Uranium synonyms

Uranium is chemically related to chromium, molybdenum and tungsten.

The only practically available raw material for 'the extraction of uranium is pitchblende (q.v.).

The mother liquor includes generally more or less of nickel, cobalt, zinc and other heavy metals, which, as Wailer showed, can be removed as insoluble sulphides by the addition of ammonium sulphide; uranium, under the circumstances, is not precipitated by this reagent.

The sulphates are treated with water, which dissolves the uranium and other soluble salts, while silica, lead sulphate, &c., remain; these are removed by filtration.

In the same year as Klaproth detected uranium, he also isolated zirconia or zirconium oxide from the mineral variously known as zircon, hyacinth, jacynth and jargoon; but he failed to obtain the metal, this being first accomplished some years later by Berzelius, who decomposed the double potassium zirconium fluoride with potassium.