What does the name sulphur mean?

The name can be traced back to the Latin word sulpur. It means ointment. Sulphur was once used as an ointment for skin diseases. Sulphurous mud is still used today in volcanic healing springs to treat skin diseases.

Sulphur is a special mineral. 
It consists of the element sulphur. 
Minerals consisting of only one element are called pure or solid. 
Other solid elements are, for example, gold, silver or 
graphite and diamond, both of which consist only of carbon.

Sulphur looks lemon-yellow.

Many people think that sulphur stinks. 
This is not true. Pure, solid sulphur is odourless and tasteless. 
The bad odour is produced by sulphur compounds. 
These include the gas hydrogen sulphide. 
It not only gives volcanoes their stinking odour, 
but also rotten eggs or a fart.

Burning sulphur produces a blue flame.

Sulphur is a soft, brittle mineral. 
You can scratch it with your fingernail and 
cut it easily with a knife.

Sulphur is found everywhere on earth: 
in the soil, in the air, in water - even in animals and plants.

Pure, solid sulphur is often formed in volcanoes. 
Fumaroles are particularly productive. 
Hot gas escapes from cracks there. 
Sulphur crystals then crystallise out as the gas cools.

Because sulphur is a highly reactive element, 
it does not like to be left alone. 
It combines with other elements to form various minerals. 
These include pyrite (fool's gold), gypsum, galena (lead glance), 
but also many silver minerals such as freibergite and argyrodite.

Sulphur is also present in hard coal and lignite.

Sulphur is found in hair, but also in foods such as mustard and eggs.

Sulphur has been used by humans for 7,000 years. 
Egyptians and Chinese used it to bleach textiles and 
as a medicine for disinfection.

Alongside fossil raw materials such as crude oil, natural gas, 
salt and lime, sulphur is the most important substance 
in the chemical industry. 
80-90% of this sulphur is used to produce sulphuric acid. 
The remaining sulphur is processed into sulphur dioxide, putty, 
gunpowder, sulphur paints, matches and paper, for example.