Titanium is a strong, light metal that is as strong as steel. Though it is as strong as steel, it is 45 percent lighter. It has a low density, is very shiny and will burst into flames if placed in a nitrogen-rich environment. The earth is literally made out of titanium, as it's the ninth most abundant element in the earth's crust.
Titanium is a go-to element for manufacturers in a variety of industries because of its durability, malleability and resistance to infrared radiation. Industrial manufacturers include titanium in paints, rubber products and plastics. It is used to make jewelry, such as wedding bands and watches. It is also used in the health-care industry. Titanium oxide is a common ingredient in sunblock and titanium joints are used in such medical procedures as hip replacements because titanium doesn't easily corrode.
The Rev. William Gregor, a British preacher and mineralogist, discovered a previously unknown substance in 1791 while studying ilmenite, a crystalline igneous rock, in the Manaccan valley in Cornwall, England. He called the new substance manaccanite. Four years after Gregor discovered manaccanite, German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth discovered a substance he called titanium in the ore of rutile, a crystalline mineral found in metamorphic and igneous rocks. Eventually, mineralogists realized that both men had discovered the same element. Gregor received credit for discovering it first, but Klaproth's name for the new element stuck.
Klaproth chose the name titanium because of the element's unusual characteristics and strength. The word "titanium" comes from the word "titanos." In Greek mythology, Titanos, or the Titans, were the offspring of Gaia and Uranus, the primordial gods who ruled the earth and the sky. The Titans, led by Cronus, took control of the earth from Gaia and Uranus. Cronus and the other Titans were overthrown by the Olympians. Some of the Olympians, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera and Demeter, were the children of Cronus and his Titan sister, Rhea.