Zinc in the context of Came

Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond. In principle, the method is practically identical to engraving. The difference is in the use of tools, and that the raised ridge along the furrow is not scraped or filed away as in engraving. Traditionally the plate was copper, but now acetate, zinc, or plexiglas are also commonly used.

Like etching, drypoint is easier to master than engraving for an artist trained in drawing because the technique of using the needle is closer to using a pencil than the engraver's burin. The incision into the plate is also typically much more shallow, so requiring less effort and technical skill in the use of the engraver's burin, but meaning that fewer impressions (copies) of a print can be pulled before wear to the plate becomes apparent. Modern limited editions of drypoint prints (if not steelfaced) very often have fewer than thirty impressions.

A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excreted by cells to create non-cellular structures such as hair, scales, feathers, or exoskeletons. Some nutrients can be metabolically converted into smaller molecules in the process of releasing energy such as for carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and fermentation products (ethanol or vinegar) leading to end-products of water and carbon dioxide. All organisms require water. Essential nutrients for animals are the energy sources, some of the amino acids that are combined to create proteins, a subset of fatty acids, vitamins and certain minerals. Plants require more diverse minerals absorbed through roots, plus carbon dioxide and oxygen absorbed through leaves. Fungi live on dead or living organic matter and meet nutrient needs from their host.

Different types of organisms have different essential nutrients. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is essential to humans and some animal species but most other animals and many plants are able to synthesize it. Nutrients may be organic or inorganic: organic compounds include most compounds containing carbon, while all other chemicals are inorganic. Inorganic nutrients include nutrients such as iron, selenium, and zinc, while organic nutrients include, protein, fats, sugars and vitamins.

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (such as arsenic or silicon). These additions produce a range of alloys some of which are harder than copper alone or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability.

The archaeological period during which bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. The beginning of the Bronze Age in western Eurasia is conventionally dated to the mid-4th millennium BCE (~3500 BCE), and to the early 2nd millennium BCE in China; elsewhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which started about 1300 BCE and reached most of Eurasia by about 500 BCE, although bronze continued to be much more widely used than it is in modern times.

Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag (from Latin argentum 'silver') and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.

Silver has long been valued as a precious metal, commonly sold and marketed beside gold and platinum. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures. In terms of scarcity, silver is the most abundant of the big three precious metals—platinum, gold, and silver—among these, platinum is the rarest with around 139 troy ounces of silver mined for every one ounce of platinum.

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to its high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the most commonly manufactured materials in the world. Steel is used in structures (as concrete reinforcing rods or steel beams), in bridges, infrastructure, tools, ships, trains, cars, bicycles, machines, electrical appliances, furniture, and weapons.

Iron is always the main element in steel, but other elements are used to produce various grades of steel, demonstrating altered material, mechanical, and microstructural properties. Stainless steels, for example, typically contain 18% chromium and exhibit improved corrosion and oxidation resistance versus their carbon steel counterpart. Galvanized steel is coated in a layer of zinc to achieve a similar effect. Under atmospheric pressures, steels generally take on two crystalline forms: body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic; however, depending on the thermal history and alloying, the microstructure may contain the distorted martensite phase or the carbon-rich cementite phase, which are tetragonal and orthorhombic, respectively. In the case of alloyed iron, the strengthening is primarily due to the introduction of carbon in the primarily-iron lattice, inhibiting deformation under mechanical stress. Alloying may also induce additional phases that affect the mechanical properties. In most cases, the engineered mechanical properties are at the expense of the ductility and elongation of the pure iron state, which decrease upon the addition of carbon.

A coppersmith, also known as a brazier, is a person who makes artifacts from copper and brass. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. The term "redsmith" is used for a tinsmith that uses tinsmithing tools and techniques to make copper items.

Intaglio (/ɪnˈtæli.oʊ, -ˈtɑːli-/ in-TAL-ee-oh, -⁠TAH-lee-; Italian: [inˈtaʎʎo]) is the group of printing and printmaking techniques in which an image is incised into a surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the direct opposite of a relief print where the parts of the matrix that make the image stand above the main surface.

Normally copper, or in recent times zinc, sheets called plates are used as a surface or matrix, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint, often in combination. Collagraphs may also be printed as intaglio plates.

A metal leaf, also called composition leaf or schlagmetal, is a thin foil used for gilding and other forms of decoration. Metal leaves can come in many different shades, due to the composition of the metal within the metal leaf. Examples of this variation of shades in metal leaves can be found in Ancient Egyptian gold leaves, as the silver content within the gold leaves could make them appear bright yellow or paler shades of yellow. Some metal leaves may look like gold leaf but do not contain any real gold. This type of metal leaf is often referred to as imitation leaf.

Metal leaves are usually made of gold (including many alloys), silver, copper, aluminium, brass (sometimes called "Dutch metal" typically 85% copper and 15% zinc) or palladium, as well as platinum.

An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid.

The first category of acids are the proton donors, or Brønsted–Lowry acids. In the special case of aqueous solutions, proton donors form the hydronium ion H₃O and are known as Arrhenius acids. Brønsted and Lowry generalized the Arrhenius theory to include non-aqueous solvents. A Brønsted–Lowry or Arrhenius acid usually contains a hydrogen atom bonded to a chemical structure that is still energetically favorable after loss of H.

A ground is waxy material applied to the surface of a metal etching plate. A metal etching plate is a piece of sheet metal, usually copper, zinc, steel, or aluminium. The ground resists the acid or mordant which is used for etching, protecting areas of the metal plate. Grounds are made from a variety of materials including tar, asphaltum, paint (including spray paint), oil pastels, and other materials manufactured specifically for etching.

Most commonly, a ground is applied evenly over the surface of the metal sheet (also known as the etching plate), and then removed using scratching and other mark making techniques to reveal bare metal underneath. In the traditional technique this is done with a metal needle. However, different grounds enable the artist to create different types of marks. Some types of grounds, such as an aquatint ground, are more complex and may not include a removal process because they are applied in a selective manner.

Biomining refers to any process that uses living organisms to extract metals from ores and other solid materials. Typically these processes involve prokaryotes, however fungi and plants (phytoextraction also known as phytomining) may also be used. Biomining is one of several applications within biohydrometallurgy with applications in ore refinement, precious metal recovery, and bioremediation. The largest application currently being used is the treatment of mining waste containing iron, copper, zinc, and gold allowing for salvation of any discarded minerals. It may also be useful in maximizing the yields of increasingly low grade ore deposits. Biomining has been proposed as a relatively environmentally friendly alternative and/or supplementation to traditional mining. Current methods of biomining are modified leach mining processes. These aptly named bioleaching processes most commonly includes the inoculation of extracted rock with bacteria and acidic solution, with the leachate salvaged and processed for the metals of value. Biomining has many applications outside of metal recovery, most notably is bioremediation which has already been used to clean up coastlines after oil spills. There are also many promising future applications, like space biomining, fungal bioleaching and biomining with hybrid biomaterials.

Bioleaching is the extraction or liberation of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms. Bioleaching is one of several applications within biohydrometallurgy and several methods are used to treat ores or concentrates containing copper, zinc, lead, arsenic, antimony, nickel, molybdenum, gold, silver, and cobalt.

Bioleaching falls into two broad categories. The first, is the use of microorganisms to oxidize refractory minerals to release valuable metals such and gold and silver. Most commonly the minerals that are the target of oxidization are pyrite and arsenopyrite.

Yunnan is an inland province in Southwestern China, spanning approximately 394,000 km (152,000 sq mi) and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, autonomous regions of Guangxi and Tibet, as well as Southeast Asian countries Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, and Laos. Yunnan is China's fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014.

Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the Northwest and low elevations in the Southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys as much as 3,000 m (9,800 ft). Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more. Yunnan's reserves of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel. Historically, the southwestern Silk Road to Bhitargarh in Bangladesh passed through modern Yunnan.

In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element. Some "minerals" are essential for life, but most are not. Minerals are one of the four groups of essential nutrients; the others are vitamins, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids. The five major minerals in the human body are calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. The remaining minerals are called "trace elements". The generally accepted trace elements are iron, chlorine, cobalt, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, iodine, selenium, and bromine; there is some evidence that there may be more.

The four organogenic elements, namely carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (CHON), that comprise roughly 96% of the human body by weight, are usually not considered as minerals (nutrient). In fact, in nutrition, the term "mineral" refers more generally to all the other functional and structural elements found in living organisms.

Plants for the production of lead are generally referred to as lead smelters.

Primary lead production begins with sintering. Concentrated lead ore is fed into a sintering machine with iron, silica, limestone fluxes, coke, soda ash, pyrite, zinc, caustics or pollution control particulates. Smelting uses suitable reducing substances that will combine with those oxidizing elements to free the metal. Reduction is the final, high-temperature step in smelting. It is here that the oxide becomes the elemental metal. A reducing environment (often provided by carbon monoxide in an air-starved furnace) pulls the final oxygen atoms from the raw metal.

Zinc smelting is the process of converting zinc concentrates (ores that contain zinc) into pure zinc. Zinc smelting has historically been more difficult than the smelting of other metals, e.g. iron, because in contrast, zinc has a low boiling point. At temperatures typically used for smelting metals, zinc is a gas that will escape from a furnace with the flue gas and be lost, unless specific measures are taken to prevent it.

The most common zinc concentrate processed is zinc sulfide, which is obtained by concentrating sphalerite via froth flotation. Secondary (recycled) zinc material, such as zinc oxide, is also processed with the zinc sulfide. Approximately 30% of all zinc produced is from recycled sources.

Slag is a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (co-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (a by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-products of recovering non-ferrous materials like copper, nickel, zinc and phosphorus). Within these general categories, slags can be further categorized by their precursor and processing conditions. Examples include blast furnace slags, air-cooled blast furnace slag, granulated blast furnace slag, basic oxygen furnace slag, and electric arc furnace (EAF) slag. Slag generated from the EAF process can contain toxic metals, which can be hazardous to human and environmental health.

Due to the large demand for ferrous, ferralloy, and non-ferrous materials, slag production has increased throughout the years despite recycling (most notably in the iron and steelmaking industries) and upcycling efforts. The World Steel Association (WSA) estimates that 600 kg of co-materials (co-products and by-products; about 90 wt% is slags) are generated per tonne of steel produced.