The Periodic Table of Scarcity and Abundance
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Zinc

Element 30 · Transition metal

Specimen

Atomic number
30
Atomic mass
65.4
State at room temperature
Solid
Melting point
419.5 °C
Boiling point
906.9 °C
Density
7.134 g/cm³
Discovered
1746

Physical data from PubChem.1

Can I eat it?

In food and water
Your body needs it. Zinc is an essential nutrient for enzymes of all six classes. Vegetarians can need up to 50% more zinc, because the body absorbs less zinc from grains and legumes. 23

See every element.

The atom

Zn
ShellElectrons
1 (K) 2
2 (L) 8
3 (M) 18
4 (N) outermost 2
Total30

Configuration [Ar] 3d¹⁰ 4s²

3d ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓
4s ↑ ↓
A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 30 protons. The outermost shell is shown in red. Electrons do not travel on rings: they fill orbitals, regions where an electron is likely to be found. The boxes are those orbitals for the electrons outside the Ar core, with one arrow per electron.

Related elements

Recovered from its ores
Cd Cadmium
Group 12
Cd Cadmium Hg Mercury Cn Copernicium

New elements by e-mail

Sources

  1. 1

    National Center for Biotechnology Information (PubChem), 2026. Periodic Table of Elements .

    Atomic mass, electron configuration, melting and boiling points, density and discovery year for all 118 elements.

  2. 2

    European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), 2017. Dietary Reference Values for nutrients. Summary report (amended 2019) .

    Summaries of the EFSA NDA Panel opinions on each vitamin and mineral, section 4 (minerals) and section 5 (cobalamin).

    • It has a catalytic role in each of the six classes of enzymes
  3. 3

    Health Canada, from the Institute of Medicine (US) Dietary Reference Intakes reports, 2010. Dietary Reference Intakes tables (Institute of Medicine values), updated November 2010 , Reference Values for Elements, footnotes 20 to 27.

    The joint US and Canadian reference intakes. The values are from the Institute of Medicine reports of 1997 to 2004 and 2010.

    • The requirement for zinc may be as much as 50 percent greater for vegetarians, particularly for strict vegetarians whose major food staples are grains and legumes, due to the lower bioavailability of zinc from a vegetarian diet.