Today, everything you would want to know about a nickel, the coin and the mineral.  Why?   It's big news this week . Nickel, the coin, is 25% nickel, the mineral.   The rest is copper. Nickel at 8.33% is used in other coins. But nickel, the mineral, was taken out of the nickel, the coin, during World War II and replaced with manganese and silver. For those who don't use coins anymore, it is worth 5 cents. Introduced in 1866 as the Civil War ended. Nickel, the mineral: Is element #28, between cobalt and copper in the periodic table of elements. Many meteorites consist of nickel-iron alloy. The explosion of  Supernova 2007bi  created a mass of nickel three times greater than that of our Sun.  Not to worry, for this occurred 1.6 billion light years away. First recognized in 1751 by Swedish alchemist Baron Axel Fredrik, who called this new element nickel. Nickel allergy is the most common cause of contact dermatitis. Adding nickel to glass gives it a ...