It is readily soluble in warm dilute mineral acids forming cobaltous salts.
It dissolves in acids forming cobaltous salts, and on exposure to air it rapidly absorbs oxygen, turning brown in colour.
Cobalt dioxide, Co02, has not yet been isolated in the pure state; it is probably formed when iodine and caustic soda are added to a solution of a cobaltous salt.
The cobaltous salts are formed when the metal, cobaltous oxide, hydroxide or carbonate, are dissolved in acids, or, in the case of the insoluble salts, by precipitation.
The most common of these sulphides is cobaltous sulphide, CoS, which occurs naturally as syepoorite, and can be artificially prepared by heating cobaltous oxide with sulphur, or by fusing anhydrous cobalt sulphate with barium sulphide and common salt.
