Calamine (mineral) Calamine (mineral) Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name "calamine" was derived from "lapis calaminaris", a Latin corruption of Greek "cadmia (καδμία)", the old name for zinc ores in general. The name of the Belgian town of Kelmis, "La Calamine" in French, which was home to a zinc mine, comes from that. In the 18th and 19th centuries large ore mines could be found near the German village of Breinigerberg. During the early 19th century it was discovered that what had been thought to be one ore was actually two distinct minerals: Although chemically and
Period 2 element O, but also O and O. Oxygen is the third-most common element by mass in the universe (although carbon forms more of the atoms it is a lighter atom). It is highly electronegative and non-metallic, usually diatomic, gas down to very low temperatures. Only fluorine is more reactive among non-metallic elements. It is two electrons short of a full octet and readily takes electrons from other elements. It reacts violently with alkali metals and white phosphorus at room temperature and less violently with alkali earth metals heavier than magnesium. At higher temperatures it burns most other metals and many non-metals