Titanium is a transition metal that was discovered in the year 1791 by an English pastor named William Gregor. The discovery was made when Gregor was by a Stream in the parish of Mannacan in Cornwall, England and found black magnetic sand. When Gregor analyzed this sand, he found out it was made up of the oxides of iron and an undefined and yet undiscovered metal. He named this metal Manaccanite, after the parish of Mannacan. After 4 years had passed, in 1795, Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, discovered a metal that he then named titanium after the Greek Mythological creatures the Titans, also known as “The first sons of Earth”. When “Titanium“ and “Manaccite“ where compared to each other it turned out they were in fact, the same thing. Although William Gregor was seen as the true and first discoverer of the metal, the name Titanium that Klaproth had given it was preferred and kept, as it’s official name in the periodic table.
Finding this new metal was one thing, managing to obtain it though, was another. It wasn’t until the year 1910 that Matthew Hunter managed to isolate 99.9% of pure titanium, by heating titanium chloride with sodium, in a pressure cylinder to red-heat temperatures. When heated, Titanium is malleable and when in water it is insoluble although it’s soluble in concentrated acids. Titanium has 26 isotopes, 5 of which are stable; Ti-46,Ti-47, Ti-48, Ti-49 and Ti-50.
In the periodic table, Titanium is expressed “Ti” and is located in group 4 and period 4. Its Atomic Number is 22 and its density is 4.5 grams per cubic centimeter. This meaning it contains 22 protons, 22 electrons and 26 Neutrons. Titanium has a high resistance to high temperatures, it’s boiling point is at 3287°C and its melting point at 1668°C. Pure titanium is a lustrous white metal. Titanium is able to burn in air and it is the only