• Question: what is Zirconium? :D

    Asked by zugarplumfairy to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 29 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      Zirconium is a chemical element which is a metal. To be honest I hadn’t heard of it until I had been allocated to the Zirconium Zone on here!

      Look here for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 1 Jul 2012:

      It’s the last element in the alphabet 🙂

      Seriously though, it’s a metal that reacts with oxygen – so it’s not so useful for building things out of!

    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      Zirconium is very corrosion and heat resistant so it gets used for:

      Surgical appliances (as it is hard and corrosion resistant)
      Nuclear reactor cores (as it does not easily absorb neutrons)
      Making superconducting magnets (as it “superconducts” at low temperatures)
      A low cost alternative to diamond (as it can be cut to look similar and is quite hard)

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