Most abundant element in the body - facts about calcium

You may hear calcium often stated in TV commercials of dairy products and how it helps strengthen our bones and teeth. But what are the facts about calcium do you know about?

In the first century, the Romans prepared calcium and called it "calsis" but it was only in 1808 that this mineral was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy of England. Lime is the major source of this mineral, hence, the Latin word "calsis" meaning lime. Classified as an "alkaline earth metal", it is found in the Earth's crust and accounts to 3.5% of the total minerals. Aside from lime, other calcium sources are chalk, limestone, and marble. Calcium as an organic mineral reacts with water and oxygen. One kilogram of 99.8% pure calcium granules costs €126.90. Calcium exists only in two compounds, lime (CaO) and gypsum (CaSO4), which are highly in demand in many industries.

More facts about calcium

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body but 99% of our body's calcium requirement is stored in the bones. So where does the 1% go? It is in the blood for the proper functioning of the nervous system, aids in muscle contraction, and blood coagulation. The facts about calcium are that it is harmful when levels go above and below normal ergo do not exceed your calcium intake to 2000mg a day. Doctors require a daily calcium intake of 1000mg for adults and 1200-1500mg for women with low estrogen.

Here are more facts about calcium, there are two kinds of calcium are absorbable by the body: calcium citrate and calcium carbonate. The former is good for people with intestinal disease; the latter is more widely used because it is less expensive but should be taken with food for it to be absorbed well. On the other hand, take your calcium sources twice a day because intestines can only absorb 600mg of calcium at once. The body absorbs only a limited quantity of calcium in the absence of vitamin D. Depending on the amount of sunshine exposure, an adult person needs 400 to 1000 international units of vitamin D each day in order to effectively get the recommended daily allowance of calcium.

Other facts about calcium are you can derive it from various sources but most abundant in dairy products, deep green vegetables, eggs, and red meat. When the calcium level in the blood goes too low it's called hypocalcaemia. When it goes too high, hypercalcaemia occurs, which is most often a result of cancer spread to the bones.

Calcium Oxide

Calx, lim, or lime. Regardless what term you use, they all mean the same thing. Calcium Oxide is a widely-used chemical compound with the chemical symbol CaO. It is described as colorless and crystalline or white and shapeless. Other names for calcium oxide are quicklime and caustic lime.

Calcium oxide is produced through the heating of coral, limestone, chalk, or sea shells, all of which are calcium carbonates. This process expels carbon dioxide gas, leaving lime as the main product. Moreover, this particular process is reversible, meaning, lime reacts with carbon dioxide in order to produce calcium carbonate.

Sourcing out calcium oxide from limestone is among the oldest chemical processes done by man. The vast presence of limestone in the planet and its convenient way of producing calcium oxide from it is only one of the reasons why lime is considered as an ancient chemical product. Another reason is its being valuable. Since it has many uses, industries manufacture it in a large scale. In fact, the United States produced about 20 million metric tons of calcium oxide in the year 2000.

Calcium oxide’s reaction with carbon dioxide is at a slow rate in room temperature. However, the process can be sped up by mixing water with lime, producing calcium hydroxide or slaked lime. The reaction of carbon dioxide and calcium hydroxide then is made faster, creating a quick-hardening mortar as an end product.

Calcium oxide is of great importance to the modern world. Almost half of its production is intended for use by the steel industry. This is because of the fact that lime has the ability to react with silicates to form solutions.

The manufacture of some metals also utilizes calcium oxide. Some chemicals are also produced using lime as an essential material. There are numerous industrial processes that involve the use of calcium oxide such as removal of phosphates in sewages, water supply pretreatment, pulping wood in the paper industry, and as coagulant in the sugar industry.

Calcium oxide can be harmful when inhaled, irritating the lungs, causing shortness of breath and coughing. Contact can lead to eye and skin irritations or burns. Being exposed for a long time may result to nose irritation which can later result to a porous bone, fragile nails, and breaks in the skin.

Lime even played a huge part in theatres. Why else, do you think, would they call limelight as such?