Calcium is one of the 119 chemical elements in the periodic table, often symbolises as Ca and its atomic number is 20. Calcium is a soft silvery alkaline metal and it is also the fifth of the most abundant element by mass on the Earth, but it is not easy to find in nature because it easily reacts with water and oxygen. It is important for all the living organisms, especially for sells. Calcium is found in many foods that people eat everyday, people have to get and consume a specific amount of calcium to keep the bones and teeth strong and healthy; a lot of organs in the living beings’ include the nerves, blood-clotting systems, and heart are also rely on calcium to work normally. In the same way, if people cannot get enough calcium, they …show more content…
Humphrey Davy was born in1778 and died in 1829 who was well known for his discoveries of alkaline earth metals included Calcium. He made a lecture to the Royal Chemical Society in June 1808, Davy described the failure of his experiments that he could not find a way to produce more than a tiny amount of calcium metal. Then the Swedish chemist Jacob Berzelius sent Davy a letter and pointed the way for him. In the letter, Davy learned about that Berzelius had decomposed calcium oxide at a mercury electrode successfully using a battery, and he had already obtained the amalgam of calcium. With the help of Berzelius and own his knowledge of electricity, Davy built a large battery which he used to break down substances which most scientists at that time believed were pure elements. Davy made a paste of slaked lime using the calcium oxide and moistened calcium hydroxide, also the red oxide of mercury. He put about 3.5 grams of mercury metal in the paste as an electrode. He also used platinum as the counter electrode. When the electricity was passing through the paste he made, Davy saw the calcium mercury amalgam formed at the mercury electrode. He distilled and removed the mercury in the paste, he finally revealed a new element—calcium. (“Calcium.") Davy named calcium after the Latin word “calx” which Romans called