All the Elements
Argon
Ar - It makes up 1.28% of the Earth's atmosphere. - It was the first noble gas to be discovered. - Argon is a colorless, odorless, and non-toxic material in all three of its states. - Even though it is not poisonous, it can still cause suffocation because it displaces air due to its high density. - Argon is 38% denser than air, so it remains close to the ground when used.
Actinium
Ac - It is extremely rare. - It was discovered in pitchblende residues after radium was extracted. - It is found in traces of uranium ore. - Its high radioactivity creates a glowing pale blue light. - It is about 150 times more radioactive than radium.
Silver
Ag - Silver was found to be separated from lead by civilizations are early as 3000 BC. - Its uses were mentioned as far back as the Bible, in the book of Genesis. - Silver is an even better electrical conductor than copper, but its high cost makes it less attractive for electrical wiring. - Of all the metals, silver also has the highest thermal conductivity. - It has the lowest level of contact resistance.
Aluminium
Al - Aluminium is present in more than 270 minerals. - It is the most abundant mineral on Earth after oxygen and silicon. - It is also the most abundant metal found naturally on Earth. - Aluminium is globally the most used metal that does not contain iron. - Aluminium is almost always used as an alloy, even if the aluminium content is as high as 99%.
Arsenic
As - It was used during the Bronze Age to strengthen the alloy. - Arsenic is still used to harden alloys, specifically lead and copper. - Arsenic has three common allotropes, gray, yellow, and black arsenic. - Gray arsenic is the most stable form. - Yellow arsenic is the most unstable and the most poisonous.
Americium
Am - It was discovered as a by-product of the Manhattan Project when testing the atomic bomb. - It is created by bombarding plutonium with neutrons. - It is very expensive to produce in usable quantities. - The element name americium is for America. - Americium is a shiny silver radioactive metal.
Astatine
At - Astatine was discovered in 1940 by Dale Corson, Kenneth McKenzie, and Emilio Segre at Berkley. - It wasn't until three years later, however, that astatine was found in nature. - Since astatine is usually only found as a state of another heavier element in the process of radioactive decay, astatine is one of the rarest elements on Earth. - Only up to one gram of astatine at a time has ever been discovered in nature. - Astatine cannot be seen with the naked eye, since a large enough sample would immediately disintegrate due to its own radioactivity.
Gold
Au - The world's largest gold bar weighs 250 kg (551 lb). - Gold has been discovered on every continent on earth. - Gold is edible. - Our bodies contain about 0.2 milligrams of gold, most of it in our blood. - Earthquakes turn water into gold.
Boron
B - Some common compounds of boron are borax, boric acid, colemanite, kernite, ulexite, and borates. - Pure boron is extremely difficult to produce, even in laboratory conditions, because of its propensity to join with carbon. - Historically, borax glazes have been used by far-reaching cultures as early as AD300. - Boron is used in a number of well-known cleaning agents in the compound form borax. - Another compound, boric acid, is lethal to insects but not harmful to mammals, and is therefore used in pesticides.
Barium
Ba - Sir Humphry Davy discovered barium in 1808. - Its name comes from the Greek word meaning "heavy." - Barium in barite mineral form was part of ancient witchcraft or folklore because the stones would glow after exposure to light. - Barium readily oxidizes in air to produce a dark gray coating. - It reacts exothermically with water to release hydrogen gas.
Beryllium
Be - It is a hard metal but is brittle at room temperature. - Its low atomic number and low absorption of Xrays makes it perfect for use in Xray tubes. - Beryllium has a long history, having been known to the ancient Egyptians in beryl and in emeralds. - Beryllium is present in over 100 minerals but is difficult to extract - Beryllium foil is used in nuclear weapons.
Iron
Fe -Iron is the sixth most common element in the universe. - Iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust by weight. - It is the most abundant element in the total composition of the planet. - Iron is found in both the inner and outer core of Earth. - Iron is found on rocky planets as an aftereffect of fusion in stars of higher mass.
Bismuth
Bi - Bismuth has been in use since ancient times, and was previously confused with both lead and tin. - While no single person is credited with its discovery, it wasn't until 1753 that Claude Geoffroy discovered that it was a separate element. - Bismuth was among the first group of ten metals to be discovered and classified. - Bismuth crystals grow in an odd, staircase-shaped formation due to a greater growth rate on its outside edges than on the inside. - Bismuth is one of only a few elements whose liquid state has a higher density than its solid state.
Berkelium
Bk - The chemical element berkelium is classed as an actinide metal. - It was discovered in 1949 by Stanley Thompson, Albert Ghiorso and Glenn Seaborg. - Berkelium is silvery-white. - Berkelium tends to accumulate in the skeletal system. - Berkelium is artificially produced, and has only been produced in relatively small amounts.
Bromine
Br - Bromine was discovered by Antoine J Balard in 1826. - It was used for important purposes long before it was formally discovered. - Two separate scientists isolated bromine, including one who was still in school. - Carl Lowig's school work prevented him from publishing his findings on bromine, leaving Balard to beat him to it. - Bromine does not occur naturally on Earth as an element.
Carbon
C - About 20% of the weight of living organisms is carbon. - More compounds are known which contain carbon than don't. - Diamond is an excellent abrasive because it is the hardest common material and it also has the highest thermal conductivity. It can grind down any substance, while the heat generated by friction is swiftly conducted away. - The carbon atoms in your body were all once part of the carbon dioxide fraction of the atmosphere. - Graphene is the thinnest, strongest material ever known.
Calcium
Ca - In order for humans to absorb calcium, we need a special vitamin = Vitamin D. Without the vitamin D, we can drink as much milk, or take as many supplements of calcium as we want - we won't be able to use it! - It is used to make cement, cheese, removing nonmetal from different metal mixes (called alloys) - It is also is used as an agent in the preparation of other metals. - Pure calcium is actually a metal, and reacts very strongly, sometimes violently (explosively) with water and acids. - The best sources of calcium in the diet are milk, yogurt, and cheese.
Cadmium
Cd - There are no substantial deposits of cadmium ores. - Cadmium is typically produced as a derivative of the processes involved in mining ores of zinc, lead, or copper. - Since cadmium is most often found as an impurity in zinc that Stromeyer and Hermann studied, the main source of cadmium is the refining of zinc. - A typical one ton sample of zinc led to the production of only 6.5 pounds of cadmium. - There are eight isotopes of cadmium, two of which are radioactive.
Cerium
Ce - Jons Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger discovered it as a team in Sweden, while Martin Heinrich Klaproth discovered it in Germany. - It was named by Berzelius after the Ceres dwarf planet that had been discovered only two years before. - Of all the rare earth metals—so named because they are less abundant than other metals but not necessarily rare in occurrence—cerium is the most abundant. - It is practically non-existent in the atmosphere. - One of the key industrial uses for cerium is as a catalytic converter for automobiles to reduce carbon monoxide emissions.
Californium
Cf - Californium was discovered by bombarding curium with alpha particles. - It is the heaviest element by weighable amounts. - It was first produced by Stanley Thompson, Kenneth Street, Albert Ghiorso and Glenn Seaborg in 1950 in California. - It's in portable metal detectors. - Treats certain cervical and brain cancers when radiation therapy is ineffective.
Chlorine
Cl - Chlorine has been in use for thousands of years in other forms, but it wasn't named until 1810 by Sir Humphry Davy. - Only fluorine is a lighter halogen than chlorine. - It is the second most common halogen on Earth. - The element itself is the 21st most common element, at about 170 parts per million. - It took almost 200 years from the discovery of chlorine gas for it to become recognized as an element.
Curium
Cm - Curium is a chemical element. - It is a radioactive metal. - Curium is a transuranic element. - It is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. - Curium was named after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre.
Cobalt
Co - Georg Brandt is credited with isolating cobalt in 1735. - Even before its formal discovery, cobalt had been in use throughout history. - Cobalt pigments, specifically the blue, have been used for thousands of years. - The use of cobalt as a coloring agent dates back to the Bronze Age. - Historically, cobalt has been identified in ancient Egyptian art and Persian jewelry.
Chromium
Cr - Chromium was used in ancient times, specifically by the ancient Chinese. - The weapons of the famous Terracotta Army of the Qin Dynasty in China were tipped with chromium deposits, which helped prevent tarnishing. - As early as the 1700's, chromium was used to create highly sought after pigments, specifically red and yellow. - It has long had uses as a shiny coating for pipes and car parts, commonly known as chrome. - 85% of chromium produced goes towards creating metal alloys.
Cesium
Cs - Cesium was discovered by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in 1860. - Its name, which is Latin for "sky blue," comes from the blue emission lines it gives off in spectroscopy. - It was the first element ever to be discovered using the newly created spectroscope. - Its discoverers had invented the spectroscope the year before. Cesium immediately explodes in water.
Copper
Cu - Copper occurs in nature in its native form. - Copper is found in the Earth's crust at about fifty parts per million. - The largest single piece of natural copper weighed 420 tons, and was discovered in the US in 1857. - Its history as a metal used by civilizations dates back at least 10,000 years. - Other than the use of copper, only meteoric iron and gold have been used longer.
Fermium
Fm - It is created by bombarding plutonium with neutrons. - Only a very little amount of it has been produced so little is known about its chemical characteristics. - Its discovery was kept secret until 1955 due to the Cold War. - Fermium was co-discovered by Albert Ghiorso and Glenn Seaborg in 1952. - There is no known uses of fermium outside of basic research.
Germanium
Ge - Germanium is another element that was predicted by Mendeleev in 1871. - It wasn't discovered until 1886 when Clemens Alexander Winkler isolated it in the mineral argyrodite. - Winkler decided to name this new element after the newly discovered planet Neptune, but the name was already taken. - He named germanium after his home country of Germany instead. - Germanium in a pure form is too highly reactive to occur naturally.
Dysprosium
Dy - Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran is credited with the discovery of dysprosium. - He found dysprosium after dissolving it in oxide form in acid. He then added ammonia in order to precipitate a hydroxide. - It took him over 30 attempts to finally obtain dysprosium. - Dysprosium is appropriately named for the Greek term, dysprositos, which means "hard to get". - In fact, the purest form of the element was unable to be isolated until sometime during the 1950s, after the ion exchange technology had been developed.
Erbium
Er - The element erbium or Er is a silvery-white, malleable rare earth metal belonging to the lanthanide group. - While you may not recognize this element on sight, you can credit the pink color of glass and man-made gems to its ion. - Erbium was one of three elements found in "yttria" that Mosander separated from the mineral gadolinite. - Although Erbium was discovered in the mid-19th century, it was not isolated as a pure element until 1935 because the group of elements had such similar properties. - W. Klemm and H. Bommer purified erbium by reducing anhydrous erbium chloride with potassium vapor.
Einsteinium
Es - Einsteinium is classed as an actinide metal. - It was discovered in 1952 by a project led by Albert Ghiorso. - It is solid at room temperature and it's melting point is 860° C. - However, its exact boiling point is still unknown. - Einsteinium is soft and silvery in color.
Europium
Eu - The name originates as it was named after the continent of Europe - Europium is the most reactive of the rare earth elements. - The most common uses of Europium are in Color televisions - It has been used in some type of plastics to make lasers. - Since it is a good absorber of neutrons Europium is being studied for use in nuclear reactors.
Fluorine
F - It is difficult to store fluorine as it is corrosive to most metals. - Fluorine is the lightest of the halogens and has only one stable isotope, F-19. - It is the most electro-negative element on Earth. - Fluorine is the thirteenth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. - It is usually only found in compounds due to its high level of reactivity.
Francium
Fr - Marguerite Perey finally discovered francium in 1939 at the Curie Institute. - Unlike the previous researchers, Perey discovered francium in the decay residue of actinium-227. - Actinium-227 is the primary natural source of francium, while only trace amounts can be found in minerals of uranium and thorium. - As of 2012, there has not been enough francium produced to weigh the amount. - It has the highest equivalent weight of all elements.
Gallium
Ga - Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered gallium in 1875 using a spectroscope. - Some of the alloys of gallium with other metals are liquid at room temperature. - Now, gallium is primarily important for microelectronics, specifically microwaves - Gallium is also used to produce blue or violet LEDs. - Gallium does not occur in its natural elemental state but is extracted from several minerals.
Gadolinium
Gd - Lecoq de Boisbaudran separated gadolinium from its oxide in 1886. He named the element for Finnish Chemist Johan Gadolin, the discoverer of the first rare earth element. - French chemist and engineer Felix Trombe was the first to purify gadolinium in 1935. - Gadolinium is one of the light rare earth elements belonging to the lanthanide series. - Gadolinium is silvery, malleable, ductile metal with a metallic sheen. - It is fluorescent and tends to have a faintly yellowish tint.
Hydrogen
H - Hydrogen is an essential element of our world. In fact, hydrogen makes up about 75% of the mass of the universe. It is found in the sun and most stars. - Hydrogen is the simplest and lightest element on the periodic table of elements. - Hydrogen gas is always bonded to itself or something else to fill its outer shell. That is why hydrogen gas is represented as H2. - Hydrogen is odorless, colorless, and tasteless; therefore, it is undetectable by human senses. - Hydrogen is highly flammable but will not ignite unless an oxidizer (air) and ignition source are present.
Helium
He - Helium is a colorless, tasteless and odorless gas. - Helium is the second most common element in the Universe (after hydrogen), making up around 24% of its mass. - Helium is part of a group of chemical elements called noble gases, the other five that occur naturally are neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. - Helium is the second least reactive element after neon. - The US is the world's largest supplier of helium, with many reserves found in large natural gas fields.
Hafnium
Hf - Hafnium wasn't discovered until 1923 by Dirk Coster and Georg von Hevesy. - The pair discovered hafnium by using x-ray spectroscopy on a sample of zirconium ore. - At the time of its discovery, hafnium was one of the two non-radioactive elements that had been predicted but had not yet been discovered. - Hafnium does not exist in nature on its own but is combined with zirconium to form minerals. - It reacts in the air and forms a film to protect the sample.
Mercury
Hg - Mercury has been in use by ancient civilizations since before 2000BC. - It symbol comes from its historically used Latin name, hydrargyrum, meaning "liquid silver." - Tubes of mercury have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to the early 1500's BC. - Civilizations as early as 500 BC used mercury to create amalgams with other metals. - Due to ignorance of its toxic properties, both the Greeks and Romans used mercury in medical ointments and beauty products.
Holmium
Ho - Used in Nuclear reactors - Holmium metal is very soft and malleable. - Holmium metal is well known for its corrosion resistivity. - The name Holmium originates from the Latin word Holmia meaning Stockholm. - Found in minerals, mining, ores of minerals
Iodine
I - Iodine was discovered in 1811 by Barnard Courtois. - He named it iodine from the Greek word "iodes" which means violet. Iodine is fairly rare in both the Earth's crust and in the solar system. - Iodine is the 47th most abundant element in the solar system. - It is the 60th most common element in the Earth's crust. - It is a blue-black solid.
Indium
In - Friedrich Reich and Theodor Richter discovered indium in 1863. - After isolating zinc chloride from several minerals, they searched for the element thallium using spectroscopy. - There are less than ten known indium minerals, and none are found in major deposits on Earth. - Indium is a poor metal, as its melting and boiling points are lower than the transition metals. - Indium does not react with water.
Iridium
Ir - Iridium's discovery has an origin very similar to that of osmium. - Scientists dissolved platinum in aqua regia, only to find a dark residue that resembled graphite. - Smithson Tennant discovered the residue to contain osmium and iridium in 1803. - He published his work and officially named both elements in 1804. - It wasn't until 1842 that a scientist, Robert Hare, was able to obtain a sample of pure iridium.
Potassium
K - Potassium is the seventh most abundant element on Earth. - It was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy in 1807. - Potassium was the first elemental metal to be found through electrolysis. - It makes up roughly 1.5% by mass of the Earth's crust. - Potassium is not available in nature as a pure element.
Krypton
Kr - Krypton was discovered by Sir William Ramsay in 1898 and his student Morris Travers. - Ramsay and Travers were studying the residue of boiled liquid air. - They found krypton to be left over after oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium, and water had been removed from the air. - Krypton is odorless and colorless. - Krypton is a member of the noble gases.
Lanthanum
La - Lanthanum was discovered by a Swedish scientist, Carl Gustaf Mosander, in 1839. - It wasn't until 1923, though, that a fairly pure sample of the element was produced. - What does contribute to lanthanum being a rare earth metal is the difficulty and expense of mining the substance from its two primary ores, monazite, and bastnasite. - Due to its readily oxidizing characteristic, pure lanthanum is only used for research purposes. - It is highly malleable and can easily be cut with a knife.
Lithium
Li - Although it is a metal, it is soft enough to cut with a knife. - It is so light it can float on water. - Lithium fires are difficult to put out. You can't use water as water will react with the lithium and could make the fire worse. A powder fire extinguisher is needed. - Along with hydrogen and helium, lithium was one of the three elements produced in large quantities by the Big Bang. - When burning, lithium gives off a bright red flame.
Lutetium
Lu - Charles James, Georges Urbain, and Carl Auer von Welsbach each extracted lutetium from a sample of the mineral ytterbia. - After dispute between the three scientists, Urbain was allowed to name the element because his results were published first. - Lutetium atoms are the smallest of any of the lanthanides. - The contraction which causes that small size also causes lutetium to have the highest melting point, the highest density, and the highest hardness of all lanthanides. - There are two naturally occurring isotopes of lutetium.
Magnesium
Mg - Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. - It is the ninth most abundant element in the universe. - Magnesium is not found on Earth as a free element. - It is a fairly strong metal with a silvery-white color. - It has approximately two-thirds the density of aluminum, making it strong but lightweight.
Manganese
Mn - Johann Gottlieb Gahn was the first scientist to isolate manganese from pyrolusite in 1774. - Pyrolusite, as it was called, is now known as manganese dioxide. - Cave paintings dating from the Stone Age contained manganese pigments. - Manganese resembles iron, but with a silver gray color. - It is part of the iron group of elements.
Molybdenum
Mo - Carl Wilhelm Scheele of Sweden discovered molybdenum in 1781. - He was experimenting with molybdenite ore, which was always believed to contain lead. - Scheele demonstrated that the element was not lead, and named the new element after the mineral. - Molybdenum is not a naturally occurring element, but is always found in its different states within other minerals. - Molybdenum is vital for the enzymes in bacteria to undergo nitrogen fixation.
Promethium
Pm - The original spelling of the name promethium was prometheum. - The element is named for Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the Greek gods to give to mankind. - Promethium is prepared in a lab. It is extremely rare on Earth, although it has been detected in pitchblende specimens from the radioactive decay of uranium. - The pure metal has a silvery appearance. Salts of promethium glow pale blue or green, due to radioactive decay. - Because of its radioactivity, promethium is considered toxic.
Nitrogen
N - Nitrogen is a chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number of 7. - Under normal conditions nitrogen is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas. - Nitrogen makes up around 78% of the air you breathe. - Nitrogen is present in all living things, including the human body and plants. - Nitrogen gas is used in food storage to keep packaged or bulk foods fresh.
Sodium
Na - It is the sixth most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. - Sodium is found in many minerals. - Most of its salts are water soluble. - Sodium was first isolated from sodium hydroxide by Humphry Davy in 1807. - Sodium is a vital element for living organisms.
Niobium
Nb - Niobium didn't have a commercial use until the 1900s. - It is used primarily for alloying with other metals. - One of the most common niobium alloys is ferroniobium, where it is combined with iron. - Niobium alloys also produce a highly-specialized steel that is used to stronger create gas pipelines. - Niobium alloys are also used in rocket and jet engines due to its superior strength at extremely high temperatures.
Neodymium
Nd - Austrian scientist Carl Gustav von Weisbach discovered neodymium at the same time that he discovered praseodymium. - It is most often found as a component in monazite and bastnasite minerals. - Neodymium is one of the more reactive of the rare earth metals, so it quickly begins to oxidize in air. - While neodymium's chief use was as a reddish-purple pigment for glass and ceramics, it has other applications in cryocoolers and as a fertilizer. - Neodymium, when alloyed with iron and boron, produces the strongest permanent magnets known to exist.
Neon
Ne - While experimenting on liquid air, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers discovered neon in 1898. - Neon is left over, along with krypton and xenon, when nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide are removed from air. - It can be created commercially as the byproduct of liquefaction of air. - Neon is about two-thirds as dense as air. - Neon is the second lightest inert gas, as well as being the second lightest noble gas after helium.
Nickel
Ni - Pure nickel is rarely found on Earth. - Nickel's use by civilization's dates back to at least 3500 BC. - It was first discovered to be an element by Alex Fredrik Cronstedt in 1751. - Cronstedt originally thought he was working with copper when he discovered it. - Nickel is considered to be corrosion-resistant.
Neptunium
Np - It was named after the planet Neptune. - American physicist and Nobel laureate Edwin McMillan, and Philip H. Abelson, a physicist and a scientific editor, are the people who were responsible for discovering it - It was discovered in 1940, at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory - Neptunium is a radioactive metallic element. - The chemical elements which possess an atomic number greater than 92 are known as 'transuranic elements'. Neptunium, is known to be the first of such elements.
Oxygen
O - One fifth of the Earth's atmosphere is made up of oxygen and is the third most abundant element in the universe by mass. - Oxygen is the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's biosphere. - The high concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is a result of Earth's oxygen cycle, which is predominantly driven by photosynthesis of plants. - Leonardo da Vinci first proposed that air was made up of two gases, one for breathing and one for fueling fire. - Joseph Priestly is traditionally credited with discovering oxygen in 1774.
Osmium
Os - Smithson Tennant and William Hyde Wollaston discovered osmium in 1803. - The discovery of osmium is linked to the discovery of platinum since osmium is the black residue left over after platinum is dissolved in aqua regia. - Mid-eighteenth century scientists believed the black residue to be graphite, but it was proven to be a new element. - Tennant also discovered iridium in the residue with the osmium, and notified the British Royal Society of the discovery on June 21, 1804. - Osmium is the rarest of all stable elements.
Phosphorus
P - Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus in 1669 by extracting it from buckets of urine. - It is sometimes referred to as the "Devil's Element," because it was the thirteenth element discovered and because of its explosive properties. - Phosphorus was the first element discovered that had not already been in use by civilizations for hundreds of years. - Three other allotropes, violet phosphorus, scarlet phosphorus and black phosphorus, are less common. - It is a vital part of living cells, including nervous tissue, bones, and the protoplasm of many cells.
Protactinium
Pa - Protactinium is rarely used. - It is very toxic. - It is radioactive. - Its formed by the decay of Uranium. - Most of Protactinium comes from Thorium which is in nuclear reactors.
Lead
Pb - Lead has been in use by ancient civilizations for thousands of years, and is mentioned in the second book of the Old Testament. - Lead pipes on the baths have the official insignia of the Roman emperor and are still in use today. - Lead has a long history in alchemy, since many alchemists believed lead could be turned into gold. - Lead is one of the toxic elements whose poisonous properties were discovered even by early civilizations, and lead poisoning has been documented in writings from ancient Greek, Roman, and Chinese. - Lead acts as a neurotoxin, damaging the central nervous system.
Palladium
Pd - Palladium is a member of the platinum group metals, with five other elements. - Palladium is the least dense of any of the platinum group metals. - There are seven natural isotopes of palladium. - Palladium does not tarnish under normal conditions because it does not react with oxygen. - In order to tarnish by forming a coating of palladium oxide, it must be heated to at least 800 degrees Celsius.
Platinum
Pl - During World War II, non-military use of Platinum was banned in the United States, as it was deemed a strategic metal. - Platinum is hypo-allergenic. This is the reason why Platinum has so many medical and dental applications and a large factor in it's popularity as jewelry. - Platinum was known to the pre-Columbian people and discovered by modern man in the 1700's, - It was not possible to produce the metal in quantity or work with it until the advancement of technology in the nineteenth century. - To refine just one ounce of pure platinum, around 10 tons of ore must be mined. The refining process takes around 6 months to complete.
Polonium
Po - In 1898, Marie Curie discovered polonium while trying to determine the cause of pitchblende's radioactivity. - When the uranium and thorium were removed from the sample of pitchblende, Curie and her husband Pierre discovered that it somehow became even more radioactive. - It was the first element she ever discovered. - Polonium was named after her native country of Poland in an attempt to bring attention to its lack of independence. - Opinion varies on whether polonium is a metal or metalloid element.
Praseodymium
Pr - Praseodymium is named from the Greek word for green, since it oxidizes slowly in air to form a green coating. - This green oxidation coating undergoes a process called spalling, which causes it to flake off. - Storing praseodymium in mineral oil or in sealed glass prevents this oxidation. - Praseodymium's chief commercial use history was as a yellow stain for glass and ceramic making, and that continues to be its major use today. - It also serves a role in alloying to strengthen magnesium for aircraft manufacturing, and in creating yellow cubic zirconia or simulated peridot for jewelry making.
Plutonium
Pu - It was named after the dwarf planet Pluto (which was considered a full planet at the time). - Plutonium was discovered by a team of scientists at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory in California in 1940. - The discovery of plutonium was kept secret until 1946 because of World War II. - Plutonium is used in both nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. - It was used to create the second nuclear weapon deployed during World War II which was the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
Radium
Ra - Radium was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898. - They extracted the element from a sample of the mineral uraninite. - Radium was discovered after the radioactive uranium was isolated, leaving behind another material that was still radioactive. - Twelve years after its discovery, Marie Curie and Andre-Louis Debierne isolated the pure metal form of radium. - Radium was the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
Rubidium
Rb - Rubidium was discovered by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in 1861. - The pair discovered rubidium spectroscopically and named it for the red colored spectroscopic lines. - Rubidium is one of the most alkaline elements. -It spontaneously ignites in air. - Rubidium has a very violent reaction with water when it ignites the hydrogen that is freed during the reaction.
Rhenium
Re - Mendeleev predicted an element with rhenium's characteristics when he designed his periodic table. - The credit for rhenium's discovery is typically awarded to Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke Noddack, and Otto Berg in 1925. - The trio named the element after the Rhine River in Germany. - Three years after discovering it in several different minerals and ores, the team extracted one gram of rhenium. - Rhenium was the last element to be discovered that had a stable isotope; other elements have been discovered since that time, but they are radioactive.
Rhodium
Rh - Rhodium was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. - He was experimenting with South American platinum ores, and had already discovered palladium in the same way. - Red rhodium salts were a byproduct of his experiment with the ore, and from those salts Wollaston extracted the rhodium metal. - Rhodium has a considerably high reflectance. - It does not usually form an oxide.
Strontium
Sr - In 1808, Sir Humphry Davy isolated the element strontium from the strontianite. - While originally a silvery white color, strontium turns yellow when exposed to air. - Strontium is an alkaline earth metal that is even softer than calcium. - When combined with water, strontium reacts immediately to give off hydrogen gas and strontium hydroxide. - Because of the way it reacts with air and water, strontium only exists in nature when combined to form minerals.
Radon
Rn - Radon is a colorless, radioactive, inert gaseous element formed by the radioactive decay of radium. - In some areas of the country, as many as one out of two homes have high levels of radon. - Radon can be carried in oil pipelines due to its similar pressure and temperature properties to propane, which can cause the pipelines to become radioactive. - Radon's effect on the environment is a major concern for scientists and government agencies. - Many state and local governments, particularly in Iowa where radon over-concentration occurs naturally due to glacial movement on granite, have enacted radon-resistant construction legislation.
Ruthenium
Ru - It is a transition metal, and is considered very rare. - Only around twenty tons of ruthenium are produced annually. - Ruthenium is sometimes used in platinum alloys. - Its most common purpose is for creating a coating of wear-resistance. - When it is added to titanium, ruthenium causes a corrosion-resistant property.
Sulfur
S Sulfur has been in use since ancient times and is mentioned in the Bible and the Torah. Its name comes from the Sanskrit word "sulvere." One allotrope of sulfur was in used in China as long ago as the sixth century BC. Sulfur can serve as either an oxidant or as a reducing agent. Sulfur occurs naturally as an element but can also be found in a number of compounds and minerals.
Antimony
Sb - Antimony was used in ancient Egypt as a form of eyeliner (kohl). - Other items made of antimony have been found dating back to 3000 BC in Chaldea (Iraq). - The first published report on how to isolate antimony was by Vannoccio Biringuccio in 1540. - Agricola published his own description in 1556 and is therefore often incorrectly credited with discovering antimony. - Antimony's periodic symbol comes from Jons Jakob Berzelius, who used the abbreviation for stibium.
Scandium
Sc - Scandium was discovered in 1879 by Lars Fredrik Nilson, who named it after Scandinavia. - Its existence was originally predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev ten years before. - Despite the discovery, 99.9% pure scandium wasn't isolated until 1960. - Despite its silvery color, it tarnishes to a yellowish or pinkish color in the air. - Scandium is the fiftieth most abundant element on Earth, but is the 23rd most abundant element in the Sun.
Selenium
Se - Alexander Graham Bell used selenium to produce the photophone in 1879. - The selenium photophone allowed speech patterns to be transmitted on a beam of light. - It is also used today in solar technology, glass manufacturing, and alloys. - Selenium in its natural elemental state is rare. - Selenium does not readily form strong crystals.
Silicon
Si - Jacob Berzelius is typically credited with discovering silicon in 1824. - It is the eighth most abundant element in the universe by weight. - It is almost never found as a pure free element naturally. - Silicon is found in abundance in many minerals. - It is vital for life in both plants and animals.
Samarium
Sm - Samarium is the hardest member of the cerium group of rare earth metals. - Samarium is a metallic element with a bright silver luster. - The origin of name: From smarskite, a mineral - It is believed to stimulate metabolism, but it is not essential to the health of the human body. - It was observed spectroscopically by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac in dydimia in 1853.
Tin
Sn - Tin has been in use by ancient civilizations for thousands of years. - Its presence as a metal is mentioned in the Old Testament. - The symbol for tin comes from the Latin word stannum, which was known to be an alloy of lead and silver. - Early craftsmen found tin too soft to work with, but when it was alloyed with copper, bronze was formed. - Tin does not corrode in water.
Tantalum
Ta - Tantalum is highly ductile and highly conductive of both electricity and heat. - It is well known for its ability to resist corrosion by acid, even aqua regia, or the destructive nitrohydrochloric acid. - Due to tantalum's high density, gravitational separation is the most common way to extract the element from minerals. - Tantalum has been studied as a potential salting agent in nuclear weapons, which would increase the radioactive fallout and affect a wider area. - Most of the tantalum used commercially is in its powdered form for building electronics.
Terbium
Tb - Terbium was named for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. - Terbium is a member of the lanthanide or rare earth group of elements. - It is a silver- gray metal, which is relatively stable in air, is malleable and can be cut with a knife. - Three grams of pure Terbium is about 1 centimeter. - Recent advances ion - exchange techniques for separating the rare earth elements, have enabled the isolation of Terbium.
Technetium
Tc - Astronomers have since detected technetium's spectral signature in a number of stars. - Technetium serves a key role in nuclear medicine. - This is because technetium produces beta particles without gamma rays. - Technetium is the only element that is artificially produced. - This property gives technetium its name, from the Greek for "artificial."
Tellurium
Te - Tellurium was discovered in 1783 by Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein. - Von Reichenstein was a mine inspector in Transylvania, and discovered tellurium in gold ore. - Martin Heinrich Klaproth named it tellurium, after tellus for "earth." - ellurium is one of the rarest elements on Earth, but is abundant in space. - It is found on Earth with nearly the same abundance as platinum.
Thorium
Th - Thorium is a chemical element. - It is a weakly radioactive metal. - It has a shiny, silvery white color. - Thorium is named for Thor, the Norse god of thunder. - It is found in nature, especially in India, the United States, and Australia.
Yttrium
Y - In 1794, Johann Gadolin isolated yttrium in the mineral ytterbite. - This mineral was found in Ytterby, Sweden, giving it its name. - In 1828, Friedrich Wohler extracted an impure sample of yttrium by reducing anhydrous chloride and potassium. - Yttrium is a transition metal that is often called a rare earth element. - Yttrium is a soft element and is considered stable in air when in a large piece.
Titanium
Ti - Found in a wide variety of minerals, titanium is also found in every living thing. - It also occurs in rocks, soils, and all bodies of water. - Titanium's chief use is as an alloy with many different elements, including iron and aluminium. - Titanium is very resistant to corrosion and has a high strength-to-weight ratio. - Titanium can be as strong as steel, but with weights as much as 45% lighter than steel.
Thallium
Tl - Thallium was discovered by two scientists independently of each other, William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy, in 1861. - It was found as a byproduct of sulfuric acid manufacturing. - Both scientists discovered it by using the then-newly created flame spectroscopy method. - For several years after its discovery, thallium was considered to be an alkali metal due to its oxidation state. - While thallium salts have high levels of toxicity and were used in rat and insect poisons, thallium actually plays a role in nuclear medicine.
Thulium
Tm - It is the least abundant of the rare earth metals. - It is easy to work with and can be cut with a knife. - It is somewhat resistant to corrosion in dry air. - Thulium has a silvery appearance. - Swedish chemist Per Teodor Cleve discovered thulium in 1879 from an analysis of the mineral Erbia, a source of several rare earth elements.
Uranium
U - Henri Antoine Becquerel discovered that uranium was radioactive in 1896. - It's the heaviest naturally occurring element in the universe. - It's highly unstable. - If you ingest it, thank your kidneys for keeping you alive. - As a power source, it's "practically infinite."
Vanadium
V - The name vanadium came from a Norse goddess, Vanadis, but was chosen because Sefstrom realized no other element started with the letter V. - Vanadium was almost renamed "rionium" after its original discoverer, but it was rejected. - Vanadium does not appear naturally in its elemental form but is found in more than sixty-five minerals. - It is harder than most of the other elemental metals. - Vanadium has one stable isotope, V-51.
Ytterbium
Yb - This silver-colored rare earth element is one of several elements discovered from ores from a quarry in Ytterby, Sweden. - Uses of ytterbium include use as a radiation source for x-ray machines. - It is added to stainless steel to improve its mechanical properties. - It may be added as a doping agent to fiber optic cable. - It is used to make certain lasers.
Tungsten
W - Tungsten exists in four different minerals on Earth: wolframite, scheelite, ferberite, and hubnerite. - Tungsten is the heaviest of all elements known to play a biological role. - Tungsten is resistant to attack by alkalis, oxygen, and acids. - Tungsten often reacts with oxygen to form a yellowish compound, tungsten oxide. - Tungsten carbides can also be produced, typically by heating it in its powdered form.
Xenon
Xe - William Ramsay and Morris Travers discovered xenon in 1898. - Xenon was discovered shortly after they discovered krypton and neon. - Like krypton and neon, they discovered xenon by evaporating liquid air and studying the remains. - Xenon is a trace element in the Earth's atmosphere. - In its metallic state, xenon has a sky blue color.
Zinc
Zn - Zinc is the 24th most common element in the planet's crust. - Zinc is usually found with other elements like copper. - It has five naturally occurring stable isotopes. - It has been in use by workman and artisans since at least 1000 BC. - One statue made of more than 87% zinc found in modern-day Romania dates back to prehistory.
Zirconium
Zr - Martin Heinrich Klaproth discovered zirconium in Berlin in 1789. - The name zirconium comes from the Arabic word for "gold color," which is zargun. - This gold-colored gemstone was one of the compounds of zirconium, ZrSiO4. - In 1914, pure zirconium was produced by Jöns Jacob Berzelius. - Zirconium is a transition metal with a greyish white color.