Question

What is the formula of calamine?

Answer 1

For this problem, firstly we have to study about the calamine in detail and then we can easily determine the formula of calamine. As it is a common compound that is used for treating the itchiness and many other problems.

Complete Step-by-step answer:
- In the given question, we have to determine the correct molecular formula of calamine.
- As we know that calamine is an inorganic compound which consists of a mixture of zinc oxide along with a small proportion of ferric oxide.
- So, the molecular formula of the calamine will be $\text{F}{{\text{e}}_{2}}{{\text{O}}_{4}}\text{Zn}$ and it also considered as the ore of zinc.
- Whereas when calamine is used as a lotion then some additional substances such as calcium hydroxide and phenol are also added.
- The calamine lotion is generally used to treat various infections or mild diseases such as itchiness, sunburn, insect bites and many other skin infections or allergies.
- But there are side effects of the calamine lotion such as skin irritation but it is usually safe during pregnancy.
- Now, as we know that it is widely used to extract the zinc metal with an atomic number of 30 and an atomic mass of 65 so the calamine is also found in the form of zinc carbonate.
Therefore, the formula of calamine will $\text{F}{{\text{e}}_{2}}{{\text{O}}_{4}}\text{Zn}$ .

Note: For the extraction of pure zinc from zinc carbonate firstly it is converted into zinc oxide by using the calcination process and it undergoes a reduction in the presence of coke which will yield the pure zinc and carbon monoxide.
$\text{ZnC}{{\text{O}}_{3}}\text{ }\xrightarrow{\text{Calcination}}\text{ ZnO + C}{{\text{O}}_{2}}$
$\text{ZnO + C }\xrightarrow{\text{Reduction}}\text{ Zn + CO}$