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The era of the " Dirty Thirties " with its mass unemployment , poverty and despair gave rise to new Canadian political movements . In Alberta , for example , the radio evangelist William " Bible Bill " Aberhart led his populist Social Credit party to victory in 1935 . Three years earlier in Calgary , Alberta , social reformers had founded a new political party , the Co @-@ operative Commonwealth Federation or CCF . It advocated democratic socialism and a mixed economy with public ownership of key industries . Frank Underhill , one of Innis 's colleagues at the University of Toronto was a founding member of the CCF . Innis and Underhill had both been members of an earlier group at the university that declared itself " dissatisfied with the policies of the two major [ political ] parties in Canada " and that aimed at " forming a definite body of progressive opinion " . In 1931 , Innis presented a paper to the group on " Economic Conditions in Canada " , but he later recoiled from participating in party politics , denouncing partisans like Underhill as " hot <unk> " .
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Innis maintained that scholars had no place in active politics and that instead , they should devote themselves , first to research on public problems , and then to the production of knowledge based on critical thought . He saw the university , with its emphasis on dialogue , open @-@ mindedness and skepticism , as an institution that could foster such thinking and research . " The university could provide an environment " , he wrote , " as free as possible from the biases of the various institutions that form the state , so that its intellectuals could continue to seek out and explore other perspectives . "
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Although sympathetic to the plight of western farmers and urban , unemployed workers , Innis did not embrace socialism . Eric Havelock , a left @-@ leaning colleague explained many years later that Innis distrusted political " solutions " imported from elsewhere , especially those based on Marxist analysis with its emphasis on class conflict . He worried , too , that as Canada 's ties with Britain weakened , the country would fall under the spell of American ideas instead of developing its own based on Canada 's unique circumstances . Havelock added :
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He has been called the radical conservative of his day — not a bad designation of a complex mind , clear sighted , cautious , perhaps at bottom pessimistic in areas where thinkers we would label ' progressive ' felt less difficulty in taking a stand ; never content to select only one or two elements in a complicated equation in order to build a quick @-@ order policy or program ; far ranging enough in intellect to take in the whole sum of the factors , and comprehend their often contradictory effects .
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= = = Late career and death = = =
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In the 1940s , Harold Innis reached the height of his influence in both academic circles and Canadian society . In 1941 , he helped establish the American @-@ based Economic History Association and its Journal of Economic History . He later became the association 's second president . Innis played a central role in founding two important sources for the funding of academic research : the Canadian Social Science Research Council ( 1940 ) and the Humanities Research Council of Canada ( 1944 ) .
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In 1944 , the University of New Brunswick awarded Innis an honorary degree , as did his alma mater , McMaster University . Université Laval , the University of Manitoba and the University of Glasgow would also confer honorary degrees in 1947 – 48 .
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In 1945 , Innis spent nearly a month in the Soviet Union where he had been invited to attend the 220th anniversary celebrations marking the founding of the country 's Academy of Sciences . Later , in his essay Reflections on Russia , he mused about the differences between the Soviet " producer " economy and the West 's " consumer " ethos :
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[ A ] n economy which emphasizes consumer 's goods is characterized by communication industries largely dependent on advertising and by constant efforts to reach the largest number of readers or listeners ; an economy emphasizing producer 's goods is characterized by communications industries largely dependent on government support . As a result of this contrast , a common public opinion in Russia and the West is hard to achieve .
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Innis 's trip to Moscow and Leningrad came shortly before U.S. – Soviet rivalry led to the hostility of the Cold War . Innis lamented this rise in international tensions . He saw the Soviet Empire as a stabilizing counterbalance to the American Empire 's emphasis on commercialism , the individual and constant change . For Innis , Russia was a society within the Western tradition , not an alien civilization . He abhorred the nuclear arms race , seeing it as the triumph of force over knowledge , a modern form of the medieval Inquisition . " The Middle Ages burned its heretics " , he wrote , " and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs . "
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In 1946 , Innis was elected president of the Royal Society of Canada , the country 's senior body of scientists and scholars . That same year , he served on the Manitoba Royal Commission on Adult Education and published Political Economy in the Modern State , a collection of his speeches and essays that reflected both his staples research and his new work in communications . In 1947 , Innis was appointed the University of Toronto 's dean of graduate studies . In 1948 , he delivered lectures at the University of London and Nottingham University . He also gave the prestigious Beit lectures at Oxford , later published in his book Empire and Communications . In 1949 , Innis was appointed as a commissioner on the federal government 's Royal Commission on Transportation , a position that involved extensive travel at a time when his health was starting to fail . The last decade of his career during which he worked on his communications studies was an unhappy time for Innis . He was academically isolated because his colleagues in economics could not fathom how this new work related to his pioneering research in staples theory . Biographer John Watson writes that " the almost complete lack of positive response to the communications works , contributed to his sense of overwork and depression " .
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Innis died of prostate cancer in 1952 a few days after his 58th birthday . In commemoration , Innis College at the University of Toronto and Innis Library at McMaster University were named in his honour .
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Following his premature death , Innis ' significance increasingly deepened as scholars in several academic disciplines continued to build upon his writings . Marshall Poe 's general media theory that proposes two sub @-@ theories were inspired by Innis . Douglas C. North expanded on of Innis ' " vent for surplus " theory of economic development by applying it to regional development in the United States and underdeveloped countries . In addition , James W. Carey adopted Innis as a " reference point in his conception of two models of communication " .
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= = Innis and McLuhan = =
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Marshall McLuhan was a colleague of Innis 's at the University of Toronto . As a young English professor , McLuhan was flattered when he learned that Innis had put his book The Mechanical Bride on the reading list of the fourth @-@ year economics course . McLuhan built on Innis 's idea that in studying the effects of communications media , technological form mattered more than content . Biographer Paul Heyer writes that Innis 's concept of the " bias " of a particular medium of communication can be seen as a " less flamboyant precursor to McLuhan 's legendary phrase ' the medium is the message . ' " Innis , for example , tried to show how printed media such as books or newspapers were " biased " toward control over space and secular power , while engraved media such as stone or clay tablets were " biased " in favour of continuity in time and metaphysical or religious knowledge . McLuhan focused on what may be called a medium 's " sensory bias " arguing , for example , that books and newspapers appealed to the rationality of the eye , while radio played to the irrationality of the ear . The differences in the <unk> and <unk> approaches were summarized by the late James W. Carey :
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Both McLuhan and Innis assume the centrality of communication technology ; where they differ is in the principal kinds of effects they see deriving from this technology . Whereas Innis sees communication technology principally affecting social organization and culture , McLuhan sees its principal effect on sensory organization and thought . McLuhan has much to say about perception and thought but little to say about institutions ; Innis says much about institutions and little about perception and thought .
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Biographer John Watson notes that Innis 's work was profoundly political while McLuhan 's was not . He writes that " the mechanization of knowledge , not the relative sensual bias of media , is the key to Innis 's work . This also underlies the politicization of Innis 's position vis @-@ a @-@ vis that of McLuhan . " Watson adds that Innis believed very different media could produce similar effects . " For Innis , the yellow press of the United States and the Nazi loudspeaker had the same form of negative effect : they reduced men from thinking beings to mere automatons in a chain of command . " Watson argues that while McLuhan separated media according to their sensory bias , Innis examined a different set of interrelationships , the " dialectic of power and knowledge " in specific historical circumstances . For Watson , Innis 's work is therefore more flexible and less deterministic than McLuhan 's .
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As scholars and teachers , Innis and McLuhan shared a similar dilemma since both argued that book culture tended to produce fixed points of view and homogeneity of thought ; yet both produced many books . In his introduction to the 1964 reprint of The Bias of Communication , McLuhan marvelled at Innis 's technique of juxtaposing " his insights in a mosaic structure of seemingly unrelated and <unk> sentences and aphorisms " . McLuhan argued that although this made reading Innis 's dense prose difficult — " a pattern of insights that are not packaged for the consumer palate " — Innis 's method approximated " the natural form of conversation or dialogue rather than of written discourse " . Best of all , it yielded " insight " and " pattern recognition " rather than the " classified knowledge " so overvalued by print @-@ trained scholars . " How exciting it was to encounter a writer whose every phrase invited prolonged meditation and exploration " , McLuhan added . McLuhan 's own books with their reliance on aphorisms , puns , quips , " probes " and oddly juxtaposed observations also employ this mosaic technique .
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Innis 's theories of political economy , media and society remain highly relevant : he had a profound influence on critical media theory and communications and , in conjunction with McLuhan , offered groundbreaking Canadian perspectives on the function of communication technologies as key agents in social and historical change . Together , their works advanced a theory of history in which communication is central to social change and transformation .
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= Hurricane Lorenzo ( 2007 ) =
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Hurricane Lorenzo was a rapidly developing tropical cyclone that struck the Mexican state of Veracruz in late September 2007 . The twelfth named storm and fifth hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season , it formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico from a tropical wave . After meandering for two days without development , the storm began a steady westward track as its structure became better organized . In an 18 ‑ hour period , Lorenzo 's winds increased from 35 mph ( 55 km / h ) to 80 mph ( 130 km / h ) , or from a tropical depression to a hurricane . On September 28 it struck near Tecolutla , Veracruz , a month after Hurricane Dean affected the same area , before it quickly dissipated over land .
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The most significantly affected area was Veracruz , where damage reached over $ 1 billion pesos ( $ 92 million 2007 USD ) . Most of it came from road damage in the state 's northern portion , although there were also hundreds of damaged houses . Between Veracruz and neighboring Hidalgo , there were 123 @,@ 320 people affected across 112 municipalities . Overall there were six deaths in the country , one in Veracruz and five in Puebla . In the latter state , a family of three perished in a landslide .
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= = Meteorological history = =
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The origins of Hurricane Lorenzo were from a tropical wave that exited the coast of Africa on September 11 . After moving across the tropical Atlantic Ocean , it traversed much of the Caribbean Sea before developing an area of thunderstorms on September 21 . The system developed a low pressure area on September 23 after the northern portion of the wave broke off and crossed the Yucatán Peninsula . Initially , a Hurricane Hunters flight was scheduled to investigate the system , although the low became disorganized over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico due to high wind shear . However , the wind shear decreased , and late on September 25 , another Hurricane Hunters flight indicated the development of a closed low @-@ level circulation . Based on that observation , along with sufficient persistence of the thunderstorms , the system developed into Tropical Depression Thirteen about 190 mi ( 305 km ) east of Tampico , Tamaulipas .
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Upon developing , the depression was located in an area of weak steering currents , resulting in an erratic movement generally to the south . In its formative stages , the depression executed a small loop . As it did so , it moved into an area of very warm waters and decreasing wind shear . The depression 's convection gradually organized , although the winds were slower to increase . An anticyclone became established over the system , and the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Lorenzo at around 1200 UTC on September 27 . At the time , it was located about 150 mi ( 240 km ) east of Tuxpan , Veracruz , moving steadily westward under the influence of a building ridge to its east . As it approached the coast , Lorenzo rapidly intensified unexpectedly , and within 12 hours of attaining tropical storm status it strengthened into a hurricane .
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Hurricane Lorenzo quickly developed a closed eyewall , which was observed on radar and provided a peak intensity estimate of 80 mph ( 130 km / h ) at 0000 UTC on September 28 . The cyclone maintained vigorous and symmetric convection across the center , although the structure deteriorated slightly before Lorenzo crossed the coast near Tecolutla , Veracruz at 0500 UTC that day , with winds estimated around 75 mph ( 120 km / h ) . After making landfall , the hurricane rapidly weakened to tropical depression intensity . Progressing inland , the circulation became difficult to locate as the convection diminished to rainbands along the coast . Within 19 hours after moving ashore , the circulation of Lorenzo dissipated , therefore ending its duration as a tropical cyclone .
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= = Preparations and impact = =
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About 26 hours before landfall , the Mexican government issued a tropical storm watch from Palma Sola to La Cruz in Veracruz . About 14 hours before landfall , a tropical storm warning was put into place from Palma Sola to Cabo Rojo , which in turn was upgraded to a hurricane warning six hours later . Mexico 's Civilian Protection officials declared a " red alert " for much of the state of Veracruz . Along the coast of Veracruz , officials canceled school classes . Officials opened 315 shelters in Veracruz , along with six in neighboring Hidalgo , which housed 45 @,@ 164 people during the storm . The government of Veracruz provided buses for people to transport from their houses to the shelters . Ports in Tecolutla , Tuxpan and Nautla were forced to close . Lorenzo 's formation caused gas prices to rise due to its potential to disrupt oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico .
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Hurricane Lorenzo made landfall in Veracruz , the same region of east @-@ central Mexico as Hurricane Dean did one month prior . The hurricane primarily affected small fishing villages along the coast , where strong winds knocked down power lines , leaving about 85 @,@ 000 people without electricity . To prevent the danger of fallen wires , officials shut off the power grid in several municipalities in northern Veracruz . The winds also destroyed the roofs of several houses in Nautla . In addition to the high winds , Lorenzo dropped heavy rainfall along the coast and further inland , peaking at 12 @.@ 83 in ( 326 mm ) in El <unk> , Veracruz . The rains caused flash flooding and mudslides that killed at least four people , including a family of three in Puebla state . Landslides also closed portions of three highways . In some locations , floodwaters reached about 1 foot ( 300 mm ) in depth . The combination of winds and rains damaged 169 houses in Puebla , while in Hidalgo , the San Lorenzo River overflowed its banks and forced the evacuation of over 200 people . <unk> rivers in Veracruz forced about 25 @,@ 000 people to leave their houses . Along the <unk> River , more than 1 @,@ 000 houses were flooded , resulting in local police officials to assist in evacuations . Damage in Veracruz was estimated at $ 1 billion pesos ( $ 92 million 2007 USD ) , much of it from road damage in the northern portion of the state .
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Overall , the hurricane affected 123 @,@ 320 people across Veracruz and Hidalgo , prompting the declaration of a state of emergency in 112 municipalities . The declaration allowed the usage of emergency resources for the affected people . There were a total of six deaths in the country , five of which in Puebla . By about three days after the storm , all schools were reopened . The Mexican government distributed food , water , and construction materials for the areas most affected in Veracruz . Following the storm , about 500 power workers were dispatched in Veracruz to restore electricity in the affected areas .
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= Cadmium =
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Cadmium is a chemical element with symbol Cd and atomic number 48 . This soft , bluish @-@ white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 , zinc and mercury . Like zinc , it demonstrates oxidation state + 2 in most of its compounds , and like mercury , it has a lower melting point than other transition metals . Cadmium and its congeners are not always considered transition metals , in that they do not have partly filled d or f electron shells in the elemental or common oxidation states . The average concentration of cadmium in Earth 's crust is between 0 @.@ 1 and 0 @.@ 5 parts per million ( ppm ) . It was discovered in 1817 simultaneously by Stromeyer and Hermann , both in Germany , as an impurity in zinc carbonate .
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Cadmium occurs as a minor component in most zinc ores and is a byproduct of zinc production . Cadmium was used for a long time as a corrosion @-@ resistant plating on steel , and cadmium compounds are used as red , orange and yellow pigments , to colour glass , and to stabilize plastic . Cadmium use is generally decreasing because it is toxic ( it is specifically listed in the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances ) and nickel @-@ cadmium batteries have been replaced with nickel @-@ metal hydride and lithium @-@ ion batteries . One of its few new uses is cadmium telluride solar panels .
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Although cadmium has no known biological function in higher organisms , a cadmium @-@ dependent carbonic anhydrase has been found in marine diatoms .
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= = Characteristics = =
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= = = Physical properties = = =
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Cadmium is a soft , malleable , ductile , bluish @-@ white divalent metal . It is similar in many respects to zinc but forms complex compounds . Unlike most other metals , cadmium is resistant to corrosion and is used as a protective plate on other metals . As a bulk metal , cadmium is insoluble in water and is not flammable ; however , in its powdered form it may burn and release toxic fumes .
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= = = Chemical properties = = =
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Although cadmium usually has an oxidation state of + 2 , it also exists in the + 1 state . Cadmium and its congeners are not always considered transition metals , in that they do not have partly filled d or f electron shells in the elemental or common oxidation states . Cadmium burns in air to form brown amorphous cadmium oxide ( <unk> ) ; the crystalline form of this compound is a dark red which changes color when heated , similar to zinc oxide . Hydrochloric acid , sulfuric acid , and nitric acid dissolve cadmium by forming cadmium chloride ( <unk> ) , cadmium sulfate ( <unk> ) , or cadmium nitrate ( Cd ( NO3 ) 2 ) . The oxidation state + 1 can be produced by dissolving cadmium in a mixture of cadmium chloride and aluminium chloride , forming the <unk> + cation , which is similar to the <unk> + cation in mercury ( I ) chloride .
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Cd + <unk> + 2 AlCl3 → <unk> ( <unk> ) 2
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The structures of many cadmium complexes with nucleobases , amino acids , and vitamins have been determined .
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= = = Isotopes = = =
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Naturally occurring cadmium is composed of 8 isotopes . Two of them are radioactive , and three are expected to decay but have not done so under laboratory conditions . The two natural radioactive isotopes are <unk> ( beta decay , half @-@ life is 7 @.@ 7 × 1015 years ) and <unk> ( two @-@ neutrino double beta decay , half @-@ life is 2 @.@ 9 × 1019 years ) . The other three are <unk> , <unk> ( both double electron capture ) , and <unk> ( double beta decay ) ; only lower limits on these half @-@ lives have been determined . At least three isotopes – <unk> , <unk> , and <unk> – are stable . Among the isotopes that do not occur naturally , the most long @-@ lived are <unk> with a half @-@ life of 462 @.@ 6 days , and <unk> with a half @-@ life of 53 @.@ 46 hours . All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half @-@ lives of less than 2 @.@ 5 hours , and the majority have half @-@ lives of less than 5 minutes . Cadmium has 8 known meta states , with the most stable being <unk> ( t1 / 2
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= 14 @.@ 1 years ) , <unk> ( t1 / 2 =
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44 @.@ 6 days ) , and <unk> ( t1 / 2 = 3 @.@ 36 hours ) .
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The known isotopes of cadmium range in atomic mass from 94 @.@ 950 u ( <unk> ) to 131 @.@ 946 u ( <unk> ) . For isotopes lighter than 112 u , the primary decay mode is electron capture and the dominant decay product is element 47 ( silver ) . Heavier isotopes decay mostly through beta emission producing element 49 ( indium ) .
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One isotope of cadmium , <unk> , absorbs neutrons with high selectivity : With very high probability , neutrons with energy below the cadmium cut @-@ off will be absorbed ; those higher than the cut @-@ off will be transmitted . The cadmium cut @-@ off is about 0 @.@ 5 eV , and neutrons below that level are deemed slow neutrons , distinct from intermediate and fast neutrons .
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Cadmium is created via the long s @-@ process in low @-@ medium mass stars with masses of 0 @.@ 6 to 10 solar masses , taking thousands of years . In that process , a silver atom captures a neutron and then undergoes beta decay .
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= = History = =
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Cadmium ( Latin cadmia , Greek <unk> meaning " calamine " , a cadmium @-@ bearing mixture of minerals that was named after the Greek mythological character <unk> , Cadmus , the founder of Thebes ) was discovered simultaneously in 1817 by Friedrich Stromeyer and Karl Samuel Leberecht Hermann , both in Germany , as an impurity in zinc carbonate . Stromeyer found the new element as an impurity in zinc carbonate ( calamine ) , and , for 100 years , Germany remained the only important producer of the metal . The metal was named after the Latin word for calamine , because it was found in this zinc compound . Stromeyer noted that some impure samples of calamine changed color when heated but pure calamine did not . He was persistent in studying these results and eventually isolated cadmium metal by roasting and reducing the sulfide . The potential for cadmium yellow as pigment was recognized in the 1840s , but the lack of cadmium limited this application .
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Even though cadmium and its compounds are toxic in certain forms and concentrations , the British Pharmaceutical Codex from 1907 states that cadmium iodide was used as a medication to treat " enlarged joints , scrofulous glands , and chilblains " .
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In 1907 , the International Astronomical Union defined the international ångström in terms of a red cadmium spectral line ( 1 wavelength = <unk> @.@ <unk> Å ) . This was adopted by the 7th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1927 . In 1960 , the definitions of both the metre and ångström were changed to use krypton .
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After the industrial scale production of cadmium started in the 1930s and 1940s , the major application of cadmium was the coating of iron and steel to prevent corrosion ; in 1944 , 62 % and in 1956 , 59 % of the cadmium in the United States was used for plating . In 1956 , 24 % of the cadmium in the United States was used for a second application in red , orange and yellow pigments from sulfides and selenides of cadmium .
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The stabilizing effect of cadmium chemicals like the carboxylates cadmium <unk> and cadmium stearate on PVC led to an increased use of those compounds in the 1970s and 1980s . The demand for cadmium in pigments , coatings , stabilizers , and alloys declined as a result of environmental and health regulations in the 1980s and 1990s ; in 2006 , only 7 % of to total cadmium consumption was used for plating , and only 10 % was used for pigments . At the same time , these decreases in consumption were compensated by a growing demand for cadmium for nickel @-@ cadmium batteries , which accounted for 81 % of the cadmium consumption in the United States in 2006 .
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= = Occurrence = =
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Cadmium makes up about 0 @.@ 1 mg kg − 1 ( ppm ) of Earth 's crust . Typical background concentrations in other environmental media are : atmosphere < 5 ng m − 3 ; soil < 2 mg kg − 1 ; vegetation < 0 @.@ 5 mg kg − 1 ; freshwater < 1 ug L − 1 ; seawater < 50 ng L − 1 ; sediment < 2 mg kg − 1 . Compared with the more abundant 65 ppm zinc , cadmium is rare . No significant deposits of cadmium @-@ containing ores are known . <unk> ( CdS ) , the only cadmium mineral of importance , is nearly always associated with sphalerite ( ZnS ) . This association is caused by geochemical similarity between zinc and cadmium , with no geological process likely to separate them . Thus , cadmium is produced mainly as a byproduct from mining , smelting , and refining sulfidic ores of zinc , and , to a lesser degree , lead and copper . Small amounts of cadmium , about 10 % of consumption , are produced from secondary sources , mainly from dust generated by recycling iron and steel scrap . Production in the United States began in 1907 , but not until after World War I did cadmium come into wide use .
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Metallic cadmium can be found is the Vilyuy River basin in Siberia .
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Rocks mined for phosphate fertilizers contain varying amounts of cadmium , resulting in a cadmium concentration of as much as 300 mg / kg in the fertilizers and a high cadmium content in agricultural soils . Coal can contain significant amounts of cadmium , which ends up mostly in flue dust .
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= = Production = =
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The British Geological Survey reports that in 2001 , China was the top producer of cadmium with almost one @-@ sixth of the world 's production , closely followed by South Korea and Japan .
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Cadmium is a common impurity in zinc ores , and it is most often isolated during the production of zinc . Some zinc ores concentrates from sulfidic zinc ores contain up to 1 @.@ 4 % of cadmium . In the 1970s , the output of cadmium was 6 @.@ 5 pounds per ton of zinc . Zinc sulfide ores are roasted in the presence of oxygen , converting the zinc sulfide to the oxide . Zinc metal is produced either by smelting the oxide with carbon or by electrolysis in sulfuric acid . Cadmium is isolated from the zinc metal by vacuum distillation if the zinc is smelted , or cadmium sulfate is precipitated from the electrolysis solution .
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= = Applications = =
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Cadmium is a common component of electric batteries , pigments , coatings , and electroplating .
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= = = Batteries = = =
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In 2009 , 86 % of cadmium was used in batteries , predominantly in rechargeable nickel @-@ cadmium batteries . Nickel @-@ cadmium cells have a nominal cell potential of 1 @.@ 2 V. The cell consists of a positive nickel hydroxide electrode and a negative cadmium electrode plate separated by an alkaline electrolyte ( potassium hydroxide ) . The European Union put a limit on cadmium in electronics in 2004 of 0 @.@ 01 % , with some exceptions , and reduced the limit on cadmium content to 0 @.@ 002 % .
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= = = <unk> = = =
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