Uses of Cobalt (Co) in Everyday Life

Cobalt at work around you

Every use below comes straight from the full Cobalt study page, where each point also carries the chemistry behind it and an exam-style question. Skim the list here; open the full page when revision time comes.

Uses of Cobalt in the study notes

• Lithium-cobalt-oxide ($\mathrm{LiCoO_{2}}$) cathodes — the rechargeable battery of most smartphones and laptops holds a slab of cobalt chemistry at its heart.
• Cobalt-60 radiotherapy — cancer hospitals across Bangladesh aim beams of gamma rays from cobalt-60 machines at tumours, and the same isotope sterilises surgical instruments.
• Cobalt-blue glaze and glass — potters and glassmakers paint with cobalt compounds for that unbeatable deep blue; a trace in a melt turns the whole batch sapphire.
• Superalloys and magnets — jet-engine turbine blades and heat-proof power-station alloys lean on cobalt, while Alnico magnets (aluminium-nickel-cobalt) stay strong to high temperatures.

Where you meet it

• The phone in your pocket — its battery very likely holds a few grams of cobalt, most of it mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The fish, meat, eggs and liver of a Bengali plate supply the $\mathrm{B_{12}}$ whose cobalt centre keeps nerves and blood cells in order.
• A deep-blue glazed pot, a mosque tile or an old blue bottle — each owes its colour to a pinch of cobalt.