties of platinum, as it neither tarnishes nor wears out (relative to gold).[51] Average price of platinum from 1991 to 2007 in US$ per troy ounce (~$20/g)[52] The price of platinum, like other industrial commodities, is more volatile than that of gold. In 2008, the price of platinum dropped from $2,252 to $774 per oz, Sony VPCCA3E1E battery a loss of nearly 2/3 of its value. By contrast, the price of gold dropped from ~$1,000 to ~$700/oz during the same time frame, a loss of only 1/3 of its value. During periods of sustained economic stability and growth, the price of platinum tends to be as much as twice the price of gold, whereas during periods of economic uncertainty,[54] the price of platinum tends to decrease due to reduced industrial demand, falling below the price of gold. Gold prices are more stable in slow economic times Sony VPCCA38EC/R battery, as gold is considered a safe haven and gold demand is not driven by industrial uses. In the 18th century, platinum's rarity made King Louis XV of France declare it the only metal fit for a king.[55] [edit]Other uses In the laboratory, platinum wire is used for electrodes; platinum pans and supports are used in thermogravimetric analysis because of the stringent requirements of chemical inertness upon heating to high temperatures (~1000 °C) Sony VPCCA38EC battery. Platinum is used as an alloying agent for various metal products, including fine wires, noncorrosive laboratory containers, medical instruments, dental prostheses, electrical contacts, and thermocouples. Platinum-cobalt, an alloy of roughly three parts platinum and one part cobalt, is used to make relatively strong permanent magnets.[25] Platinum-based anodes are used in ships, pipelines, and steel piers. Sony VPCCA37EC/B battery[edit]Symbol of prestige See also: Platinum album and Platinum (color) An assortment of native platinum nuggets Platinum's rarity as a metal has caused advertisers to associate it with exclusivity and wealth. "Platinum" debit cards have greater privileges than do "gold" ones.[56] "Platinum awards" are the second highest possible, ranking above "gold", "silver" and "bronze", but below diamond. For example, in the United States, a musical album that has sold more than 1 million copies Sony VPCCA37EC battery, will be credited as "platinum", whereas an album that sold more than 10 million copies will be certified as "diamond".[57] Some products, such as blenders and vehicles, with a silvery-white color are identified as "platinum". Platinum is considered a precious metal, although its use is not as common as the use of gold or silver. The frame of the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Sony VPCCA36FW/W battery, manufactured for her coronation as Consort of King George VI, is made of platinum. It was the first British crown to be made of this particular metal.[58] [edit]Health issues According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, short-term exposure to platinum salts may cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, and long-term exposure may cause both respiratory and skin allergies. The current OSHA standard is 2 micrograms per cubic meter of air averaged over an 8-hour work shift. Sony VPCCA36FW/B batteryCertain platinum complexes are used in chemotherapy, and show good activity against some tumors. Cisplatin is particularly effective against testicular cancer; the cure rate was improved from 10% to 85%.[60] However, the side effects are severe. Cisplatin causes cumulative, irreversible kidney damage and deafness.[61] As with other ototoxic agents, deafness may be secondary to interactions with melanin in the stria vascularis Sony VPCCA36FH/W battery. Binding of platinum to RNA has been reviewed.[62] As platinum is a catalyst in the manufacture of the silicone rubber and gel components of several types of medical implants (breast implants, joint replacement prosthetics, artificial lumbar discs, vascular access ports, etc.), the possibility platinum could enter the body and cause adverse effects has merited study Sony VPCCA36FG/B battery. The Food and Drug Administration and other institutions have reviewed the issue and found no evidence to suggest toxicity in vivo.
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable. The name of the element is derived from the Greek word "chrōma" (χρώμα), meaning colour, because many of its compounds are intensely coloured Sony VPCCA3SFX/R battery. Chromium oxide was used by the Chinese in the Qin dynasty over 2,000 years ago to coat weapons such as bronze crossbow bolts and steel swords found at the Terracotta Army. It later came to the attention of the West when it was discovered by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin in the mineral crocoite (lead(II) chromate) in 1797. Crocoite was used as a pigment Sony VPCCA3S1E battery, and after the discovery that the mineral chromite also contains chromium, this mineral was used to produce pigments as well. Chromium was regarded with great interest because of its high corrosion resistance and hardness. A major development was the discovery that steel could be made highly resistant to corrosion and discoloration by adding chromium to form stainless steel Sony VPCCA3E1E battery. This application, along with chrome plating (electroplating with chromium) are currently the highest-volume uses of the metal. Chromium and ferrochromium are produced from the single commercially viable ore, chromite, by silicothermic or aluminothermic reaction or by roasting and leaching processes Sony VPCCA38EC/R battery. Although trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) is required in trace amounts for sugar and lipid metabolism, few cases have been reported where its complete removal from the diet has caused chromium deficiency. In larger amounts and in different forms, chromium can be toxic and carcinogenic. The most prominent example of toxic chromium is hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). Abandoned chromium production sites often require environmental cleanup Sony VPCCA38EC battery. Characteristics Physical Chromium is remarkable for its magnetic properties: it is the only elemental solid which shows antiferromagnetic ordering at room temperature (and below). Above 38 °C, it transforms into a paramagnetic state.[1] Passivation Chromium metal left standing in air is passivated by oxygen, forming a thin protective oxide surface layer. This layer is a spinel structure only a few atoms thick. It is very dense, and prevents the diffusion of oxygen into the underlying material Sony VPCCA37EC/B battery. This barrier is in contrast to iron or plain carbon steels, where the oxygen migrates into the underlying material and causes rusting.[3] The passivation can be enhanced by short contact with oxidizing acids like nitric acid. Passivated chromium is stable against acids. The opposite effect can be achieved by treatment with a strong reducing agent that destroys the protective oxide layer on the metal. Chromium metal treated in this way readily dissolves in weak acids. Sony VPCCA37EC batteryChromium, unlike metals such as iron and nickel, does not suffer from hydrogen embrittlement. However, it does suffer from nitrogen embrittlement, reacting with nitrogen from air and forming brittle nitrides at the high temperatures necessary to work the metal parts.[5] Occurrence Crocoite (PbCrO4) Chromite ore Chromium is the 21st most abundant element in Earth's crust with an average concentration of 100 ppm. Sony VPCCA36FW/W battery Chromium compounds are found in the environment, due to erosion of chromium-containing rocks and can be distributed by volcanic eruptions. The concentrations range in soil is between 1 and 3000 mg/kg, in sea water 5 to 800 µg/liter, and in rivers and lakes 26 µg/liter to 5.2 mg/liter.[7] Chromium is mined as chromite (FeCr2O4) ore Sony VPCCA36FW/B battery.[8] About two-fifths of the chromite ores and concentrates in the world are produced in South Africa, while Kazakhstan, India, Russia, and Turkey are also substantial producers. Untapped chromite deposits are plentiful, but geographically concentrated in Kazakhstan and southern Africa.[9] Although rare, deposits of native chromium exist.[10][11] The Udachnaya Pipe in Russia produces samples of the native metal. This mine is a kimberlite pipe, rich in diamonds, and the reducing environment helped produce both elemental chromium and diamond. Sony VPCCA36FH/W batteryThe relation between Cr(III) and Cr(VI) strongly depends on pH and oxidative properties of the location, but in most cases, the Cr(III) is the dominating species,[7] although in some areas the ground water can contain up to 39 µg/liter of total chromium of which 30 µg/liter is present as Cr(VI) Sony VPCCA36FG/B battery. Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of chromium Naturally occurring chromium is composed of three stable isotopes; 52Cr, 53Cr and 54Cr with 52Cr being the most abundant (83.789% natural abundance). 19 radioisotopes have been characterized with the most stable being 50Cr with a half-life of (more than) 1.8×1017 years, and 51Cr with a half-life of 27.7 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 24 hours and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 1 minute Sony VPCCA36FA/B battery. This element also has 2 meta states.[14] 53Cr is the radiogenic decay product of 53Mn. Chromium isotopic contents are typically combined with manganese isotopic contents and have found application in isotope geology. Mn-Cr isotope ratios reinforce the evidence from 26Al and 107Pd for the early history of the solar system. Variations in 53Cr/52Cr and Mn/Cr ratios from several meteorites indicate an initial 53Mn/55Mn ratio that suggests Mn-Cr isotopic composition must result from in-situ decay of 53Mn in differentiated planetary bodies Sony VPCCA36EC/W battery. Hence 53Cr provides additional evidence for nucleosynthetic processes immediately before coalescence of the solar system.[15] The isotopes of chromium range in atomic mass from 43 u (43Cr) to 67 u (67Cr). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 52Cr, is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta decay.[14] 53Cr has been posited as a proxy for atmospheric oxygen concentration. Sony VPCCA36EC batteryCompounds Chromium is a member of the transition metals, in group 6. Chromium(0) has an electronic configuration of 4s13d5, owing to the lower energy of the high spin configuration. Chromium exhibits a wide range of possible oxidation states, where the +3 state is most stable energetically; the +3 and +6 states are most commonly observed in chromium compounds, whereas the +1, +4 and +5 states are rare. Sony VPCCA35FW/W batteryThe following is the Pourbaix diagram for chromium in pure water, perchloric acid or sodium hydroxide: Chromium(III) Chromium(III) chloride hexahydrate ([CrCl2(H2O)4]Cl·2H2O) Anhydrous chromium(III) chloride (CrCl3) A large number of chromium(III) compounds are known. Chromium(III) can be obtained by dissolving elemental chromium in acids like hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid. The Cr3+ ion has a similar radius (63 pm) to the Al3+ ion (radius 50 pm), so they can replace each other in some compounds, such as in chrome alum and alum Sony VPCCA35FW/B battery. When a trace amount of Cr3+ replaces Al3+ in corundum (aluminium oxide, Al2O3), the red-colored ruby is formed. Chromium(III) ions tend to form octahedral complexes. The colors of these complexes is determined by the ligands attached to the Cr centre. The commercially available chromium(III) chloride hydrate is the dark green complex [CrCl2(H2O)4]Cl. Closely related compounds have different colours: pale green [CrCl(H2O)5]Cl2 and the violet [Cr(H2O)6]Cl3 Sony VPCCA35FN/R battery. If water-free green chromium(III) chloride is dissolved in water then the green solution turns violet after some time, due to the substitution of water by chloride in the inner coordination sphere. This kind of reaction is also observed with solutions of chrome alum and other water-soluble chromium(III) salts Sony VPCCA35FH/D battery. Chromium(III) hydroxide (Cr(OH)3) is amphoteric, dissolving in acidic solutions to form [Cr(H2O)6]3+, and in basic solutions to form [Cr(OH)6]3−. It is dehydrated by heating to form the green chromium(III) oxide (Cr2O3), which is the stable oxide with a crystal structure identical to that of corundum. Sony VPCCA35FG/PI batteryChromium(VI) Chromium(VI) oxide Chromium(VI) compounds are powerful oxidants at low or neutral pH. Most important are chromate anion (CrO2− 4) and dichromate (Cr2O72-) anions, which exist in equilibrium: 2 [CrO4]2- + 2 H+ [Cr2O7]2- + 2 H2O Chromium(VI) halides are known also and include hexafluoride CrF6 and chromyl chloride (CrO2Cl2).[4] Sodium chromate is produced industrially by the oxidative roasting of chromite ore with calcium or sodium carbonate. The dominant species is therefore, by the law of mass action, determined by the pH of the solution Sony VPCCA35FF/P battery. The change in equilibrium is visible by a change from yellow (chromate) to orange (dichromate), such as when an acid is added to a neutral solution of potassium chromate. At yet lower pH values, further condensation to more complex oxyanions of chromium is possible. Both the chromate and dichromate anions are strong oxidizing reagents at low pH:[4] Sodium chromate (Na2CrO4) Cr2O2− 7 + 14 H3O+ + 6 e− → 2 Cr3+ + 21 H2O (ε0 = 1.33 V) They are, however, only moderately oxidizing at high pH:[4] CrO2− 4 + 4 H2O + 3 e− → Cr(OH)3 + 5 OH− (ε0 = −0.13 V) Chromium(VI) compounds in solution can be detected by adding an acidic hydrogen peroxide solution. The unstable dark blue chromium(VI) peroxide (CrO5) is formed, which can be stabilized as an ether adduct CrO5·OR2. Sony VPCCA35FA/PI batteryChromic acid has the hypothetical formula H2CrO4. It is a vaguely described chemical, despite many well-defined chromates and dichromates are known. The dark red chromium(VI) oxide CrO3, the acid anhydride of chromic acid, is sold industrially as "chromic acid".[4] It can be produced by mixing sulfuric acid with dichromate, and is a strong oxidizing agent Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery. Chromium(V) and chromium(IV) The oxidation state +5 is only realized in few compounds but are intermediates in many reactions involving oxidations by chromate. The only binary compound is the volatile chromium(V) fluoride (CrF5). This red solid has a melting point of 30 °C and a boiling point of 117 °C. It can be synthesized by treating chromium metal with fluorine at 400 °C and 200 bar pressure Sony VPCCA2SFX/R battery. The peroxochromate(V) is another example of the +5 oxidation state. Potassium peroxochromate (K3[Cr(O2)4]) is made by reacting potassium chromate with hydrogen peroxide at low temperatures. This red brown compound is stable at room temperature but decomposes spontaneously at 150–170 °C.[19] Compounds of chromium(IV) (in the +4 oxidation state) are slightly more common than those of chromium(V) Sony VPCCA2S1E battery. The tetrahalides, CrF4, CrCl4, and CrBr4, can be produced by treating the trihalides (CrX3) with the corresponding halogen at elevated temperatures. Such compounds are susceptible to disproportionation reactions and are not stable in water. Chromium(II) and chromium(I) Many chromium(II) compounds are known, including the water-stable chromium(II) chloride, CrCl2, which can be made by reduction of chromium(III) chloride with zinc. The resulting bright blue solution is only stable at neutral pH. Sony VPCCA2S0E battery Many chromous carboxylates are also known, most famously, the red chromous acetate (Cr2(O2CCH3)4), which features a quadruple bond. Chromium(I) Most Cr(I) compounds are obtained by oxidation of electron-rich, octahedral Cr(0) complexes. Other Cr(I) complexes contain cyclopentadienyl ligands. As verified by X-ray diffraction, a Cr-Cr quintuple bond (length 183.51(4) pm) has also been described. Sony VPCCA2AJ battery Extremely bulky monodentate ligands stabilize this compound by shielding the quintuple bond from further reactions. Chromium compound determined experimentally to contain a Cr-Cr quintuple bond Chromium(0) and chromium(I) Main article: organochromium chemistry Many chromium(0) compounds are known. Most are derivatives of chromium hexacarbonyl or bis(benzene)chromium. History Weapons found in burial pits dating from the late 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty of the Terracotta Army near Xi'an, China have been analyzed by archaeologists. Although buried more than 2,000 years ago, the ancient bronze tips of crossbow bolts and swords found at the site showed no sign of corrosion, because the bronze was coated with chromium. Sony VPCCA1S3C/CN1 batteryChromium later came to the attention of westerners in the 18th century. On 26 July 1761, Johann Gottlob Lehmann found an orange-red mineral in the Beryozovskoye mines in the Ural Mountains which he named Siberian red lead. Though misidentified as a lead compound with selenium and iron components, the mineral was Crocoite (lead chromate) with a formula of PbCrO4. Sony VPCCA1S2C/CN1 batteryIn 1770, Peter Simon Pallas visited the same site as Lehmann and found a red lead mineral that had useful properties as a pigment in paints. The use of Siberian red lead as a paint pigment developed rapidly. A bright yellow pigment made from crocoite also became fashionable.[22] The red colour of rubies is from a small amount of chromium(III) Sony VPCCA1S1E/W battery. In 1797, Louis Nicolas Vauquelin received samples of crocoite ore. He produced chromium trioxide (CrO3) by mixing crocoite with hydrochloric acid. In 1798, Vauquelin discovered that he could isolate metallic chromium by heating the oxide in a charcoal oven.[23] He was also able to detect traces of chromium in precious gemstones, such as ruby or emerald. Sony VPCCA1S1E/P batteryDuring the 1800s, chromium was primarily used as a component of paints and in tanning salts. At first, crocoite from Russia was the main source, but in 1827, a larger chromite deposit was discovered near Baltimore, United States. This made the United States the largest producer of chromium products till 1848 when large deposits of chromite where found near Bursa Sony VPCCA1S1E/G battery, Turkey.[8] Chromium is also known for its luster when polished. It is used as a protective and decorative coating on car parts, plumbing fixtures, furniture parts and many other items, usually applied by electroplating. Chromium was used for electroplating as early as 1848, but this use only became widespread with the development of an improved process in 1924. Sony VPCCA1S1E/D batteryMetal alloys now account for 85% of the use of chromium. The remainder is used in the chemical industry and refractory and foundry industries. Production Approximately 4.4 million metric tons of marketable chromite ore were produced in 2000, and converted into ~3.3 million tons of ferro-chrome with an approximate market value of 2.5 billion United States dollars.[26] The largest producers of chromium ore have been South Africa (44%) India (18%), Kazakhstan (16%) Zimbabwe (5%), Finland (4%) Iran (4%) and Brazil (2%) with several other countries producing the rest of less than 10% of the world production. Sony VPCCA1S1E/B batteryThe two main products of chromium ore refining are ferrochromium and metallic chromium. For those products the ore smelter process differs considerably. For the production of ferrochromium, the chromite ore (FeCr2O4) is reduced in large scale in electric arc furnace or in smaller smelters with either aluminium or silicon in an aluminothermic reaction. Sony VPCCA1S1E batteryChromium ore output in 2002[26] For the production of pure chromium, the iron has to be separated from the chromium in a two step roasting and leaching process. The chromite ore is heated with a mixture of calcium carbonate and sodium carbonate in the presence of air. The chromium is oxidized to the hexavalent form, while the iron forms the stable Fe2O3. The subsequent leaching at higher elevated temperatures dissolves the chromates and leaves the insoluble iron oxide Sony VPCCA1S1C/CN1 battery. The chromate is converted by sulfuric acid into the dichromate.[27] 4 FeCr2O4 + 8 Na2CO3 + 7 O2 → 8 Na2CrO4 + 2 Fe2O3 + 8 CO2 2 Na2CrO4 + H2SO4 → Na2Cr2O7 + Na2SO4 + H2O The dichromate is converted to the chromium(III) oxide by reduction with carbon and then reduced in an aluminothermic reaction to chromium.[27] Na2Cr2O7 + 2 C → Cr2O3 + Na2CO3 + CO Cr2O3 + 2 Al → Al2O3 + 2 Cr Applications Metallurgy Decorative chrome plating on a motorcycle. The strengthening effect of forming stable metal carbides at the grain boundaries and the strong increase in corrosion resistance made chromium an important alloying material for steel. The high speed tool steels contain between 3 and 5% chromium Sony VPCCA1C5E battery. Stainless steel, the main corrosion-proof metal alloy, is formed when chromium is added to iron in sufficient concentrations, usually above 11%. For its formation, ferrochromium is added to the molten iron. Also nickel-based alloys increase in strength due to the formation of discrete, stable metal carbide particles at the grain boundaries. For example, Inconel 718 contains 18.6% chromium Sony VPCCA1AHJ battery. Because of the excellent high temperature properties of these nickel superalloys, they are used in jet engines and gas turbines in lieu of common structural materials.[28] The relative high hardness and corrosion resistance of unalloyed chromium makes it a good surface coating, being still the most "popular" metal coating with unparalleled combined durability. A thin layer of chromium is deposited on pretreated metallic surfaces by electroplating techniques. There are two deposition methods: Thin, below 1 µm thickness Sony VPCCA1AGJ battery, layers are deposited by chrome plating, and are used for decorative surfaces. If wear-resistant surfaces are needed then thicker chromium layers are deposited. Both methods normally use acidic chromate or dichromate solutions. To prevent the energy consuming change in oxidation state, the use of Chromium(III) sulfate is under development, but for most applications, the established process is used. Sony VPCCA1AFJ batteryIn the chromate conversion coating process, the strong oxidative properties of chromates are used to deposit a protective oxide layer on metals like aluminium, zinc and cadmium. This passivation and the self healing properties by the chromate stored in the chromate conversion coating, which is able to migrate to local defects, are the benefits of this coating method. Sony VPCCA190 battery Because of environmental and health regulations on chromates, alternative coating method are under development.[30] Anodizing of aluminium is another electrochemical process, which does not lead to the deposition of chromium, but uses chromic acid as electrolyte in the solution. During anodization, an oxide layer is formed on the aluminium. The use of chromic acid, instead of the normally used sulfuric acid, leads to a slight difference of these oxide layers. Sony VPCCA18EC/D battery The high toxicity of Cr(VI) compounds, used in the established chromium electroplating process, and the strengthening of safety and environmental regulations demand a search for substitutes for chromium or at least a change to less toxic chromium(III) compounds.[25] Dye and pigment School bus painted in chrome yellow[32] The mineral crocoite (lead chromate PbCrO4) was used as a yellow pigment shortly after its discovery. After a synthesis method became available starting from the more abundant chromite, chrome yellow was, together with cadmium yellow Sony VPCCA18EC battery, one of the most used yellow pigments. The pigment does not photo degrade but it tends to darken due to the formation of chromium(III) oxide. It has a strong color, and was used for school buses in the US and for Postal Service (for example Deutsche Post) in Europe. The use of chrome yellow declined due to environmental and safety concerns and was replaced by organic pigments or alternatives free from lead and chromium Sony VPCCA17FX/G battery. Other pigments based on chromium are, for example, the bright red pigment chrome red, which is a basic lead chromate (PbCrO4·Pb(OH)2). A very important chromate pigment, which was used widely in metal primer formulations was zinc chromate, now replaced by zinc phosphate. A wash primer was formulated to replace the dangerous practice of pretreating aluminium aircraft bodies with a phosphoric acid solution Sony VPCCA17FX/D battery. This used zinc tetroxychromate dispersed in a solution of polyvinyl butyral. An 8% solution of phosphoric acid in solvent was added just before application. It was found that an easily oxidized alcohol was an essential ingredient. A thin layer of about 10–15 microns was applied, which turned from yellow to dark green when it was cured. There is still a question as to the correct mechanism. Chrome green is a mixture of Prussian blue and chrome yellow, while the chrome oxide green is Chromium(III) oxide. Sony VPCCA17EC/W batteryA red color is achieved by doping chromium(III) into the crystals of corundum, which are then called ruby. Therefore, chromium is used in producing synthetic rubies.[34] Chromium oxides are also used as a green color in glassmaking and as a glaze in ceramics.[35] Green chromium oxide is extremely light-fast and as such is used in cladding coatings. It is also the main ingredient in IR reflecting paints, used by the armed forces, to paint vehicles, to give them the same IR reflectance as green leaves. Sony VPCCA17EC battery[edit]Wood preservative Because of their toxicity, chromium(VI) salts are used for the preservation of wood. For example, chromated copper arsenate (CCA) is used in timber treatment to protect wood from decay fungi, wood attacking insects, including termites, and marine borers.[37] The formulations contain chromium based on the oxide CrO3 between 35.3% and 65.5%. In the United States, 65,300 metric tons of CCA solution have been used in 1996. Sony VPCCA16FW/W batteryTanning Main article: Tanning Chromium(III) salts, especially chrome alum and chromium(III) sulfate, are used in the tanning of leather. The chromium(III) stabilizes the leather by cross linking the collagen fibers.[38] Chromium tanned leather can contain between 4 and 5% of chromium, which is tightly bound to the proteins.[8] Although the form of chromium used for tanning is not the toxic hexavalent variety Sony VPCCA16FH/B battery, there remains interest in management of chromium in the tanning industry such as recovery and reuse, direct/indirect recycling,[39] use of less chromium or "chrome-less" tanning are practiced to better manage chromium in tanning. [edit]Refractory material The high heat resistivity and high melting point makes chromite and chromium(III) oxide a material for high temperature refractory applications, like blast furnaces, cement kilns, molds for the firing of bricks and as foundry sands for the casting of metals Sony VPCCA16FG/W battery. In these applications, the refractory materials are made from mixtures of chromite and magnesite. The use is declining because of the environmental regulations due to the possibility of the formation of chromium(VI).[27] Catalysts Several chromium compounds are used as catalysts for processing hydrocarbons. For example the Phillips catalysts for the production of polyethylene are mixtures of chromium and silicon dioxide or mixtures of chromium and titanium and aluminium oxide. Sony VPCCA16FG/B battery Fe-Cr mixed oxides are employed as high-temperature catalysts for the water gas shift reaction.[41][42] Copper chromite is a useful hydrogenation catalyst.[43] [edit]Other use Chromium(IV) oxide (CrO2) is a magnetic compound. Its ideal shape anisotropy, which imparts high coercivity and remnant magnetization, made it a compound superior to the γ-Fe2O3. Chromium(IV) oxide is used to manufacture magnetic tape used in high-performance audio tape and standard audio cassettes. Sony VPCCA16EC/P batteryChromates can prevent corrosion of steel under wet conditions, and therefore chromates are added to drilling muds.[45] Chromium(III) oxide is a metal polish known as green rouge. Chromic acid is a powerful oxidizing agent and is a useful compound for cleaning laboratory glassware of any trace of organic compounds. It is prepared in situ by dissolving potassium dichromate in concentrated sulfuric acid, which is then used to wash the apparatus Sony VPCCA16EC battery. Sodium dichromate is sometimes used because of its higher solubility (50 g/L versus 200 g/L respectively). Potassium dichromate is a chemical reagent, used in cleaning laboratory glassware and as a titrating agent. It is also used as a mordant (i.e., a fixing agent) for dyes in fabric. Biological role Chromium has no verified biological role and has been classified as not essential for mammals.[46] (Cr(III) or Cr3+) occurs in trace amounts and appears to be benign. Sony VPCCA15FX/W batteryChromium deficiency is controversial or is at least extremely rare. It has been attributed to only three people on parenteral nutrition, which is when a patient is fed a liquid diet through intravenous drips.[48] In contrast, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI) or Cr6+) is very toxic and mutagenic when inhaled. Cr(VI) has not been established as a carcinogen when in solution, although it may cause allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). Sony VPCCA15FW/W battery Although no biological role for chromium has ever been demonstrated, dietary supplements for chromium include chromium(III) picolinate, chromium(III) polynicotinate, and related materials. The benefit of those supplements is questioned by some studies.[50] The use of chromium-containing dietary supplements is controversial owing to the absence of any verified biological role, the expense of these supplements, and the complex effects of their use. Sony VPCCA15FW/P battery The popular dietary supplement chromium picolinate complex generates chromosome damage in hamster cells (due to the picolinate ligand).[52] In the United States the dietary guidelines for daily chromium uptake were lowered from 50–200 µg for an adult to 35 µg (adult male) and to 25 µg (adult female).[53] Precautions Main article: Chromium toxicity Water insoluble chromium(III) compounds and chromium metal are not considered a health hazard, while the toxicity and carcinogenic properties of chromium(VI) have been known for a long time. Sony VPCCA15FW/D battery Because of the specific transport mechanisms, only limited amounts of chromium(III) enter the cells. Several in vitro studies indicated that high concentrations of chromium(III) in the cell can lead to DNA damage.[55] Acute oral toxicity ranges between 1.5 and 3.3 mg/kg.[56] The proposed beneficial effects of chromium(III) and the use as dietary supplements yielded some controversial results, but recent reviews suggest that moderate uptake of chromium(III) through dietary supplements poses no risk. Sony VPCCA15FW/B batteryCr(VI) The acute oral toxicity for chromium(VI) ranges between 50 and 150 µg/kg.[56] In the body, chromium(VI) is reduced by several mechanisms to chromium(III) already in the blood before it enters the cells. The chromium(III) is excreted from the body, whereas the chromate ion is transferred into the cell by a transport mechanism Sony VPCCA15FH/W battery, by which also sulfate and phosphate ions enter the cell. The acute toxicity of chromium(VI) is due to its strong oxidational properties. After it reaches the blood stream, it damages the kidneys, the liver and blood cells through oxidation reactions. Hemolysis, renal and liver failure are the results of these damages. Aggressive dialysis can improve the situation. Sony VPCCA15FH/P batteryThe carcinogenity of chromate dust is known for a long time, and in 1890 the first publication described the elevated cancer risk of workers in a chromate dye company.[58][59] Three mechanisms have been proposed to describe the genotoxicity of chromium(VI). The first mechanism includes highly reactive hydroxyl radicals and other reactive radicals which are by products of the reduction of chromium(VI) to chromium(III) Sony VPCCA15FH/L battery. The second process includes the direct binding of chromium(V), produced by reduction in the cell, and chromium(IV) compounds to the DNA. The last mechanism attributed the genotoxicity to the binding to the DNA of the end product of the chromium(III) reduction.[60] Chromium salts (chromates) are also the cause of allergic reactions in some people. Chromates are often used to manufacture, amongst other things, leather products, paints, cement, mortar and anti-corrosives Sony VPCCA15FH/G battery. Contact with products containing chromates can lead to allergic contact dermatitis and irritant dermatitis, resulting in ulceration of the skin, sometimes referred to as "chrome ulcers". This condition is often found in workers that have been exposed to strong chromate solutions in electroplating, tanning and chrome-producing manufacturers. Sony VPCCA15FH/B batteryEnvironmental issues As chromium compounds were used in dyes and paints and the tanning of leather, these compounds are often found in soil and groundwater at abandoned industrial sites, now needing environmental cleanup and remediation per the treatment of brownfield land. Primer paint containing hexavalent chromium is still widely used for aerospace and automobile refinishing applications. Sony VPCCA15FG/W batteryIn 2010, the Environmental Working Group studied the drinking water in 35 American cities. The study was the first nationwide analysis measuring the presence of the chemical in U.S. water systems. The study found measurable hexavalent chromium in the tap water of 31 of the cities sampled, with Norman, Oklahoma, at the top of list Sony VPCCA15FG/R battery; 25 cities had levels that exceeded California's proposed limit.[64] Note: Concentrations of Cr VI in US municipal drinking water supplies reported by EWG are within likely, natural background levels for the areas tested and not necessarily indicative of industrial pollution (CalEPA Fact Sheet), as asserted by EWG. This factor was not taken into consideration in their report Sony VPCCA15FG/P battery. Arsenic ( /ˈɑrsɨnɪk/ ar-sə-nik) is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.[5] Arsenic is a metalloid. It can exist in various allotropes, although only the grey form has important use in industry Sony VPCCA15FG/G battery. The main use of metallic arsenic is for strengthening alloys of copper and especially lead (for example, in car batteries). Arsenic is a common n-type dopant in semiconductor electronic devices, and the optoelectronic compound gallium arsenide is the most common semiconductor in use after doped silicon. Arsenic and its compounds, especially the trioxide, are used in the production of pesticides (treated wood products), herbicides, and insecticides Sony VPCCA15FG/D battery. These applications are declining, however.[6] Arsenic is notoriously poisonous to multicellular life, although a few species of bacteria are able to use arsenic compounds as respiratory metabolites. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a problem that affects millions of people across the world. Characteristics Physical characteristics Crystal structure common to Sb, AsSb and grey As The three most common allotropes are metallic grey, yellow and black arsenic, with grey being the most common. Sony VPCCA15FG/B batteryGrey arsenic (α-As, space group R3m No. 166) adopts a double-layered structure consisting of many interlocked ruffled six-membered rings. Because of weak bonding between the layers, grey arsenic is brittle and has a relatively low Mohs hardness of 3.5. Nearest and next-nearest neighbors form a distorted octahedral complex, with the three atoms in the same double-layer being slightly closer than the three atoms in the next.[8] This relatively close packing leads to a high density of 5.73 g/cm3. Sony VPCCA15FG battery Grey arsenic is a semimetal, but becomes a semiconductor with a bandgap of 1.2–1.4 eV if amorphized.[10] Yellow arsenic is soft and waxy, and somewhat similar to tetraphosphorus (P4). Both have four atoms arranged in a tetrahedral structure in which each atom is bound to each of the other three atoms by a single bond. This unstable allotrope, being molecular Sony VPCCA15FF/W battery, is the most volatile, least dense and most toxic. Solid yellow arsenic is produced by rapid cooling of arsenic vapour, As4. It is rapidly transformed into the grey arsenic by light. The yellow form has a density of 1.97 g/cm3.[9] Black arsenic is similar in structure to red phosphorus.[9] Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of arsenic Naturally occurring arsenic is composed of one stable isotope, 75As.[11] As of 2003, at least 33 radioisotopes have also been synthesized, ranging in atomic mass from 60 to 92. The most stable of these is 73As with a half-life of 80.3 days Sony VPCCA15FF/P battery. Isotopes that are lighter than the stable 75As tend to decay by β+ decay, and those that are heavier tend to decay by β- decay, with some exceptions. At least 10 nuclear isomers have been described, ranging in atomic mass from 66 to 84. The most stable of arsenic's isomers is 68mAs with a half-life of 111 seconds.[11] Chemistry When heated in air, arsenic oxidizes to arsenic trioxide; the fumes from this reaction have an odour resembling garlic. This odour can be detected on striking arsenide minerals such as arsenopyrite with a hammer Sony VPCCA15FF/L battery. Arsenic (and some arsenic compounds) sublimes upon heating at atmospheric pressure, converting directly to a gaseous form without an intervening liquid state at 887 K (614 °C).[2] The triple point is 3.63 MPa and 1,090 K (820 °C).[9][2] Arsenic makes arsenic acid with concentrated nitric acid, arsenious acid with dilute nitric acid, and arsenic trioxide with concentrated sulfuric acid Sony VPCCA15FF/G battery. Arsenic burning in the air Compounds See also Category: Arsenic compounds Arsenic compounds resemble in some respects those of phosphorus, which occupies the same group (column) of the periodic table. Arsenic is less commonly observed in the pentavalent state, however. The most common oxidation states for arsenic are: −3 in the arsenides, such as alloy-like intermetallic compounds; and +3 in the arsenites, arsenates(III), and most organoarsenic compounds Sony VPCCA15FF/B battery. Arsenic also bonds readily to itself as seen in the square As3− 4 ions in the mineral skutterudite. In the +3 oxidation state, arsenic is typically pyramidal, owing to the influence of the lone pair of electrons. [edit]Inorganic Arsenic forms colorless, odorless, crystalline oxides As2O3 ("white arsenic") and As2O5, which are hygroscopic and readily soluble in water to form acidic solutions. Arsenic(V) acid is a weak acid. Its salts are called arsenates, which is the basis of arsenic contamination of groundwater, a problem that affects many people Sony VPCCA15FA/W battery. Man-made arsenates include Paris Green (copper(II) acetoarsenite), calcium arsenate, and lead hydrogen arsenate. The latter three have been used as agricultural insecticides and poisons. The protonation steps between the arsenate and arsenic acid are similar to those between phosphate and phosphoric acid. Unlike phosphorus acid, arsenous acid is genuinely tribasic, with the formula As(OH)3 Sony VPCCA15FA/P battery. A broad variety of sulfur compounds of arsenic are known. Orpiment (As2S3) and realgar (As4S4) are somewhat abundant and were formerly used as painting pigments. In As4S10, arsenic has a formal oxidation state of +2 in As4S4, which features As-As bonds so that the total covalency of As is still in fact three. Sony VPCCA15FA/L batteryThe trifluoride, trichloride, tribromide, and triiodide of arsenic(III) are well known, whereas only Arsenic pentafluoride (AsF5) is the only important pentahalide. Again reflecting the lower stability of the 5+ oxidation state, the pentachloride is stable only below −50 °C.[9] Organoarsenic compounds Main article: organoarsenic chemistry Trimethylarsine A large variety of organoarsenic compounds are known. Several were developed as chemical warfare agents during World War I, including vesicants such as lewisite and vomiting agents such as adamsite. Cacodylic acid Sony VPCCA15FA/G battery, which is of historic and practical interest, arises from the methylation of arsenic trioxide, a reaction that has no analogy in phosphorus chemistry. Alloys Arsenic is used as the group 5 element in the III-V semiconductors gallium arsenide, indium arsenide, and aluminium arsenide. The valence electron count of GaAs is the same as a pair of Si atoms, but the band structure is completely different, which results distinct bulk properties. Other arsenic alloys include the II-IV semiconductor cadmium arsenide Sony VPCCA15FA/B battery. Occurrence and production See also: Arsenide minerals and Arsenate minerals A large sample of native arsenic Minerals with the formula MAsS and MAs2 (M = Fe, Ni, Co) are the dominant commercial sources of arsenic, together with realgar (an arsenic sulfide mineral) and native arsenic. An illustrative mineral is arsenopyrite (FeAsS), which is structurally related to iron pyrite. Many minor As-containing minerals are known Sony VAIO VPCF135Z1E/B battery. Arsenic also occurs in various organic forms in the environment.[17] Inorganic arsenic and its compounds, upon entering the food chain, are progressively metabolized to a less toxic form of arsenic through a process of methylation.[18] Other naturally occurring pathways of exposure include volcanic ash, weathering of arsenic-containing minerals and ores, and dissolved in groundwater. It is also found in food, water, soil, and air. Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI batteryArsenic is absorbed by all plants, but is more concentrated in leafy vegetables, rice, apple and grape juice, and seafood.[20] An additional route of exposure is through inhalation. Arsenic output in 2006 In 2005, China was the top producer of white arsenic with almost 50% world share, followed by Chile, Peru, and Morocco, according to the British Geological Survey and the United States Geological Survey.[22] Most operations in the US and Europe have closed for environmental reasons. The arsenic is recovered mainly as a side product from the purification of copper Sony VAIO VPCF136FG/BI battery. Arsenic is part of the smelter dust from copper, gold, and lead smelters.[23] On roasting in air of arsenopyrite, arsenic sublimes as arsenic(III) oxide leaving iron oxides,[17] while roasting without air results in the production of metallic arsenic. Further purification from sulfur and other chalcogens is achieved by sublimation in vacuum or in a hydrogen atmosphere or by distillation from molten lead-arsenic mixture. Sony VAIO VPCF135FG/B batteryHistory Realgar Alchemical symbol for arsenic The word arsenic was borrowed from the Syriac word ܠܐ ܙܐܦܢܝܐ (al) zarniqa [25] and the Persian word زرنيخ Zarnikh, meaning "yellow orpiment", into Greek as arsenikon (Αρσενικόν). It is also related to the similar Greek word arsenikos (Αρσενικός), meaning "masculine" or "potent". The word was adopted in Latin arsenicum and Old French arsenic Sony VAIO VPCF127HG/BI battery, from which the English word arsenic is derived.[25] Arsenic sulfides (orpiment, realgar) and oxides have been known and used since ancient times.[26] Zosimos (circa 300 AD) describes roasting sandarach (realgar) to obtain cloud of arsenic (arsenious oxide), which he then reduces to metallic arsenic.[27] As the symptoms of arsenic poisoning were somewhat ill-defined, it was frequently used for murder until the advent of the Marsh test, a sensitive chemical test for its presence Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E battery. (Another less sensitive but more general test is the Reinsch test.) Owing to its use by the ruling class to murder one another and its potency and discreetness, arsenic has been called the Poison of Kings and the King of Poisons.[28] During the Bronze Age, arsenic was often included in bronze, which made the alloy harder (so-called "arsenical bronze") Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E battery.Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great, 1193–1280) is believed to have been the first to isolate the element in 1250 by heating soap together with arsenic trisulfide.[5] In 1649, Johann Schröder published two ways of preparing arsenic.[31] Cadet's fuming liquid (impure cacodyl), often claimed as the first synthetic organometallic compound, was synthesized in 1760 by Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt by the reaction of potassium acetate with arsenic trioxide. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H batteryIn the Victorian era, "arsenic" ("white arsenic" trioxide) was mixed with vinegar and chalk and eaten by women to improve the complexion of their faces, making their skin paler to show they did not work in the fields. Arsenic was also rubbed into the faces and arms of women to "improve their complexion". The accidental use of arsenic in the adulteration of foodstuffs led to the Bradford sweet poisoning in 1858, which resulted in approximately 20 deaths. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E batteryApplications Agricultural Roxarsone is a controversial arsenic compound used as a nutritional supplement for chickens The toxicity of arsenic to insects, bacteria and fungi led to its use as a wood preservative.[34] In the 1950s a process of treating wood with chromated copper arsenate (also known as CCA or Tanalith) was invented, and for decades this treatment was the most extensive industrial use of arsenic Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B battery. An increased appreciation of the toxicity of arsenic resulted in a ban for the use of CCA in consumer products; the European Union and United States initiated this process in 2004.[35][36] CCA remains in heavy use in other countries however, e.g. Malaysian rubber plantations.[6] Arsenic was also used in various agricultural insecticides, termination and poisons. For example, lead hydrogen arsenate was a common insecticide on fruit trees Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ battery,[37] but contact with the compound sometimes resulted in brain damage among those working the sprayers. In the second half of the 20th century, monosodium methyl arsenate (MSMA) and disodium methyl arsenate (DSMA) – less toxic organic forms of arsenic – have replaced lead arsenate in agriculture. Arsenic is still added to animal food, in particular in the U.S. as a method of disease prevention and growth stimulation Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI battery. One example is roxarsone, which is used as a broiler starter by about 70% of the broiler growers since 1995.[40] The Poison-Free Poultry Act of 2009 proposes to ban the use of roxarsone in industrial swine and poultry production.[41] [edit]Medical use During the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, a number of arsenic compounds have been used as medicines, including arsphenamine (by Paul Ehrlich) and arsenic trioxide (by Thomas Fowler). Arsphenamine as well as neosalvarsan was indicated for syphilis and trypanosomiasis Sony VAIO VPCF119FC battery, but has been superseded by modern antibiotics. Arsenic trioxide has been used in a variety of ways over the past 500 years, but most commonly in the treatment of cancer. The US Food and Drug Administration in 2000 approved this compound for the treatment of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia that is resistant to ATRA.[42] It was also used as Fowler's solution in psoriasis.[43] Recently new research has been done in locating tumours using arsenic-74 (a positron emitter) Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI battery. The advantages of using this isotope instead of the previously used iodine-124 is that the signal in the PET scan is clearer as the body tends to transport iodine to the thyroid gland producing a lot of noise.[44] In subtoxic doses, soluble arsenic compounds act as stimulants, and were once popular in small doses as medicine by people in the mid-18th century. Sony VAIO VPCF116FG/BI batteryAlloys The main use of metallic arsenic is for alloying with lead. Lead components in car batteries are strengthened by the presence of a few percent of arsenic.[6] The dezincification can be strongly reduced by adding arsenic to brass a copper zinc alloy.<ref<"Dealloying".</ref> Gallium arsenide is an important semiconductor material, used in integrated circuits. Circuits made from GaAs are much faster (but also much more expensive) Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B battery than those made in silicon. Unlike silicon it is direct bandgap, and so can be used in laser diodes and LEDs to directly convert electricity into light.[6] Military After World War I, the United States built up a stockpile of 20000tons of lewisite (ClCH=CHAsCl2), a chemical weapon that is a vesicant (blister agent) and lung irritant. The stockpile was neutralized with bleach and dumped into the Gulf of Mexico after the 1950s.[45] During the Vietnam War the United States used Agent Blue, a mixture of sodium cacodylate and its acid form, as one of the rainbow herbicides to deprive the Vietnamese of valuable crops. Sony VAIO VPCF21ZHJ battery[edit]Other uses Copper acetoarsenite was used as a green pigment known under many names, including 'Paris Green' and 'Emerald Green'. It caused numerous arsenic poisonings. Scheele's Green, a copper arsenate, was used in the 19th century as a coloring agent in sweets.[48] Also used in bronzing and pyrotechnics. Up to 2% of arsenic is used in lead alloys for lead shots and bullets.[49] Arsenic is added in small quantities to alpha-brass to make it dezincification resistant. This grade of brass is used to make plumbing fittings or other items that are in constant contact with water. Sony VAIO VPCF21Z1E/BI batteryArsenic is also used for taxonomic sample preservation. Until recently arsenic was used in optical glass. Modern glass manufacturers, under pressure from environmentalists, have removed it, along with lead.[51] Biological role Bacteria Arsenobetaine Some species of bacteria obtain their energy by oxidizing various fuels while reducing arsenate to arsenite. Under oxidative environmental conditions some bacteria use arsenite, which is oxidized to arsenate as fuel for their metabolism.[52] The enzymes involved are known as arsenate reductases (Arr) Sony VAIO VPCF21AHJ battery. In 2008, bacteria were discovered that employ a version of photosynthesis in the absence of oxygen with arsenites as electron donors, producing arsenates (just as ordinary photosynthesis uses water as electron donor, producing molecular oxygen). Researchers conjecture that, over the course of history, these photosynthesizing organisms produced the arsenates that allowed the arsenate-reducing bacteria to thrive Sony VAIO VPCF21AGJ battery. One strain PHS-1 has been isolated and is related to the γ-Proteobacterium Ectothiorhodospira shaposhnikovii. The mechanism is unknown, but an encoded Arr enzyme may function in reverse to its known homologues.[53] [edit]Heredity Arsenic has been linked to epigenetic changes that are heritable changes in gene expression that occur without changes in DNA sequence and include DNA methylation, histone modification, and RNA interference Sony VAIO VPCF21AFJ battery. Toxic levels of arsenic cause significant DNA hypermethylation of tumour suppressor genes p16 and p53, thus increasing risk of carcinogenesis. These epigenetic events have been observed in in vitro studies with human kidney cells and in vivo tests with rat liver cells and peripheral blood leukocytes in humans. Sony VAIO VPCF219FJ/BI battery Inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used to detect precise levels of intracellular arsenic and its other bases involved in epigenetic modification of DNA.[55] Studies investigating arsenic as an epigenetic factor will help in developing precise biomarkers of exposure and susceptibility. The Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittata) hyperaccumulates arsenic present in the soil into its leaves and has a proposed use in phytoremediation. Sony VAIO VPCF217HG/BI battery[edit]As a building block of life A NASA-funded astrobiology research team claimed on December 2, 2010 that the microbe strain GFAJ-1 of the Gammaproteobacteria (designated Halomonadaceae) group has the ability to substitute arsenic for at least part of the phosphorus in the molecules of its cells, including DNA and ATP. Bacteria from Mono Lake, a naturally arsenic-rich site in California Sony VAIO VPCF217HG battery, were cultured in an environment high in arsenic but low in phosphorus. This finding has faced strong criticism from the scientific community; many scientists have argued that there is no evidence that arsenic is actually incorporated into biomolecules.[59][60] [edit]Biomethylation Inorganic arsenic and its compounds, upon entering the food chain, are progressively metabolised through a process of methylation.[61] For example, the mold Scopulariopsis brevicaulis produce significant amounts of trimethylarsine if inorganic arsenic is present. Sony VAIO VPCF14ZHJ batteryThe organic compound arsenobetaine is found in some marine foods such as fish and algae, and also in mushrooms in larger concentrations. The average person's intake is about 10–50 µg/day. Values about 1000 µg are not unusual following consumption of fish or mushrooms. But there is little danger in eating fish because this arsenic compound is nearly non-toxic. Sony VAIO VPCF14AHJ batteryEnvironmental issues Occurence in drinking water Main article: Arsenic contamination of groundwater Widespread arsenic contamination of groundwater has led to a massive epidemic of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh[64] and neighbouring countries. As of this writing, 42 major incidents around the world have been reported on groundwater arsenic contamination. It is estimated that approximately 57 million people are drinking groundwater with arsenic concentrations elevated above the World Health Organization's standard of 10 parts per billion Sony VAIO VPCF14AGJ battery. However, a study of cancer rates in Taiwan[65] suggested that significant increases in cancer mortality appear only at levels above 150 parts per billion. The arsenic in the groundwater is of natural origin, and is released from the sediment into the groundwater, owing to the anoxic conditions of the subsurface. This groundwater began to be used after local and western NGOs and the Bangladeshi government undertook a massive shallow tube well drinking-water program in the late twentieth century Sony VAIO VPCF14AFJ battery. This program was designed to prevent drinking of bacteria-contaminated surface waters, but failed to test for arsenic in the groundwater. Many other countries and districts in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam and Cambodia have geological environments conducive to generation of high-arsenic groundwaters. Arsenicosis was reported in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand in 1987 Sony VAIO VPCF149FJ/BI battery, and the dissolved arsenic in the Chao Phraya River is suspected of containing high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, but has not been a public health problem owing to the use of bottled water.[66] In the United States, arsenic is most commonly found in the ground waters of the southwest.[67] Parts of New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas are also known to have significant[clarification needed] concentrations of arsenic in ground water. Increased levels of skin cancer have been associated with arsenic exposure in Wisconsin Sony VAIO VPCF148FJ/B battery, even at levels below the 10 part per billion drinking water standard.[68] According to a recent film funded by the US Superfund, millions of private wells have unknown arsenic levels, and in some areas of the US, over 20% of wells may contain levels that exceed established limits.[69] Low-level exposure to arsenic at concentrations found commonly in US drinking water compromises the initial immune response to H1N1 or swine flu infection according to NIEHS-supported scientists Sony VAIO VPCF13ZHJ battery. The study, conducted in laboratory mice, suggests that people exposed to arsenic in their drinking water may be at increased risk for more serious illness or death in response to infection from the virus.[70] Epidemiological evidence from Chile shows a dose-dependent connection between chronic arsenic exposure and various forms of cancer, in particular when other risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, are present Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery. These effects have been demonstrated to persist below 50 parts per billion.[71] Analyzing multiple epidemiological studies on inorganic arsenic exposure suggests a small but measurable risk increase for bladder cancer at 10 parts per billion.[72] According to Peter Ravenscroft of the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge,[73] roughly 80 million people worldwide consume between 10 and 50 parts per billion arsenic in their drinking water Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery. If they all consumed exactly 10 parts per billion arsenic in their drinking water, the previously cited multiple epidemiological study analysis would predict an additional 2,000 cases of bladder cancer alone. This represents a clear underestimate of the overall impact, since it does not include lung or skin cancer, and explicitly underestimates the exposure. Those exposed to levels of arsenic above the current WHO standard should weigh the costs and benefits of arsenic remediation Sony VAIO VPCF13AHJ battery. Early (1973) evaluations of the removal of dissolved arsenic by drinking water treatment processes demonstrated that arsenic is very effectively removed by co-precipitation with either iron or aluminum oxides. The use of iron as a coagulant, in particular, was found to remove arsenic with efficiencies exceeding 90%. Several adsorptive media systems have been approved for point-of-service use in a study funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Sony VAIO VPCF13AGJ battery. A team of European and Indian scientists and engineers have set up six arsenic treatment plants in West Bengal based on in-situ remediation method (SAR Technology). This technology does not use any chemicals and arsenic is left as an insoluble form (+5 state) in the subterranean zone by recharging aerated water into the aquifer and thus developing an oxidation zone to support arsenic oxidizing micro-organisms Sony VAIO VPCF13AFJ battery. This process does not produce any waste stream or sludge and is relatively cheap.[76] Another effective and inexpensive method to remove arsenic from contaminated well water is to sink wells 500 feet or deeper to reach purer waters. A recent 2011 study funded by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' Superfund Research Program shows that deep sediments can remove arsenic and take it out of circulation Sony VAIO VPCF138FJ/BI battery. Through this process called adsorption in which arsenic sticks to the surfaces of deep sediment articles, arsenic can be naturally removed from well water.[77] Magnetic separations of arsenic at very low magnetic field gradients have been demonstrated in point-of-use water purification with high-surface-area and monodisperse magnetite (Fe3O4) nanocrystals. Using the high specific surface area of Fe3O4 nanocrystals the mass of waste associated with arsenic removal from water has been dramatically reduced. Sony VAIO VPCF138FJ/B batteryEpidemiological studies have suggested a correlation between chronic consumption of drinking water contaminated with arsenic and the incidence of all leading causes of mortality.[citation needed] The literature provides reason to believe arsenic exposure is causative in the pathogenesis of diabetes. Sony VAIO VPCF138FC/BI batteryHungarian engineer László Schremmer has recently discovered that by the use of chaff-based filters it is possible to reduce the arsenic content of water to 3 microgram/litre. This is especially important in areas where the potable water is provided by filtering the water extracted from the underground aquifer. Sony VAIO VPCF135FG batteryWood preservation in the US As of 2002, US-based industries consumed 19,600 metric tons of arsenic. Ninety percent of this was used for treatment of wood with chromated copper arsenate (CCA). In 2007, 50% of the 5,280 metric tons of consumption was still used for this purpose. In the United States, the use of arsenic in consumer products was discontinued for residential Sony VAIO VPCF12AHJ battery, and general consumer construction on December 31, 2003 and alternative chemicals are now used, such as Alkaline Copper Quaternary, borates, copper azole, cyproconazole, and propiconazole.[81] Although discontinued, this application is also one of the most concern to the general public. The vast majority of older pressure-treated wood was treated with CCA. CCA lumber is still in widespread use in many countries Sony VAIO VPCF12AGJ battery, and was heavily used during the latter half of the 20th century as a structural and outdoor building material. Although the use of CCA lumber was banned in many areas after studies showed that arsenic could leach out of the wood into the surrounding soil (from playground equipment, for instance), a risk is also presented by the burning of older CCA timber Sony VAIO VPCF12AFJ battery. The direct or indirect ingestion of wood ash from burnt CCA lumber has caused fatalities in animals and serious poisonings in humans; the lethal human dose is approximately 20 grams of ash. Scrap CCA lumber from construction and demolition sites may be inadvertently used in commercial and domestic fires. Protocols for safe disposal of CCA lumber do not exist evenly throughout the world Sony VAIO VPCF129FJ/BI battery; there is also concern in some quarters about the widespread landfill disposal of such timber. [edit]Mapping of industrial releases in the US One tool that maps releases of arsenic to particular locations in the United States[82] and also provides additional information about such releases is TOXMAP. TOXMAP is a Geographic Information System (GIS) from the Division of Specialized Information Services of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Sony VAIO VPCF128FJ/B battery (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory and Superfund Basic Research Programs. TOXMAP is a resource funded by the US Federal Government. TOXMAP's chemical and environmental health information is taken from NLM's Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET)[83] and PubMed, and from other authoritative sources. Toxicity and precautions Main articles: Arsenic poisoning and Arsenic toxicity Arsenic and many of its compounds are especially potent poisons. Many water supplies close to mines are contaminated by these poisons Sony VAIO VPCF127FJ/W battery. In the United States, the maximum allowed concentration in drinking water is 10 ppb, 5 ppb for bottled water.[84] There is no standard for food, though in 2012 press coverage prompted calls for developing such.[84] The People's Republic of China does have a food standard.[84] Elemental arsenic and arsenic compounds are classified as "toxic" and "dangerous for the environment" in the European Union under directive 67/548/EEC Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ battery. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recognizes arsenic and arsenic compounds as group 1 carcinogens, and the EU lists arsenic trioxide, arsenic pentoxide and arsenate salts as category 1 carcinogens. Arsenic is known to cause arsenicosis owing to its manifestation in drinking water, "the most common species being arsenate [HAsO42-; As(V)] and arsenite [H3AsO3 ; As(III)]" Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ battery. [edit]Treatment Treatment of chronic arsenic poisoning is easily accomplished. British anti-lewisite (dimercaprol) is prescribed in dosages of 5 mg/kg up to 300 mg each 4 hours for the first day. Then administer the same dosage each 6 hours for the second day. Then prescribe this dosage each 8 hours for eight additional days. Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ batteryHowever the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) states that the long-term effects of arsenic exposure cannot be predicted.[21] Blood, urine, hair, and nails may be tested for arsenic; however, these tests cannot foresee possible health outcomes from the exposure.[21] Excretion occurs in the urine and long-term exposure to arsenic has been linked to bladder and kidney cancer in addition to cancer of the liver, prostate, skin, lungs and nasal cavity. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ batteryExposure risks and remediation Occupational exposure and arsenic poisoning may occur in persons working in industries involving the use of inorganic arsenic and its compounds, such as wood preservation, glass production, nonferrous metal alloys, and electronic semiconductor manufacturing. Inorganic arsenic is also found in coke oven emissions associated with the smelter industry. Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ batteryThe ability of arsenic to undergo redox conversion between As(III) and As(V) makes its availability in the environment more abundant. According to Croal, Gralnick, Malasarn and Newman, "[the] understanding [of] what stimulates As(III) oxidation and/or limits As(V) reduction is relevant for bioremediation of contaminated sites (Croal). The study of chemolithoautotrophic As(III) oxidizers and the heterotrophic As(V) reducers can help the understanding of the oxidation and/or reduction of arsenic. Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ batteryBiological mechanism Arsenic disrupts ATP production through several mechanisms. At the level of the citric acid cycle, arsenic inhibits lipoic acid, which is a cofactor for pyruvate dehydrogenase; and by competing with phosphate it uncouples oxidative phosphorylation, thus inhibiting energy-linked reduction of NAD+, mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis. Hydrogen peroxide production is also increased, which Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H battery, it is speculated, has potential to form reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. These metabolic interferences lead to death from multi-system organ failure, it is presumed from necrotic cell death, not apoptosis. A post mortem reveals brick-red-coloured mucosa, owing to severe haemorrhage. Although arsenic causes toxicity, it can also play a protective role. Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/Z batteryThe high affinity of arsenic(III) oxides for thiols is usually assigned as the cause of the high toxicity. Thiols, in the form of cysteine residues, are situated at the active sites of many important enzymes.
Zinc, or spelter (which may also refer to zinc alloys), is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2 Sony VPCCA3SFX/R battery. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in the Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The most common zinc ore is sphalerite (zinc blende), a zinc sulfide mineral. The largest mineable amounts are found in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Zinc production includes froth flotation of the ore, roasting, and final extraction using electricity (electrowinning) Sony VPCCA3S1E battery. Brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, has been used since at least the 10th century BC. Impure zinc metal was not produced in large scale until the 13th century in India, while the metal was unknown to Europe until the end of the 16th century. Alchemists burned zinc in air to form what they called "philosopher's wool" or "white snow" Sony VPCCA3E1E battery. The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German word Zinke. German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is normally given credit for discovering pure metallic zinc in 1746. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta uncovered the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800. Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of steel (hot-dip galvanizing) is the major application for zinc Sony VPCCA38EC/R battery. Other applications are in batteries and alloys, such as brass. A variety of zinc compounds are commonly used, such as zinc carbonate and zinc gluconate (as dietary supplements), zinc chloride (in deodorants), zinc pyrithione (anti-dandruff shampoos), zinc sulfide (in luminescent paints), and zinc methyl or zinc diethyl in the organic laboratory Sony VPCCA38EC battery. Zinc is an essential mineral of "exceptional biologic and public health importance".[1] Zinc deficiency affects about two billion people in the developing world and is associated with many diseases.[2] In children it causes growth retardation, delayed sexual maturation, infection susceptibility, and diarrhea, contributing to the death of about 800,000 children worldwide per year. Sony VPCCA37EC/B battery Enzymes with a zinc atom in the reactive center are widespread in biochemistry, such as alcohol dehydrogenase in humans. Consumption of excess zinc can cause ataxia, lethargy and copper deficiency. Characteristics Physical properties Zinc, also referred to in nonscientific contexts as spelter,[3] is a bluish-white, lustrous, diamagnetic metal,[4] though most common commercial grades of the metal have a dull finish.[5] It is somewhat less dense than iron and has a hexagonal crystal structure. Sony VPCCA37EC batteryThe metal is hard and brittle at most temperatures but becomes malleable between 100 and 150 °C.[4][5] Above 210 °C, the metal becomes brittle again and can be pulverized by beating.[7] Zinc is a fair conductor of electricity.[4] For a metal, zinc has relatively low melting (419.5 °C, 787.1 F) and boiling points (907 °C).[8] Its melting point is the lowest of all the transition metals aside from mercury and cadmium. Sony VPCCA36FW/W batteryMany alloys contain zinc, including brass, an alloy of zinc and copper. Other metals long known to form binary alloys with zinc are aluminium, antimony, bismuth, gold, iron, lead, mercury, silver, tin, magnesium, cobalt, nickel, tellurium and sodium.[9] While neither zinc nor zirconium are ferromagnetic, their alloy ZrZn2 exhibits ferromagnetism below 35 K. Sony VPCCA36FW/B battery[edit]Occurrence See also: Zinc minerals Zinc makes up about 75 ppm (0.0075%) of the Earth's crust, making it the 24th most abundant element. Soil contains 5–770 ppm of zinc with an average of 64 ppm. Seawater has only 30 ppb zinc and the atmosphere contains 0.1–4 µg/m3. Sphalerite (ZnS) The element is normally found in association with other base metals such as copper and lead in ores.[11] Zinc is a chalcophile, meaning the element has a low affinity for oxides and prefers to bond with sulfides Sony VPCCA36FH/W battery. Chalcophiles formed as the crust solidified under the reducing conditions of the early Earth's atmosphere.[12] Sphalerite, which is a form of zinc sulfide, is the most heavily mined zinc-containing ore because its concentrate contains 60–62% zinc.[11] Other minerals, from which zinc is extracted, include smithsonite (zinc carbonate), hemimorphite (zinc silicate), wurtzite (another zinc sulfide), and sometimes hydrozincite (basic zinc carbonate). Sony VPCCA36FG/B battery With the exception of wurtzite, all these other minerals were formed as a result of weathering processes on the primordial zinc sulfides.[12] Identified world zinc resources total about 1.9 billion tonnes.[14] Large deposits are in Australia, Canada and the United States with the largest reserves in Iran. At the current rate of consumption, these reserves are estimated to be depleted sometime between 2027 and 2055. Sony VPCCA36FA/B battery About 346 million tonnes have been extracted throughout history to 2002, and one estimate found that about 109 million tonnes of that remains in use.[19] Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of zinc Five isotopes of zinc occur in nature. 64Zn is the most abundant isotope (48.63% natural abundance).[20] This isotope has such a long half-life, at 4.3×1018 a,[21] that its radioactivity can be ignored.[22] Similarly, 70Zn (0.6%), with a half-life of 1.3×1016 a is not usually considered to be radioactive. The other isotopes found in nature are 66Zn (28%), 67Zn (4%) and 68Zn (19%) Sony VPCCA36EC/W battery. Several dozen radioisotopes have been characterized. 65Zn, which has a half-life of 243.66 days, is the most long-lived isotope, followed by 72Zn with a half-life of 46.5 hours.[20] Zinc has 10 nuclear isomers. 69mZn has the longest half-life, 13.76 h.[20] The superscript m indicates a metastable isotope. The nucleus of a metastable isotope is in an excited state and will return to the ground state by emitting a photon in the form of a gamma ray Sony VPCCA36EC battery. 61Zn has three excited states and 73Zn has two.[23] The isotopes 65Zn, 71Zn, 77Zn and 78Zn each have only one excited state.[20] The most common decay mode of a radioisotope of zinc with a mass number lower than 66 is electron capture. The decay product resulting from electron capture is an isotope of copper.[20] The most common decay mode of a radioisotope of zinc with mass number higher than 66 is beta decay (β–), which produces an isotope of gallium. Sony VPCCA35FW/W batteryCompounds and chemistry Main article: Compounds of zinc Reactivity Zinc has an electron configuration of [Ar]3d104s2 and is a member of the group 12 of the periodic table. It is a moderately reactive metal and strong reducing agent.[24] The surface of the pure metal tarnishes quickly, eventually forming a protective passivating layer of the basic zinc carbonate, Zn5(OH)6(CO3)2, by reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide.[25] This layer helps prevent further reaction with air and water Sony VPCCA35FW/B battery. Zinc burns in air with a bright bluish-green flame, giving off fumes of zinc oxide.[26] Zinc reacts readily with acids, alkalis and other non-metals.[27] Extremely pure zinc reacts only slowly at room temperature with acids.[26] Strong acids, such as hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, can remove the passivating layer and subsequent reaction with water releases hydrogen gas. Sony VPCCA35FN/R batteryThe chemistry of zinc is dominated by the +2 oxidation state. When compounds in this oxidation state are formed the outer shell s electrons are lost, which yields a bare zinc ion with the electronic configuration [Ar]3d10.[28] This allows for the formation of four covalent bonds by accepting four electron pairs and thus obeying the octet rule Sony VPCCA35FH/D battery. The stereochemistry is therefore tetrahedral and the bonds may be described as being formed from sp3 hybrid orbitals on the zinc ion.[29] In aqueous solution an octahedral complex, [Zn(H2O)6]2+ is the predominant species.[30] The volatilization of zinc in combination with zinc chloride at temperatures above 285 °C indicates the formation of Zn2Cl2, a zinc compound with a +1 oxidation state. Sony VPCCA35FG/PI battery No compounds of zinc in oxidation states other than +1 or +2 are known.[31] Calculations indicate that a zinc compound with the oxidation state of +4 is unlikely to exist.[32] Zinc chemistry is similar to the chemistry of the late first-row transition metals nickel and copper, though it has a filled d-shell, so its compounds are diamagnetic and mostly colorless.[33] The ionic radii of zinc and magnesium happen to be nearly identical. Because of this some of their salts have the same crystal structure Sony VPCCA35FF/P battery and in circumstances where ionic radius is a determining factor zinc and magnesium chemistries have much in common.[26] Otherwise there is little similarity. Zinc tends to form bonds with a greater degree of covalency and it forms much more stable complexes with N- and S- donors.[33] Complexes of zinc are mostly 4- or 6- coordinate although 5-coordinate complexes are known. Sony VPCCA35FA/PI batterySee also Clemmensen reduction. Compounds Zinc acetate Zinc chloride Binary compounds of zinc are known for most of the metalloids and all the nonmetals except the noble gases. The oxide ZnO is a white powder that is nearly insoluble in neutral aqueous solutions, but is amphoteric, dissolving in both strong basic and acidic solutions.[26] The other chalcogenides (ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnTe) have varied applications in electronics and optics. Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery Pnictogenides (Zn3N2, Zn3P2, Zn3As2 and Zn3Sb2), the peroxide (ZnO2), the hydride (ZnH2), and the carbide (ZnC2) are also known.[38] Of the four halides, ZnF2 has the most ionic character, whereas the others (ZnCl2, ZnBr2, and ZnI2) have relatively low melting points and are considered to have more covalent character.[39] In weak basic solutions containing Zn2+ ions, the hydroxide Zn(OH)2 forms as a white precipitate. In stronger alkaline solutions Sony VPCCA2SFX/R battery, this hydroxide is dissolved to form zincates ([Zn(OH)4]2−).[26] The nitrate Zn(NO3)2, chlorate Zn(ClO3)2, sulfate ZnSO4, phosphate Zn3(PO4)2, molybdate ZnMoO4, cyanide Zn(CN)2, arsenite Zn(AsO2)2, arsenate Zn(AsO4)2·8H2O and the chromate ZnCrO4 (one of the few colored zinc compounds) are a few examples of other common inorganic compounds of zinc.[40][41] One of the simplest examples of an organic compound of zinc is the acetate (Zn(O2CCH3)2) Sony VPCCA2S1E battery. Organozinc compounds are those that contain zinc–carbon covalent bonds. Diethylzinc ((C2H5)2Zn) is a reagent in synthetic chemistry. It was first reported in 1848 from the reaction of zinc and ethyl iodide, and was the first compound known to contain a metal–carbon sigma bond.[42] Decamethyldizincocene contains a strong zinc–zinc bond at room temperature. Sony VPCCA2S0E batteryHistory Ancient use Late Roman brass bucket – the Hemmoorer Eimer from Warstade, Germany, second to third century AD Various isolated examples of the use of impure zinc in ancient times have been discovered. A possibly prehistoric statuette containing 87.5% zinc was found in a Dacian archaeological site in Transylvania (modern Romania).[44] Ornaments made of alloys that contain 80–90% zinc with lead, iron, antimony Sony VPCCA2AJ battery, and other metals making up the remainder, have been found that are 2500 years old.[11] The Berne zinc tablet is a votive plaque dating to Roman Gaul made of an alloy that is mostly zinc.[45] Also, some ancient writings appear to mention zinc. The Greek historian Strabo, in a passage taken from an earlier writer of the 4th century BC, mentions "drops of false silver", which when mixed with copper make brass. This may refer to small quantities of zinc by-product of smelting sulfide ores Sony VPCCA1S3C/CN1 battery.[46] The Charaka Samhita, thought to have been written in 500 BC or before, mentions a metal which, when oxidized, produces pushpanjan, thought to be zinc oxide.[47] Zinc ores were used to make the zinc–copper alloy brass many centuries prior to the discovery of zinc as a separate element. Palestinian brass from the 14th to 10th centuries BC contains 23% zinc.[48] The Book of Genesis, written between the 10th and 5th centuries BC,[49] mentions (in the King James translation) Sony VPCCA1S2C/CN1 battery Tubal-cain as an "instructor of every artificer in brass and iron" (Genesis 4:22), but since the word nechosheth, translated as "brass", also means "copper", the significance of this is not clear. Knowledge of how to produce brass spread to Ancient Greece by the 7th century BC but few varieties were made.[50] The manufacture of brass was known to the Romans by about 30 BC.[51] They made brass by heating powdered calamine (zinc silicate or carbonate) Sony VPCCA1S1E/W battery, charcoal and copper together in a crucible.[51] The resulting calamine brass was then either cast or hammered into shape and was used in weaponry.[52] Some coins struck by Romans in the Christian era are made of what is probably calamine brass.[53] In the West, impure zinc was known from antiquity to exist in the remnants in melting ovens, but it was usually discarded, as it was thought to be worthless. Sony VPCCA1S1E/P batteryZinc mines at Zawar, near Udaipur in India, have been active since the Mauryan period in the late 1st millennium BC. The smelting of metallic zinc here however appears to have begun around the 12th century AD.[55][56] One estimate is that this location produced an estimated million tonnes of metallic zinc and zinc oxide from the 12th to 16th centuries.[13] Another estimate gives a total production of 60,000 tonnes of metallic zinc over this period Sony VPCCA1S1E/G battery.[55] The Rasaratna Samuccaya, written in approximately the 14th century AD, mentions two types of zinc-containing ores; one used for metal extraction and another used for medicinal purposes.[56] [edit]Early studies and naming Zinc was distinctly recognized as a metal under the designation of Fasada in the medical Lexicon ascribed to the Hindu king Madanapala and written about the year 1374.[57] Smelting and extraction of impure zinc by reducing calamine with wool and other organic substances was accomplished in the 13th century in India. Sony VPCCA1S1E/D battery The Chinese did not learn of the technique until the 17th century. Various alchemical symbols attributed to the element zinc Alchemists burned zinc metal in air and collected the resulting zinc oxide on a condenser. Some alchemists called this zinc oxide lana philosophica, Latin for "philosopher's wool", because it collected in wooly tufts while others thought it looked like white snow and named it nix album. Sony VPCCA1S1E/B batteryThe name of the metal was probably first documented by Paracelsus, a Swiss-born German alchemist, who referred to the metal as "zincum" or "zinken" in his book Liber Mineralium II, in the 16th century.[58][60] The word is probably derived from the German zinke, and supposedly meant "tooth-like, pointed or jagged" (metallic zinc crystals have a needle-like appearance). Sony VPCCA1S1E battery Zink could also imply "tin-like" because of its relation to German zinn meaning tin.[62] Yet another possibility is that the word is derived from the Persian word سنگ seng meaning stone.[63] The metal was also called Indian tin, tutanego, calamine, and spinter.[11] German metallurgist Andreas Libavius received a quantity of what he called "calay" of Malabar from a cargo ship captured from the Portuguese in 1596.[64] Libavius described the properties of the sample, which may have been zinc. Zinc was regularly imported to Europe from the Orient in the 17th and early 18th centuries,[58] but was at times very expensive. Sony VPCCA1S1C/CN1 batteryIsolation of the pure element Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is given credit for first isolating pure zinc The isolation of metallic zinc in the West may have been achieved independently by several people. Postlewayt's Universal Dictionary, a contemporary source giving technological information in Europe, did not mention zinc before 1751 but the element was studied before then Sony VPCCA1C5E battery. Flemish metallurgist P.M. de Respour reported that he extracted metallic zinc from zinc oxide in 1668.[13] By the turn of the century, Étienne François Geoffroy described how zinc oxide condenses as yellow crystals on bars of iron placed above zinc ore being smelted.[13] In Britain, John Lane is said to have carried out experiments to smelt zinc, probably at Landore, prior to his bankruptcy in 1726. Sony VPCCA1AHJ batteryIn 1738, William Champion patented in Great Britain a process to extract zinc from calamine in a vertical retort style smelter.[67] His technology was somewhat similar to that used at Zawar zinc mines in Rajasthan but there is no evidence that he visited the Orient.[68] Champion's process was used through 1851. Sony VPCCA1AGJ batteryGerman chemist Andreas Marggraf normally gets credit for discovering pure metallic zinc even though Swedish chemist Anton von Swab distilled zinc from calamine four years before.[58] In his 1746 experiment, Marggraf heated a mixture of calamine and charcoal in a closed vessel without copper to obtain a metal.[54] This procedure became commercially practical by 1752. Sony VPCCA1AFJ batteryLater work Galvanization was named after Luigi Galvani. William Champion's brother, John, patented a process in 1758 for calcining zinc sulfide into an oxide usable in the retort process.[11] Prior to this only calamine could be used to produce zinc. In 1798, Johann Christian Ruberg improved on the smelting process by building the first horizontal retort smelter.[70] Jean-Jacques Daniel Dony built a different kind of horizontal zinc smelter in Belgium, which processed even more zinc Sony VPCCA190 battery.[58] Italian doctor Luigi Galvani discovered in 1780 that connecting the spinal cord of a freshly dissected frog to an iron rail attached by a brass hook caused the frog's leg to twitch.[71] He incorrectly thought he had discovered an ability of nerves and muscles to create electricity and called the effect "animal electricity".[72] The galvanic cell and the process of galvanization were both named for Luigi Galvani and these discoveries paved the way for electrical batteries, galvanization and cathodic protection Sony VPCCA18EC/D battery.[72] Galvani's friend, Alessandro Volta, continued researching this effect and invented the Voltaic pile in 1800.[71] The basic unit of Volta's pile was a simplified galvanic cell, which is made of a plate of copper and a plate of zinc connected to each other externally and separated by an electrolyte. These were stacked in series to make the Voltaic cell, which in turn produced electricity by directing electrons from the zinc to the copper and allowing the zinc to corrode Sony VPCCA18EC battery.[71] The non-magnetic character of zinc and its lack of color in solution delayed discovery of its importance to biochemistry and nutrition.[73] This changed in 1940 when carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme that scrubs carbon dioxide from blood, was shown to have zinc in its active site.[73] The digestive enzyme carboxypeptidase became the second known zinc-containing enzyme in 1955. Sony VPCCA17FX/G batteryProduction Mining and processing Zinc is the fourth most common metal in use, trailing only iron, aluminium, and copper with an annual production of about 12 million tonnes.[14] The world's largest zinc producer is Nyrstar, a merger of the Australian OZ Minerals and the Belgian Umicore.[75] About 70% of the world's zinc originates from mining, while the remaining 30% comes from recycling secondary zinc Sony VPCCA17FX/D battery.[76] Commercially pure zinc is known as Special High Grade, often abbreviated SHG, and is 99.995% pure.[77] Worldwide, 95% of the zinc is mined from sulfidic ore deposits, in which sphalerite ZnS is nearly always mixed with the sulfides of copper, lead and iron.[78] There are zinc mines throughout the world, with the main mining areas being China, Australia and Peru. China produced 29% of the global zinc output in 2010. Sony VPCCA17EC/W batteryZinc metal is produced using extractive metallurgy.[79] After grinding the ore, froth flotation, which selectively separates minerals from gangue by taking advantage of differences in their hydrophobicity, is used to get an ore concentrate.[79] A final concentration of zinc of about 50% is reached by this process with the remainder of the concentrate being sulfur (32%), iron (13%), and SiO2 (5%). Sony VPCCA17EC batteryRoasting converts the zinc sulfide concentrate produced during processing to zinc oxide:[78] 2 ZnS + 3 O2 → 2 ZnO + 2 SO2 The sulfur dioxide is used for the production of sulfuric acid, which is necessary for the leaching process. If deposits of zinc carbonate, zinc silicate or zinc spinel, like the Skorpion Deposit in Namibia are used for zinc production the roasting can be omitted. For further processing two basic methods are used: pyrometallurgy or electrowinning. Pyrometallurgy processing reduces zinc oxide with carbon or carbon monoxide at 950 °C (1,740 °F) into the metal, which is distilled as zinc vapor. Sony VPCCA16FW/W battery The zinc vapor is collected in a condenser.[78] The below set of equations demonstrate this process:[78] 2 ZnO + C → 2 Zn + CO2 ZnO + CO → Zn + CO2 Electrowinning processing leaches zinc from the ore concentrate by sulfuric acid:[82] ZnO + H2SO4 → ZnSO4 + H2O After this step electrolysis is used to produce zinc metal.[78] 2 ZnSO4 + 2 H2O → 2 Zn + 2 H2SO4 + O2 The sulfuric acid regenerated is recycled to the leaching step. [edit]Environmental impact The production for sulfidic zinc ores produces large amounts of sulfur dioxide and cadmium vapor. Smelter slag and other residues of process also contain significant amounts of heavy metals. About 1.1 million tonnes of metallic zinc and 130 thousand tonnes of lead were mined and smelted in the Belgian towns of La Calamine and Plombières between 1806 and 1882. Sony VPCCA16FH/B battery The dumps of the past mining operations leach significant amounts of zinc and cadmium, and, as a result, the sediments of the Geul River contain significant amounts of heavy metals.[83] About two thousand years ago emissions of zinc from mining and smelting totaled 10 thousand tonnes a year. After increasing 10-fold from 1850, zinc emissions peaked at 3.4 million tonnes per year in the 1980s and declined to 2.7 million tonnes in the 1990s Sony VPCCA16FG/W battery, although a 2005 study of the Arctic troposphere found that the concentrations there did not reflect the decline. Anthropogenic and natural emissions occur at a ratio of 20 to 1.[84] Levels of zinc in rivers flowing through industrial or mining areas can be as high as 20 ppm.[85] Effective sewage treatment greatly reduces this; treatment along the Rhine, for example, has decreased zinc levels to 50 ppb.[85] Concentrations of zinc as low as 2 ppm adversely affects the amount of oxygen that fish can carry in their blood. Sony VPCCA16FG/B batteryHistorically responsible for high heavy metal levels in the Derwent River,[87] the zinc works at Lutana is the largest exporter in Tasmania, generating 2.5% of the state's GDP, and producing over 250 thousand tonnes of zinc per year.[88] Soils contaminated with zinc through the mining of zinc-containing ores, refining, or where zinc-containing sludge is used as fertilizer, can contain several grams of zinc per kilogram of dry soil Sony VPCCA16EC/P battery. Levels of zinc in excess of 500 ppm in soil interfere with the ability of plants to absorb other essential metals, such as iron and manganese. Zinc levels of 2000 ppm to 180,000 ppm (18%) have been recorded in some soil samples.[85] Applications Major applications of zinc include (numbers are given for the US)[89] Galvanizing (55%) Alloys (21%) Brass and bronze (16%) Miscellaneous (8%) Anti-corrosion and batteries Hot-dip handrail galvanized crystalline surface The metal is most commonly used as an anti-corrosion agent.[90] Galvanization, which is the coating of iron or steel to protect the metals against corrosion, is the most familiar form of using zinc in this way. In 2009 in the United States, 55% or 893 thousand tonnes of the zinc metal was used for galvanization. Sony VPCCA16EC batteryZinc is more reactive than iron or steel and thus will attract almost all local oxidation until it completely corrodes away.[91] A protective surface layer of oxide and carbonate (Zn5(OH)6(CO3)2) forms as the zinc corrodes.[92] This protection lasts even after the zinc layer is scratched but degrades through time as the zinc corrodes away. Sony VPCCA15FX/W batteryThe zinc is applied electrochemically or as molten zinc by hot-dip galvanizing or spraying. Galvanization is used on chain-link fencing, guard rails, suspension bridges, lightposts, metal roofs, heat exchangers, and car bodies.[10] The relative reactivity of zinc and its ability to attract oxidation to itself makes it an efficient sacrificial anode in cathodic protection (CP). For example, cathodic protection of a buried pipeline can be achieved by connecting anodes made from zinc to the pipe. Sony VPCCA15FW/W battery Zinc acts as the anode (negative terminus) by slowly corroding away as it passes electric current to the steel pipeline.[92][note 2] Zinc is also used to cathodically protect metals that are exposed to sea water from corrosion.[93] A zinc disc attached to a ship's iron rudder will slowly corrode while the rudder stays unattacked.[91] Other similar uses include a plug of zinc attached to a propeller or the metal protective guard for the keel of the ship Sony VPCCA15FW/P battery. With a standard electrode potential (SEP) of −0.76 volts, zinc is used as an anode material for batteries. (More reactive lithium (SEP −3.04 V) is used for anodes in lithium batteries ). Powdered zinc is used in this way in alkaline batteries and sheets of zinc metal form the cases for and act as anodes in zinc–carbon batteries.[94][95] Zinc is used as the anode or fuel of the zinc-air battery/fuel cell Sony VPCCA15FW/D battery. Alloys A widely used alloy which contains zinc is brass, in which copper is alloyed with anywhere from 3% to 45% zinc, depending upon the type of brass.[92] Brass is generally more ductile and stronger than copper and has superior corrosion resistance.[92] These properties make it useful in communication equipment, hardware, musical instruments, and water valves. Sony VPCCA15FW/B batteryCast brass microstructure at magnification 400x Other widely used alloys that contain zinc include nickel silver, typewriter metal, soft and aluminium solder, and commercial bronze.[4] Zinc is also used in contemporary pipe organs as a substitute for the traditional lead/tin alloy in pipes.[99] Alloys of 85–88% zinc, 4–10% copper, and 2–8% aluminium find limited use in certain types of machine bearings Sony VPCCA15FH/W battery. Zinc is the primary metal used in making American one cent coins since 1982.[100] The zinc core is coated with a thin layer of copper to give the impression of a copper coin. In 1994, 33,200 tonnes (36,600 short tons) of zinc were used to produce 13.6 billion pennies in the United States.[101] Alloys of primarily zinc with small amounts of copper, aluminium, and magnesium are useful in die casting as well as spin casting, especially in the automotive, electrical, and hardware industries.[4] These alloys are marketed under the name Zamak Sony VPCCA15FH/P battery.[102] An example of this is zinc aluminium. The low melting point together with the low viscosity of the alloy makes the production of small and intricate shapes possible. The low working temperature leads to rapid cooling of the cast products and therefore fast assembly is possible. Another alloy, marketed under the brand name Prestal, contains 78% zinc and 22% aluminium and is reported to be nearly as strong as steel but as malleable as plastic. Sony VPCCA15FH/L batteryThis superplasticity of the alloy allows it to be molded using die casts made of ceramics and cement.[4] Similar alloys with the addition of a small amount of lead can be cold-rolled into sheets. An alloy of 96% zinc and 4% aluminium is used to make stamping dies for low production run applications for which ferrous metal dies would be too expensive.[105] In building facades, roofs or other applications in which zinc is used as sheet metal and for methods such as deep drawing, roll forming or bending, zinc alloys with titanium and copper are used. Sony VPCCA15FH/G batteryUnalloyed zinc is too brittle for these kinds of manufacturing processes.[106] As a dense, inexpensive, easily-worked material, zinc is used as a lead replacement. In the wake of lead concerns, zinc appears in lab weights,[107] tire weights, and flywheels.[108] Cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) is a semiconductive alloy that can be divided into an array of small sensing devices Sony VPCCA15FH/B battery. These devices are similar to an integrated circuit and can detect the energy of incoming gamma ray photons.[109] When placed behind an absorbing mask, the CZT sensor array can also be used to determine the direction of the rays.[109] Other industrial uses Zinc oxide is used as a white pigment in paints. Roughly one quarter of all zinc output, in the United States (2009), is consumed in the form of zinc compounds;[89] a variety of which are used industrially. Zinc oxide is widely used as a white pigment in paints, and as a catalyst in the manufacture of rubber Sony VPCCA15FG/W battery. It is also used as a heat disperser for the rubber and acts to protect its polymers from ultraviolet radiation (the same UV protection is conferred to plastics containing zinc oxide).[10] The semiconductor properties of zinc oxide make it useful in varistors and photocopying products.[110] The zinc zinc-oxide cycle is a two step thermochemical process based on zinc and zinc oxide for hydrogen production. Sony VPCCA15FG/R batteryZinc chloride is often added to lumber as a fire retardant[112] and can be used as a wood preservative.[113] It is also used to make other chemicals.[112] Zinc methyl (Zn(CH3)2) is used in a number of organic syntheses.[114] Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is used in luminescent pigments such as on the hands of clocks, X-ray and television screens, and luminous paints. Crystals of ZnS are used in lasers that operate in the mid-infrared part of the spectrum Sony VPCCA15FG/P battery. Zinc sulfate is a chemical in dyes and pigments.[112] Zinc pyrithione is used in antifouling paints.[117] Zinc powder is sometimes used as a propellant in model rockets.[118] When a compressed mixture of 70% zinc and 30% sulfur powder is ignited there is a violent chemical reaction.[118] This produces zinc sulfide, together with large amounts of hot gas, heat, and light.[118] Zinc sheet metal is used to make zinc bars. Sony VPCCA15FG/G batteryZinc has been proposed as a salting material for nuclear weapons (cobalt is another, better-known salting material).[120] A jacket of isotopically enriched 64Zn, irradiated by the intense high-energy neutron flux from an exploding thermonuclear weapon, would transmute into the radioactive isotope 65Zn with a half-life of 244 days and produce massive gamma radiation, significantly increasing the radioactivity of the weapon's fallout for several days. Sony VPCCA15FG/D battery Such a weapon is not known to have ever been built, tested, or used.[120] 65Zn is also used as a tracer to study how alloys that contain zinc wear out, or the path and the role of zinc in organisms. Zinc dithiocarbamate complexes are used as agricultural fungicides; these include Zineb, Metiram, Propineb and Ziram.[122] Zinc naphthenate is used as wood preservative.[123] Zinc, in the form of ZDDP, is also used as an anti-wear additive for metal parts in engine oil. Sony VPCCA15FG/B batteryDietary supplement GNC zinc 50 mg tablets (AU) Zinc is included in most single tablet over-the-counter daily vitamin and mineral supplements.[125] Preparations include zinc oxide, zinc acetate, and zinc gluconate.[125] It is believed to possess antioxidant properties, which may protect against accelerated aging of the skin and muscles of the body; studies differ as to its effectiveness.[126] Zinc also helps speed up the healing process after an injury. Sony VPCCA15FG batteryThe efficacy of zinc compounds when used to reduce the duration or severity of cold symptoms is controversial. A 2011 systematic review concludes that supplementation yields a mild decrease in duration and severity of cold symptoms.[128] Zinc gluconate is one compound used for the delivery of zinc as a dietary supplement. Zinc preparations can protect against sunburn in the summer and windburn in the winter.[51] Applied thinly to a baby's diaper area (perineum) with each diaper change, it can protect against diaper rash. Sony VPCCA15FF/W batteryThe Age-Related Eye Disease Study determined that zinc can be part of an effective treatment for age-related macular degeneration.[129] Zinc supplementation is an effective treatment for acrodermatitis enteropathica, a genetic disorder affecting zinc absorption that was previously fatal to babies born with it. Sony VPCCA15FF/P batteryZinc lactate is used in toothpaste to prevent halitosis.[130] Zinc pyrithione is widely applied in shampoos because of its anti-dandruff function. Zinc ions are effective antimicrobial agents even at low concentrations.[132] Gastroenteritis is strongly attenuated by ingestion of zinc, and this effect could be due to direct antimicrobial action of the zinc ions in the gastrointestinal tract Sony VPCCA15FF/L battery, or to the absorption of the zinc and re-release from immune cells (all granulocytes secrete zinc), or both. In 2011, researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice reported that dietary zinc supplements can mask the presence of drugs in urine. Similar claims have been made in web forums on that topic.[135] Although not yet tested as a therapy in humans, a growing body of evidence indicates that zinc may preferentially kill prostate cancer cells Sony VPCCA15FF/G battery. Because zinc naturally homes to the prostate and because the prostate is accessible with relatively non-invasive procedures, its potential as a chemotherapeutic agent in this type of cancer has shown promise.[136] However, other studies have demonstrated that chronic use of zinc supplements in excess of the recommended dosage may actually increase the chance of developing prostate cancer, also likely due to the natural buildup of this heavy metal in the prostate. Sony VPCCA15FF/B batteryUse in organic chemistry There are many important organozinc compounds. Organozinc chemistry is the science of organozinc compounds describing their physical properties, synthesis and reactions.[138][139][140][141] Among important applications is the Frankland-Duppa Reaction in which an oxalate ester(ROCOCOOR) reacts with an alkyl halide R'X, zinc and hydrochloric acid to the α-hydroxycarboxylic esters RR'COHCOOR, Sony VPCCA15FA/W battery the Reformatskii reaction which converts α-halo-esters and aldehydes to β-hydroxy-esters, the Simmons-Smith reaction in which the carbenoid (iodomethyl)zinc iodide reacts with alkene(or alkyne) and converts them to cyclopropane, the Addition reaction of organozinc compounds to carbonyl compounds. The Barbier reaction (1899) which is the zinc equivalent of the magnesium Grignard reaction and is better of the two Sony VPCCA15FA/P battery. In presence of just about any water the formation of the organomagnesium halide will fail whereas the Barbier reaction can even take place in water. On the downside organozincs are much less nucleophilic than Grignards, are expensive and difficult to handle. Commercially available diorganozinc compounds are dimethylzinc, diethylzinc and diphenylzinc. In one study[143][144] the active organozinc compound is obtained from much cheaper organobromine precursors Sony VPCCA15FA/L battery: The Negishi coupling is also an important reaction for the formation of new carbon carbon bonds between unsaturated carbon atoms in alkenes, arenes and alkynes. The catalysts are nickel and palladium. A key step in the catalytic cycle is a transmetalation in which a zinc halide exchanges its organic substituent for another halogen with the palladium (nickel) metal center Sony VPCCA15FA/G battery. The Fukuyama coupling is another coupling reaction but this one with a thioester as reactant forming a ketone. [edit]Biological role Zinc is an essential trace element, necessary for plants,[84] animals,[145] and microorganisms.[146] Zinc is found in nearly 100 specific enzymes[147] (other sources say 300), serves as structural ions in transcription factors and is stored and transferred in metallothioneins.[148] It is "typically the second most abundant transition metal in organisms" after iron and it is the only metal which appears in all enzyme classes. Sony VPCCA15FA/B batteryIn proteins, Zn ions are often coordinated to the amino acid side chains of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, cysteine and histidine.[149] The theoretical and computational description of this zinc binding in proteins (as well as that of other transition metals) is difficult.[149] There are 2–4 grams of zinc[150] distributed throughout the human body. Most zinc is in the brain, muscle, bones, kidney, and liver Sony VAIO VPCF135Z1E/B battery, with the highest concentrations in the prostate and parts of the eye.[151] Semen is particularly rich in zinc, which is a key factor in prostate gland function and reproductive organ growth.[152] In humans, zinc plays "ubiquitous biological roles".[1] It interacts with "a wide range of organic ligands",[1] and has roles in the metabolism of RNA and DNA, signal transduction, and gene expression. It also regulates apoptosis Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI battery. A 2006 study estimated that about 10% of human proteins (2800) potentially bind zinc, in addition to hundreds which transport and traffic zinc; a similar in silico study in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana found 2367 zinc-related proteins.[84] In the brain, zinc is stored in specific synaptic vesicles by glutamatergic neurons[153] and can "modulate brain excitability".[1] It plays a key role in synaptic plasticity and so in learning. Sony VAIO VPCF136FG/BI battery However it has been called "the brain's dark horse"[153] since it also can be a neurotoxin, suggesting zinc homeostasis plays a critical role in normal functioning of the brain and central nervous system. Enzymes Ribbon diagram of human carbonic anhydrase II, with zinc atom visible in the center Zinc fingers help read DNA sequences. Zinc is an efficient Lewis acid, making it a useful catalytic agent in hydroxylation and other enzymatic reactions. Sony VAIO VPCF135FG/B battery The metal also has a flexible coordination geometry, which allows proteins using it to rapidly shift conformations to perform biological reactions.[155] Two examples of zinc-containing enzymes are carbonic anhydrase and carboxypeptidase, which are vital to the processes of carbon dioxide (CO2) regulation and digestion of proteins, respectively. Sony VAIO VPCF127HG/BI batteryIn vertebrate blood, carbonic anhydrase converts CO2 into bicarbonate and the same enzyme transforms the bicarbonate back into CO2 for exhalation through the lungs.[157] Without this enzyme, this conversion would occur about one million times slower[158] at the normal blood pH of 7 or would require a pH of 10 or more.[159] The non-related β-carbonic anhydrase is required in plants for leaf formation Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E battery, the synthesis of indole acetic acid (auxin) and alcoholic fermentation.[160] Carboxypeptidase cleaves peptide linkages during digestion of proteins. A coordinate covalent bond is formed between the terminal peptide and a C=O group attached to zinc, which gives the carbon a positive charge. This helps to create a hydrophobic pocket on the enzyme near the zinc, which attracts the non-polar part of the protein being digested. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E batteryOther proteins Zinc serves a purely structural role in zinc fingers, twists and clusters.[161] Zinc fingers form parts of some transcription factors, which are proteins that recognize DNA base sequences during the replication and transcription of DNA. Each of the nine or ten Zn2+ ions in a zinc finger helps maintain the finger's structure by coordinately binding to four amino acids in the transcription factor. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H batteryThe transcription factor wraps around the DNA helix and uses its fingers to accurately bind to the DNA sequence. In blood plasma, zinc is bound to and transported by albumin (60%, low-affinity) and transferrin (10%).[150] Since transferrin also transports iron, excessive iron reduces zinc absorption, and vice-versa. A similar reaction occurs with copper.[162] The concentration of zinc in blood plasma stays relatively constant regardless of zinc intake. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E battery Cells in the salivary gland, prostate, immune system and intestine use zinc signaling as one way to communicate with other cells.[164] Zinc may be held in metallothionein reserves within microorganisms or in the intestines or liver of animals.[165] Metallothionein in intestinal cells is capable of adjusting absorption of zinc by 15–40%. However, inadequate or excessive zinc intake can be harmful; excess zinc particularly impairs copper absorption because metallothionein absorbs both metals. Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B batteryDietary intake Foods & spices containing zinc In the U.S., the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 8 mg/day for women and 11 mg/day for men.[168] Median intake in the U.S. around 2000 was 9 mg/day for women and 14 mg/day in men.[169] Oysters, lobster [170] and red meats, especially beef, lamb and liver have some of the highest concentrations of zinc in food. Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ batteryThe concentration of zinc in plants varies based on levels of the element in soil. When there is adequate zinc in the soil, the food plants that contain the most zinc are wheat (germ and bran) and various seeds (sesame, poppy, alfalfa, celery, mustard).[171] Zinc is also found in beans, nuts, almonds, whole grains, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and blackcurrant. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI batteryOther sources include fortified food and dietary supplements, which come in various forms. A 1998 review concluded that zinc oxide, one of the most common supplements in the United States, and zinc carbonate are nearly insoluble and poorly absorbed in the body.[173] This review cited studies which found low plasma zinc concentrations after zinc oxide and Sony VAIO VPCF119FC battery zinc carbonate were consumed compared with those seen after consumption of zinc acetate and sulfate salts.[173] However, harmful excessive supplementation is a problem among the relatively affluent, and should probably not exceed 20 mg/day in healthy people,[174] although the U.S. National Research Council set a Tolerable Upper Intake of 40 mg/day. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI batteryFor fortification, however, a 2003 review recommended zinc oxide in cereals as cheap, stable, and as easily absorbed as more expensive forms.[176] A 2005 study found that various compounds of zinc, including oxide and sulfate, did not show statistically significant differences in absorption when added as fortificants to maize tortillas.[177] A 1987 study found that zinc picolinate was better absorbed than zinc gluconate or zinc citrate. Sony VAIO VPCF116FG/BI batteryHowever, a study published in 2008 determined that zinc glycinate is the best absorbed of the four dietary supplement types available.[179] [edit]Deficiency Main article: Zinc deficiency Zinc deficiency is usually due to insufficient dietary intake, but can be associated with malabsorption, acrodermatitis enteropathica, chronic liver disease, chronic renal disease, sickle cell disease, diabetes, malignancy, and other chronic illnesses. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B battery Symptoms of mild zinc deficiency are diverse.[169] Clinical outcomes include depressed growth, diarrhea, impotence and delayed sexual maturation, alopecia, eye and skin lesions, impaired appetite, altered cognition, impaired host defense properties, defects in carbohydrate utilization, and reproductive teratogenesis.[163] Mild zinc deficiency depresses immunity,[180] although excessive zinc does also Sony VAIO VPCF21ZHJ battery.[150] Animals with a diet deficient in zinc require twice as much food in order to attain the same weight gain as animals given sufficient zinc.[115] Groups at risk for zinc deficiency include the elderly, and those with renal insufficiency. The zinc chelator phytate, found in seeds and cereal bran, can contribute to zinc malabsorption.[2] Despite some concerns,[181] western vegetarians and vegans have not been found to suffer from overt zinc deficiencies any more than meat-eaters Sony VAIO VPCF21Z1E/BI battery.[182] Major plant sources of zinc include cooked dried beans, sea vegetables, fortified cereals, soyfoods, nuts, peas, and seeds.[181] However, phytates in many whole-grains and fiber in many foods may interfere with zinc absorption and marginal zinc intake has poorly understood effects. There is some evidence to suggest that more than the US RDA (15 mg) of zinc daily may be needed in those whose diet is high in phytates, such as some vegetarians. Sony VAIO VPCF21AHJ battery These considerations must be balanced against the fact that there is a paucity of adequate zinc biomarkers, and the most widely used indicator, plasma zinc, has poor sensitivity and specificity.[183] Diagnosing zinc deficiency is a persistent challenge.[1] Nearly two billion people in the developing world are deficient in zinc.[2] In children it causes an increase in infection and diarrhea, contributing to the death of about 800,000 children worldwide per year. Sony VAIO VPCF21AGJ batteryThe World Health Organization advocates zinc supplementation for severe malnutrition and diarrhea.[184] Zinc supplements help prevent disease and reduce mortality, especially among children with low birth weight or stunted growth.[184] However, zinc supplements should not be administered alone, since many in the developing world have several deficiencies, and zinc interacts with other micronutrients. Sony VAIO VPCF21AFJ batteryZinc deficiency is crop plants' most common micronutrient deficiency; it is particularly common in high-pH soils. Zinc-deficient soil is cultivated in the cropland of about half of Turkey and India, a third of China, and most of Western Australia, and substantial responses to zinc fertilization have been reported in these areas. Sony VAIO VPCF219FJ/BI battery Plants that grow in soils that are zinc-deficient are more susceptible to disease. Zinc is primarily added to the soil through the weathering of rocks, but humans have added zinc through fossil fuel combustion, mine waste, phosphate fertilizers, limestone, manure, sewage sludge, and particles from galvanized surfaces. Excess zinc is toxic to plants, although zinc toxicity is far less widespread. Sony VAIO VPCF217HG/BI batteryPrecautions Main article: Zinc toxicity Toxicity Although zinc is an essential requirement for good health, excess zinc can be harmful. Excessive absorption of zinc suppresses copper and iron absorption.[167] The free zinc ion in solution is highly toxic to plants, invertebrates, and even vertebrate fish.[186] The Free Ion Activity Model is well-established in the literature, and shows that just micromolar amounts of the free ion kills some organisms Sony VAIO VPCF217HG battery. A recent example showed 6 micromolar killing 93% of all Daphnia in water.[187] The free zinc ion is a powerful Lewis acid up to the point of being corrosive. Stomach acid contains hydrochloric acid, in which metallic zinc dissolves readily to give corrosive zinc chloride. Swallowing a post-1982 American one cent piece (97.5% zinc) can cause damage to the stomach lining due to the high solubility of the zinc ion in the acidic stomach. Sony VAIO VPCF14ZHJ batteryThere is evidence of induced copper deficiency at low intakes of 100–300 mg Zn/day; a recent trial had higher hospitalizations for urinary complications compared to placebo among elderly men taking 80 mg/day.[189] The USDA RDA is 11 and 8 mg Zn/day for men and women, respectively.[168] Even lower levels, closer to the RDA Sony VAIO VPCF14AHJ battery, may interfere with the utilization of copper and iron or adversely affect cholesterol.[167] Levels of zinc in excess of 500 ppm in soil interfere with the ability of plants to absorb other essential metals, such as iron and manganese.[85] There is also a condition called the zinc shakes or "zinc chills" that can be induced by the inhalation of freshly formed zinc oxide formed during the welding of galvanized materials. Sony VAIO VPCF14AGJ battery Zinc is a common ingredient of denture cream which may contain between 17 and 38mg of zinc per gram. There have been cases of disability or even death due to excessive use of these products.[190] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that zinc damages nerve receptors in the nose, which can cause anosmia. Reports of anosmia were also observed in the 1930s when zinc preparations were used in a failed attempt to prevent polio infections Sony VAIO VPCF14AFJ battery.[191] On June 16, 2009, the FDA said that consumers should stop using zinc-based intranasal cold products and ordered their removal from store shelves. The FDA said the loss of smell can be life-threatening because people with impaired smell cannot detect leaking gas or smoke and cannot tell if food has spoiled before they eat it Sony VAIO VPCF149FJ/BI battery.[192] Recent research suggests that the topical antimicrobial zinc pyrithione is a potent heat shock response inducer that may impair genomic integrity with induction of PARP-dependent energy crisis in cultured human keratinocytes and melanocytes.[193] [edit]Poisoning In 1982, the United States Mint began minting pennies coated in copper but made primarily of zinc. With the new zinc pennies, there is the potential for zinc toxicosis, which can be fatal Sony VAIO VPCF148FJ/B battery. One reported case of chronic ingestion of 425 pennies (over 1 kg of zinc) resulted in death due to gastrointestinal bacterial and fungal sepsis, while another patient, who ingested 12 grams of zinc, only showed lethargy and ataxia (gross lack of coordination of muscle movements).[194] Several other cases have been reported of humans suffering zinc intoxication by the ingestion of zinc coins. Sony VAIO VPCF13ZHJ batteryPennies and other small coins are sometimes ingested by dogs, resulting in the need for medical treatment to remove the foreign body. The zinc content of some coins can cause zinc toxicity, which is commonly fatal in dogs, where it causes a severe hemolytic anemia, and also liver or kidney damage; vomiting and diarrhea are possible symptoms.[197] Zinc is highly toxic in parrots and poisoning can often be fatal. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B batteryThe consumption of fruit juices stored in galvanized cans has resulted in mass parrot poisonings with zinc.[51] Gallium ( /ˈɡæliəm/ gal-ee-əm) is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium(III) compounds in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. A soft silvery metallic poor metal Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies at temperature slightly above room temperature, it will melt in the hand. Its melting point is used as a temperature reference point. The alloy Galinstan (68.5% Ga, 21.5% In, 10% Sn) has an even lower melting point of −19 °C (−2 °F). From its discovery in 1875 until the semiconductor era, gallium was used primarily as an agent to make low-melting alloys Sony VAIO VPCF13AHJ battery. Today, almost all gallium is used for microelectronics. Gallium arsenide, the primary use of gallium, is used in microwave circuitry and infrared applications. Gallium nitride and indium gallium nitride, minority semiconductor uses, produce blue and violet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and diode lasers Sony VAIO VPCF13AGJ battery. Gallium has no known role in biology. Because gallium(III) and ferric salts behave similarly in biological systems, gallium ions often mimic iron ions in medical applications. Gallium-containing pharmaceuticals and radiopharmaceuticals have been developed. Properties Elemental gallium is not found in nature, but it is easily obtained by smelting Sony VAIO VPCF13AFJ battery. Very pure gallium metal has a brilliant silvery color and its solid metal fractures conchoidally like glass. Gallium metal expands by 3.1% when it solidifies, and therefore storage in either glass or metal containers is avoided, due to the possibility of container rupture with freezing. Gallium shares the higher-density liquid state with only a few materials like silicon, germanium, bismuth, antimony, plutonium and water Sony VAIO VPCF138FJ/BI battery. Gallium attacks most other metals by diffusing into their metal lattice. Gallium, for example, diffuses into the grain boundaries of Al/Zn alloys[1] or steel,[2] making them very brittle. Also, gallium metal easily alloys with many metals, and was used in small quantities as a plutonium-gallium alloy in the plutonium cores of the first and third nuclear bombs, to help stabilize the plutonium crystal structure. Sony VAIO VPCF138FJ/B batteryThe melting point of 302.9146 K (29.7646 °C, 85.5763 °F) is near room temperature. Gallium's melting point (mp) is one of the formal temperature reference points in the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) established by BIPM. The triple point of gallium of 302.9166 K (29.7666 °C, 85.5799 °F), is being used by NIST in preference to gallium's melting point. Sony VAIO VPCF138FC/BI batteryGallium metal melts in one's hand. This metal has a strong tendency to supercool below its melting point/freezing point. Seeding with a crystal helps to initiate freezing. Gallium is one of the metals (with caesium, rubidium, mercury and likely francium) which are liquid at or near normal room temperature, and can therefore be used in metal-in-glass high-temperature thermometers Sony VAIO VPCF135FG battery. It is also notable for having one of the largest liquid ranges for a metal, and (unlike mercury) for having a low vapor pressure at high temperatures. Unlike mercury, liquid gallium metal wets glass and skin, making it mechanically more difficult to handle (even though it is substantially less toxic and requires far fewer precautions). For this reason as well as the metal contamination and freezing-expansion problems Sony VAIO VPCF12AHJ battery, samples of gallium metal are usually supplied in polyethylene packets within other containers. Crystallization of gallium from the melt Gallium does not crystallize in any of the simple crystal structures. The stable phase under normal conditions is orthorhombic with 8 atoms in the conventional unit cell. Each atom has only one nearest neighbor (at a distance of 244 pm) and six other neighbors within additional 39 pm. Many stable and metastable phases are found as function of temperature and pressure Sony VAIO VPCF12AGJ battery. The bonding between the nearest neighbors is found to be of covalent character, hence Ga2 dimers are seen as the fundamental building blocks of the crystal. This explains the drop of the melting point compared to its neighbour elements aluminium and indium. [edit]Chemical properties High-purity gallium is dissolved slowly by mineral acids. History In 1871, existence of gallium was first predicted by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who named it "eka-aluminium" on the basis of its position in his periodic table Sony VAIO VPCF12AFJ battery. He also predicted several properties of the element, which correspond closely to real gallium properties, such as density, melting point, oxide character and bonding in chloride.[8] Gallium was discovered spectroscopically by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875 by its characteristic spectrum (two violet lines) in an examination of a sphalerite sample.[9] Later that year, Lecoq obtained the free metal by electrolysis of its hydroxide in potassium hydroxide solution Sony VAIO VPCF129FJ/BI battery. He named the element "gallia", from Latin Gallia meaning gaul, after his native land of France. It was later claimed that, in one of those multilingual puns so beloved of men of science in the 19th century, he had also named gallium after himself, as his name, "Le coq", is the French for "the rooster", and the Latin for "rooster" is "gallus"; however, in an 1877 article Lecoq denied this supposition.[10] (Cf. the naming of the J/ψ meson and the dwarf planet Pluto.) Sony VAIO VPCF128FJ/B batteryFrom its discovery in 1875 up to the era of semiconductors, its primary uses were in high-temperature thermometric applications and in preparation of metal alloys with unusual properties of stability, or ease of melting; some being liquid at room temperature or below. The development of gallium arsenide as a direct band gap semiconductor in the 1960's ushered in the most important stage in the applications of gallium Sony VAIO VPCF127FJ/W battery. [edit]Occurrence Gallium does not exist in free form in nature, and the few high-gallium minerals such as gallite (CuGaS2) are too rare to serve as a primary source of the element or its compounds. Its abundance in the Earth's crust is approximately 16.9 ppm.[11] Gallium is found and extracted as a trace component in bauxite and to a small extent from sphalerite Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ battery. The amount extracted from coal, diaspore and germanite in which gallium is also present is negligible. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates gallium reserves to exceed 1 million tonnes, based on 50 ppm by weight concentration in known reserves of bauxite and zinc ores.[12][13] Some flue dusts from burning coal have been shown to contain small quantities of gallium, typically less than 1% by weight Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ battery. [edit]Production 99.9999% (6N) Gallium sealed in vacuum ampoule. Gallium is a byproduct of the production of aluminium and zinc. Whereas the sphalerite for zinc production is the minor source. most gallium is extracted from the crude aluminium hydroxide solution of the Bayer process for producing alumina and aluminium. A mercury cell electrolysis and hydrolysis of the amalgam with sodium hydroxide leads to sodium gallate Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ battery. Electrolysis then gives gallium metal. For semiconductor use, further purification is carried out using zone melting, or else single crystal extraction from a melt (Czochralski process). Purities of 99.9999% are routinely achieved and commercially widely available.[18] An exact number for the worldwide production is not available, but it is estimated that in 2007 the production of gallium was 184 tonnes with less than 100 tonnes from mining and the rest from scrap recycling Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ battery.[12] In 1986, the production was estimated at 40 tons, according to a separate source.[19] [edit]Applications The semiconductor applications dominate the commercial use of gallium, accounting for 98% of applications. The next major application is for gadolinium gallium garnets. [19] Semiconductors Gallium-based blue LEDs Because of this application, extremely high-purity (99.9999+%) gallium is commercially availability. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN) used in electronic components represented about 98% of the gallium consumption in the United States in 2007 Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ battery. About 66% of semiconductor gallium is used in the U.S. in integrated circuits (mostly gallium arsenide), such as the manufacture of ultra-high speed logic chips and MESFETs for low-noise microwave preamplifiers in cell phones. About 20% is used in optoelectronics.[12] Worldwide, gallium arsenide makes up 95% of the annual global gallium consumption Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ battery.[18] Gallium arsenide is used in optoelectronics in a variety of infrared applications. Aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) is used in high-powered infrared laser diodes. As a component of the semiconductors indium gallium nitride and gallium nitride, gallium is used to produce blue and violet optoelectronic devices, mostly laser diodes and light-emitting diodes Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H battery. For example, gallium nitride 405 nm diode lasers are used as a violet light source for higher-density compact disc data storage, in the Blu-ray Disc standard.[20] Multijunction photovoltaic cells, developed for satellite power applications, are made by molecular beam epitaxy or metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy of thin films of gallium arsenide, indium gallium phosphide or indium gallium arsenide.The Mars Exploration Rovers and several satellites use triple junction gallium arsenide on germanium cells Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/Z battery.[21] Gallium is also a component in photovoltaic compounds (such as copper indium gallium selenium sulfide or Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2) for use in solar panels as a cost-efficient alternative to crystalline silicon.[22] [edit]Galinstan and other alloys Gallium readily alloys with most metals, and has been used as a component in low-melting alloys. A nearly eutectic alloy of gallium, indium, and tin is a room temperature liquid which is available in medical thermometers. This alloy, with the trade-name Galinstan (with the "-stan" referring to the tin), has a low freezing point of −19 °C (−2.2 °F) Sony VAIO VGN-CS33H/B battery.[23] It has been suggested that this family of alloys could also be used to cool computer chips in place of water.[24] Gallium alloys have been evaluated as substitutes for mercury dental amalgams, but these materials have yet to see wide acceptance. Because gallium wets glass or porcelain, gallium can be used to create brilliant mirrors. When the wetting action of gallium-alloys is not desired (as in Galinstan glass thermometers), the glass must be protected with a transparent layer of gallium(III) oxide Sony VAIO VGN-CS31Z/Q battery.[25] The plutonium used in nuclear weapon pits is machined by alloying with gallium to stabilize its δ phase.[26] Gallium added in quantities up to 2% in common solders can aid wetting and flow characteristics. Alloys of Al and Ga have been evaluated for hydrogen production.[27] It is used as alloying element in the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni-Mn-Ga. [edit]Biomedical applications Although gallium has no known role in biology, it mimics iron(III), the gallium ion localizes to and interacts with many processes in the body in which iron(III) is manipulated Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/W battery. As these processes include inflammation, which is a marker for many disease states, several gallium salts are used, or are in development, as both pharmaceuticals and radiopharmaceuticals in medicine. When gallium ions are mistakenly taken up by bacteria such as Pseudomonas, the bacteria's ability to respire is interfered with and the bacteria die. The mechanism behind this is that iron is redox active, which allows for the transfer of electrons during respiration, but gallium is redox inactive. Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/V batteryGallium nitrate (brand name Ganite) has been used as an intravenous pharmaceutical to treat hypercalcemia associated with tumor metastasis to bones. Gallium is thought to interfere with osteoclast function. It may be effective when other treatments for maligancy-associated hypercalcemia are not. Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/T batteryGallium maltolate, an orally absorbable form of gallium(III) ion, is in clinical and preclinical trials as a potential treatment for a number of types of cancer, infectious disease, and inflammatory disease.[31] A complex amine-phenol Ga(III) compound MR045 was found to be selectively toxic to parasites that have developed resistance to chloroquine, a common drug against malaria. Both the Ga(III) complex and chloroquine act by inhibiting crystallization of hemozoin, a disposal product formed from the digestion of blood by the parasites Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/R battery. Radiogallium salts Gallium-67 salts such as gallium citrate and gallium nitrate are used as radiopharmaceutical agents in a nuclear medicine imaging procedure commonly referred to as a gallium scan. The form or salt of gallium is unimportant. For these applications, the radioactive isotope 67Ga is used. The body handles Ga3+ in many ways as though it were iron, and thus it is bound Sony VAIO VGN-CS31S/P battery (and concentrates) in areas of inflammation, such as infection, and also areas of rapid cell division. This allows such sites to be imaged by nuclear scan techniques. This use has largely been replaced by fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) for positron emission tomography, "PET" scan and indium-111 labelled leukocyte scans. However, the localization of gallium in the body has some properties which make it unique in some circumstances from competing modalities using other radioisotopes Sony VAIO VGN-CS28 battery. Gallium-68, a positron emitter with a half life of 68 min., is now used as a diagnostic radionuclide in PET-CT when linked to pharmaceutical preparations such as DOTATOC, a somatostatin analogue used for neuroendocrine tumors investigation, and DOTA-TATE, a newer one, used for neuroendocrine metastasis and lung neuroendocrine cancer, such as certain types of microcytoma Sony VAIO VGN-CS28/Q battery. Galium-68's preparation as a pharmaceutical is chemical and the radionuclide is extracted by elution from germanium-68, a synthetic radioisotope of germanium, in gallium-68 generators. Other uses Magnesium gallate containing impurities (such as Mn2+), is beginning to be used in ultraviolet-activated phosphor powder. Neutrino detection. Possibly the largest amount of pure gallium ever collected in a single spot is the Gallium-Germanium Neutrino Telescope used by the SAGE experiment at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory in Russia Sony VAIO VGN-CS27 battery. This detector contains 55–57 tonnes of liquid gallium.[34] Another experiment was the GALLEX neutrino detector operated in the early 1990s in an Italian mountain tunnel. The detector contained 12.2 tons of watered gallium-71. Solar neutrinos caused a few atoms of Ga-71 to become radioactive Ge-71, which were detected. The solar neutrino flux deduced was found to have a deficit of 40% from theory Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/W battery. This was not explained until better solar neutrino detectors and theories were constructed (see SNO).[35] As a liquid metal ion source for a focused ion beam. In a classic prank by scientists, who fashion gallium spoons and serve tea to unsuspecting guests. The spoons melt in the hot tea.[36] As an additive in glide wax for skiis, and other low friction surface materials. US 5069803, Sugimura, Kentaro; Shoji Hasimoto & Takayuki Ono, "Use of a synthetic resin composition containing gallium particles in the glide surfacing material of skis and other applications", issued 1995 Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/R batteryChemistry See also Category: Gallium compounds Gallium is found primarily in the +3 oxidation state. The +1 oxidation is also attested in some compounds, although they tend to disproportionate into elemental gallium and gallium(III) compounds. What are sometimes referred to as gallium(II) compounds are actually mixed-oxidation state compounds containing both gallium(I) and gallium(III). Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/P battery[edit]Chalcogen compounds At room temperature, gallium metal is unreactive towards air and water due to the formation of a passive, protective oxide layer. At higher temperatures, however, it reacts with oxygen in the air to form gallium(III) oxide, Ga2O3.[37] Reducing Ga2O3 with elemental gallium in vacuum at 500 °C to 700 °C yields the dark brown gallium(I) oxide, Ga2O. Sony VAIO VGN-CS27/C battery:285 Ga2O is a very strong reducing agent, capable of reducing H2SO4 to H2S.[38]:207 It disproportionates at 800 °C back to gallium and Ga2O3.[39] Gallium sulfide, Ga2S3, has 3 possible crystal modifications.[39]:104 It can be made by the reaction of gallium with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) at 950 °C.[38]:162 Alternatively, Ga(OH)3 can also be used at 747 °C: Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/W battery2 Ga(OH)3 + 3 H2S → Ga2S3 + 6 H2O Reacting a mixture of alkali metal carbonates and Ga2O3 with H2S leads to the formation of thiogallates containing the [Ga2S4]2− anion. Strong acids decompose these salts, releasing H2S in the process.[39]:104–105 The mercury salt, HgGa2S4, can be used as a phosphor.[41] Gallium also forms sulfides in lower oxidation states, such as gallium(II) sulfide and the green gallium(I) sulfide, the latter of which is produced from the former by heating to 1000 °C under a stream of nitrogen. Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/V batteryThe other binary chalcogenides, Ga2Se3 and Ga2Te3, have zincblende structure. They are all semiconductors, but are easily hydrolysed, limiting their usefulness.[39]:104 [edit]Aqueous chemistry Strong acids dissolve gallium, forming gallium(III) salts such as Ga2(SO4)3 and Ga(NO3)3. Aqueous solutions of gallium(III) salts contain the hydrated gallium ion, [Ga(H2O)6]3+.[42]:1033 Gallium(III) hydroxide, Ga(OH)3 Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/T battery, may be precipitated from gallium(III) solutions by adding ammonia. Dehydrating Ga(OH)3 at 100 °C produces gallium oxide hydroxide, GaO(OH).[38]:140–141 Alkaline hydroxide solutions dissolve gallium, forming gallate salts containing the Ga(OH)− 4 anion.[37][42]:1033[43] Gallium hydroxide, which is amphoteric, also dissolves in alkali to form gallate salts.[38]:141 Although earlier work suggested Ga(OH)3− 6 as another possible gallate anion,[44] this species was not found in later work. Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/R battery[edit]Pnictogen compounds Gallium reacts with ammonia at 1050 °C to form gallium nitride, GaN. Gallium also forms binary compounds with phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony: gallium phosphide (GaP), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and gallium antimonide (GaSb). These compounds have the same structure as ZnS, and have important semiconducting properties. GaP, GaAs, and GaSb can be synthesized by the direct reaction of gallium with elemental phosphorus, arsenic, or antimony. Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/Q battery They exhibit higher electrical conductivity than GaN.[39]:101 GaP can also be synthesized by the reaction of Ga2O with phosphorus at low temperatures.[45] Gallium also forms ternary nitrides; for example:[39]:99 Li3Ga + N2 → Li3GaN2 Similar compounds with phosphorus and antimony also exist: Li3GaP2 and Li3GaAs2. These compounds are easily hydrolyzed by dilute acids and water.[39]:101 [edit]Halides See also: Gallium halides Gallium(III) oxide reacts with fluorinating agents such as HF or F2 to form gallium(III) fluoride, GaF3. It is an ionic compound strongly insoluble in water Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/P battery. However, it does dissolve in hydrofluoric acid, in which it forms an adduct with water, GaF3·3H2O. Attempting to dehydrate this adduct instead forms GaF2OH·nH2O. The adduct reacts with ammonia to form GaF3·3NH3, which can then be heated to form anhydrous GaF3.[38]:128–129 Gallium trichloride is formed by the reaction of gallium metal with chlorine gas Sony VAIO VGN-CS26T/C battery.[37] Unlike the trifluoride, gallium(III) chloride exists as dimeric molecules, Ga2Cl6, with a melting point of 78 °C. This is also the case for the bromide and iodide, Ga2Br6 and Ga2I6.[38]:133 Like the other group 13 trihalides, gallium(III) halides are Lewis acids, reacting as halide acceptors with alkali metal halides to form salts containing GaX− 4 anions, where X is a halogen. They also react with alkyl halides to form carbocations and GaX− 4. Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H batteryWhen heated to a high temperature, gallium(III) halides react with elemental gallium to form the respective gallium(I) halides. For example, GaCl3 reacts with Ga to form GaCl: 2 Ga + GaCl3 3 GaCl (g) At lower temperatures, the equilibrium shifts toward the left and GaCl disproportionates back to elemental gallium and GaCl3. GaCl can also be made by the reaction of Ga with HCl at 950 °C; it can then be condensed as red solid. Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/W batteryGallium(I) compounds can be stabilized by forming adducts with Lewis acids. For example: GaCl + AlCl3 → Ga+[AlCl4]− The so-called "gallium(II) halides", GaX2, are actually adducts of gallium(I) halides with the respective gallium(III) halides, having the structure Ga+[GaX4]−. For example: GaCl + GaCl3 → Ga+[GaCl4]− Hydrogen compounds Like aluminium, gallium also forms a hydride, GaH3, known as gallane, which may be obtained by the reaction of lithium gallanate (LiGaH4) with gallium(III) chloride at −30 °C: Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/R battery3 LiGaH4 + GaCl3 → 3 LiCl + 4 GaH3 In the presence of dimethyl ether as solvent, GaH3 polymerizes to (GaH3)n. If no solvent is used, the dimer Ga2H6 (digallane) is formed as a gas. Its structure is similar to diborane, having two hydrogen atoms bridging the two gallium centers, unlike α-AlH3 in which aluminium has a coordination number of 6. Gallane is unstable above −10 °C, decomposing to elemental gallium and hydrogen. Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/Q batteryPrecautions The Ga(III) ion of soluble gallium salts tends to form the insoluble hydroxide when injected in large amounts, and in animals precipitation of this has resulted in renal toxicity. In lower doses, soluble gallium is tolerated well, and does not accumulate as a poison. While metallic gallium is not considered toxic, the data are inconclusive. Some sources suggest that it may cause dermatitis from prolonged exposure; other tests have not caused a positive reaction Sony VAIO VGN-CS25H/P battery. Like most metals, finely divided gallium loses its luster and powdered gallium appears gray. Thus, when gallium is handled with bare hands, the extremely fine dispersion of liquid gallium droplets, which results from wetting skin with the metal, may appear as a gray skin stain.
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