Cobalt can be used for many things such as alloys, laundry detergents and cobalt can even be found in paint. Cobalt has many different properties that allow it to do many interesting things. Cobalt is used for electroplating metals. This means that cobalt has the properties of coating other metals, preventing them from corroding and keeping them shiny and new. As I mentioned before, cobalt can also be used as a magnet. When Co2+ is mixed with Fe2+, current loss is reduced, allowing it to act like a magnet. This is just one of its interesting properties. Cobalt is also found in laundry detergents. This is partly where lye gets its blue color. In ancient times, people noticed that if certain cobalt ores were soaked in water, the water would turn blue. People who washed clothes would make sure not to have cobalt near their clothes, thinking it would also turn their clothes blue. But if linen or cotton fabric is soaked and washed in water stained blue with cobalt, then the fabric or linen would. appear whiter. Cobalt compounds have been used in “linen bluing” since ancient times. With these methods of washing clothes, people then came up with ideas like bleach, but that's a whole different story.