What Is Calcium?
Calcium is a metallic chemical element which appears in great abundance in numerous compounds in the Earth’s crust. Calcium is one of the most abundant minerals on Earth, in fact, and it is also a vital component of many living organisms, making calcium very important element of healthy nutrition. Dietary calcium can be found in a number of foods, and also in the form of vitamin and mineral supplements, for people who are at risk of calcium deficiency. In addition to being important for healthy bodies, calcium also has a wide range of industrial uses, both in pure form and in a number of compounds. Many ancient cultures used calcium compounds for a wide number of things, although the element was not isolated in 1808. Sir Humphrey Davy, a well known chemist, managed to extract calcium from calcium chloride by passing an electrical current through the compound. The name of the element is taken from the Latin calx, for “limestone,” a reference to an abundant calcium compound found in many
