History
For the first time on the bismuth is mentioned in the writings of George Agricola in 1529. His further development, as a separate element, began in the 18 st century. Symbol Bi was introduced by Sweden chemist Berzelius in 1819. The name supposedly comes from the German «white mass» - weisse Masse. Sulfide bismuth used as a whitewash in the 16th century, called Spanish white.
Nowadays
Bismuth is one of the rarest metals. The prevalence of it in nature is 2 * 10-50%, while the bismuth is a member of the 70 ore. Bismuth produced from copper, lead and silver mines of Peru, copper and lead-zinc ore Japan, the lead mines of Mexico, cobalt, lead and silver deposits of Canada, tin, tungsten, tin and silver - in Bolivia. The use of bismuth is in metallurgy, physics, electronics, and pharmaceuticals.
