Hydrogen is a colorless and odorless gas. Although it is the most common element in the universe, free hydrogen is quite rare on earth. On earth it is common in organic compounds such as hydrocarbons--many of which are used as fuels--and of course water, made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The two heavier isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, may find use as fuels for nuclear fusion reactors. The extreme conditions needed to achive this have so far meant it requires more energy to achieve fusion than can be extracted from the reaction. If perfected, the process promises nearly unlimited energy, however.
Helium, the first noble gas, is colorless and odorless. It is the second most common element in the universe, and is the initial product of the nuclear fusion taking place in stars. On earth, helium is often found as a byproduct of natural gas deposits. There is a huge abundance of helium on earth, far more is available than is needed by current uses. It is also used in lighter than air craft such as blimps, due to its light weight and non-reactivity. Like most noble gases, it also finds use in neon lights.
Lithium is a very light, soft, reactive metal. It finds use in batteries and several lightweight materials.
Beryllium is a silvery lightweight metal. It is often used in applications where weight is a primary concern. It also finds use as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors.
Boron is fairly common and finds use in glasses (Pyrex is borosilicate glass) and cleaners (Borax). Borazon, or boron nitride, is one of the hardest substances known. Its structures is very similar to that of diamond.
Carbon occurs in a wide variety of compounds than any other element. Its unique ability to form multiple bonds to carbon and other elements are at the heart of organic chemistry, and all life on earth. Carbon compounds provide much of the earths energy today in the form of fossil fuels. Diamond, a form of pure carbon, is the hardest known substance.
Most of the earths atmosphere (about 78%) is made up of colorless, odorless nitrogen. Nitrogen in the atmosphere is fairly unreactive. Nitrogen compounds (nitrates) are important for plant growth, and also find use in explosives.
Oxygen is a colorless, odorless, and fairly reactive gas needed by most lifeforms on earth as part of their energy-production processes. It makes up about 20% of the earths atmosphere.
Fluorine is a pale yellow halogen gas, and is extremely reactive. Because of its reactivity, for many years it was not identified as a separate element. Fluoride compounds are most notably used for preventing tooth decay. Fluorine is a part of non-stick cooking surfaces, such as Teflon.
Neon is colorless noble gas. It is not known to react to form any compounds. Its best known use is in neon signs.
Sodium is a soft, silvery metal. It can be cut with a knife, and reacts very violently with water. It is used as a nuclear reactor coolant, and in a large variety of compounds. One sodium compound often mined is sodium chloride, or table salt.
Magnesium is a silvery reactive metal. It is used in applications where light weight is important. It burns extremely brightly in air, and is sometimes used as a fuse for starting other reactions. One interesting use is as a "sacraficial anode" for ships to prevent rusting in corrosive seawater. (The magnesium anode dissolves instead of the ship.)
Aluminum is a fairly soft and reactive metal. However, it forms a hard transparent coating of aluminum oxide on contact with air which prevents further reaction. Aluminum is fairly abundant. It is light in weight and finds use in a number of objects, including airplanes and cans.
Silicon is the second most abundant element in the earths crust. Silicon has a wide variety of uses, including the silicon integrated circuits used in computers. Silicon dioxide is a major component of many rocks and sand--and in its amorphous form, is the major component of glass. Many solar cells are made from silicon.
Phosphorous is an important biological element; it is part of the energy-storing molecules used by living things. Pure phosphorous is reactive and dangerous to handle.
Sulfur is a bright yellow nonmetal. Principally it is used for making sulfuric acid, which is produced in greater quantities than any other industrial chemical. Sulfur finds a wide variety of uses, but many of its compounds have objectionable odors.
Chlorine is a yellow halogen gas. It is used in bleach and killing bacteria in drinking water and pools.
Argon is the third most abundant gas in the atmostphere, after nitrogen and oxygen. It is nonreactive and forms no known compounds, but like other nobel gases finds use in neon signs and protecting reactive substances from the air.
Potassium is a reactive soft metal. Like sodium, it can be cut with a knife. It must be stored under oil; it reacts violently with water or moisture in the air. Potassium is an important nutrient for biological organisms.
Calcium is a soft silvery white metal. It is found in nature in a variety of compounds, notably limestone (calcium carbonate). It is an important component of cement, and is part of chalk.
Scandium is quite rare. ...no further data available.
Titanium is a lightweight, strong metal. Its high strength to weight ratio has made it a desired material for aircraft and spacecraft. Russia contains large deposits of titanium, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, an abundance of titanium resulted in much of it going to less extravagant projects--such as lightweight, nearly indestructible, shovels. Some lightweight eyeglass frames are now made from titanium. Titanium dioxide is a brilliant white substance, often used as a white pigment.
Vanadium is a silvery white metal. It is used to strengthen many alloys, including steel. Chromium-vanadium alloys are often used in making high quality hand tools.
Chromium is a hard and brilliantly silver-colored metal. Stainless steel is an alloy containing 10-20% chromium. Chromium is used to create a durable mirror-like coating on many objects.
Manganese is used in a number of alloy steels and for separating impurities from steel during manufacture. Potassium permanganate, a powerful oxidizer, is often used in laboratories. This dark purple compound finds use in certain types of titrations. Manganese is also used in alkaline batteries.
Iron finds a huge number of uses in modern society. Aside from its vital role in transmitting oxygen to cells in the body via hemoglobin, an iron-containing biological compound, most of the twentieth century's greatest buildings and vehicles could not have been made without steel, the principle component of which is iron. Iron is the heaviest element which can be made by stellar nucleosynthesis--thus every element heavier than iron was made not in a normal star, but in a supernova explosion of a large, massive star.
Cobalt is used in a number of high-strength alloys.
Nickel is (unsurprisingly, perhaps!) a component of the United States' 5-cent coinage. It also finds use in a variety of alloys. NiCad rechargable batteries contain nickel, along with cadmium.
Copper is notable for several reasons: it is one of the few metals which is not silvery-white in color, (it is reddish-brown), it is found uncombined in nature (it is a "noble metal"), it is an excellent electrical conductor, and has been known and used for thousands of years. American "copper" pennies have been mostly zinc with a thin coating of copper since 1982.
Zinc is a light colored metal. It is lightweight and fairly inexpensive. Galvanizing is the process of coating steel or iron products with a thin layer of zinc to prevent rusting. Since 1982, "copper" pennies in the United States have been primarily zinc with a thin copper overlayer. Zinc oxide sunscreens work by reflecting the sun's rays--these are the "sunscreens" which just look like white paint and are not absorbed into the skin. Zinc is used in both alkaline batteries (with manganese) and the older carbon-zinc "dry cell" batteries.
Gallium is a silvery metal with a suprisingly low melting point- 303K or 30°C. Gallium will melt from the heat of your hand, though at room temperature (~25°C), it is a solid.
Germanium is finding more uses in modern society as a semiconductor material. It is also often found in diodes, used to control the direction of current flow in electronic devices.
Arsenic's uses as a poison have been known since ancient times. More recently, it has found uses as in semiconductor devices. Gallium arsenide solar cells are more efficient than standard silicon ones.
Selenium is a nonmetal which is important in a few body processes in humans. Until recently it was not recognized that people need selenium in very small amounts in food.
Bromine is reddish-brown halogen liquid. It is principally extracted from seawater. It smells much like chlorine.
Krypton is a colorless, odorless gas It is often used in neon signs.
Rubidium is a highly reactive metal. Like the other alkali metals, it reacts violently with water (that is to say, it "explodes" as it releases hydrogen from the water and forms rubidium hydroxide in solution). It is used in vacuum tube devices such as cathode ray tubes (in televisions and computer monitors) and some photodetectors.
Strontium is an active metal. It creates a brilliant scarlet color in flames, which provides an easy spectroscopic test for the element. This property makes it useful in fireworks.
Yttrium compounds have a variety of uses. Red phosphors in CRT's (TVs, computer monitors, etc.) contain yttrium. It is used in some ceramics and superconducting materials.
Zirconium's most famous use may be in "fake" diamonds, often called "cubic zirconia." These are actually a zirconium silicate. It is also used in some light bulb filaments, and in some anti-perspirants (with the active ingredient aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex).
Niobium is widely used for toughening other metals. It also finds use in superconductors. Niobium was known as "columbium" for many years and some groups still use this name. It is sometimes used in jewelry.
Molybdenum, a hard white metal, is used in many steel alloys. Molybdenum disulfide is an excellent high-temperature lubricant. Some molybdenum compounds are used as orange pigments.
The periodic table had a strange hole in the middle of the 5th period until the synthesis of technetium in 1937. By far the lightest synthetic element, technetium is produced in nuclear reactors and finds use as an x-ray source for dental and other x-ray machines.
Ruthenium is used to harden titanium, platinum, and palladium alloys. It is also often used in high-quality (expensive) fountain pen tips.
Rhodium is used in auto catalytic converters. It is highly reflective, and is used in some mirrors and other optical devices.
Palladium is used in catalytic converters and certain electrical switches.
Silver has been known since ancient times, and historically was often used in coinage. As its value grew, it became less desirable to use silver as coinage. Silver coins for regular circulation were last minted in the United States in 1965. Silver finds extensive use in photography, which is based on latent images created in silver halide compounds. Most modern "button cell" batteries, such as used in hearing aids, contain silver (previously the contained toxic mercury). Some electronics also make use of silver for wiring. Silver tarnishes easily in air. It is a powerful antibacterial agent, and has been used as a medicine.
Cadmium is a poisonous metal. It is an important component of the common nickel-cadmium, or NiCad, rechargeable batteries. It is also used in some light detectors in an amalgam of mercury, cadmium, and tellurium.
Indium is becoming more important in some semiconductor applications. Indium antimodide light detectors are used in some laboratory work. Natural indium consists of about 50% nonradioactive and 50% radioactive indium.
Tin has been known since ancient times. Bronze, an important alloy of tin and copper, was extensively used in ancient times and to a lesser degree today. When people learned to cast iron 3000 years ago, bronze became less important as a weapons material, but bronze castings were still used for art works, bells, and applications where corrosion-resistance was more important than stiffness and strength.
Antimony has been known since ancient times. Its symbol, Sb, comes from its common ore, stibnite. Antimony compounds were once commonly used in cosmetics such as eyeliner and eyeshadow.
Tellurium is often used as a component of semiconductors. It has a silver-white metallic appearance.
Iodine is a deep purple, almost black, nonmetal. Iodine crystals sublime into a purple vapor at atmospheric pressure. Iodine is a strong antimicrobial agent, and is used to treat minor cuts with a solution of iodine in alcohol.
Xenon is a colorless, odorless, nobel gas. Its high atomic weight gives it some unique properties. The only heavier known elemental gas is radon, which is strongly radioactive. Xenon has been suggested as a spacecraft fuel in ion engines, which accelerate xenon ions between two charged plates to produce thrust. Ion engines are very fuel-efficient, but very slow-starting compared to conventional rocket engines. Like other nobel gases, xenon is produced by condensing and separating it from air.
Cesium is the most electropositive common element. (Francium is too rare to have been adequately characterized.) It has been used in prototype ion engines for spacecraft, but more recent designs have used the far less reactive xenon. It has a very low melting point and is generally a liquid at room temperature.
Barium is an active metal that finds use in medicine for viewing the human digestive system. Although barium ions are extremely poisonous in solution, a slurry of the nearly insoluble compound barium sulfate may be drunk to make the digestive tract appear on x-rays. (Like most heavier elements, barium is fairly opaque to x-rays.)
Lanthanum is a soft metal which can be cut with a knife. Its main use is in high-intensity lighting, as used in photography and video work.
Cerium is the most common rare-earth, or lanthanide, element. It is used to make heat-resistant alloys.
Praseodymium is a soft, silver-yellow metal. It is used to color glass and in electrodes in high-intensity discharge lighting.
Neodymium is used in some colored ceramic glazes. Neodymium glasses have unique optical properties, and are used in some high-powered lasers.
Promethium is a radioactive element first discovered in fallout from nuclear weapons testing in the 1940s. Its longest lived isotope has a half life of less than 18 years. There is no natural promethium on earth. Crystals of promethium salts glow due to its radioactivity.
Samarium was named by its 1879 discoverer, Boisbaudran, "samaria" from the mineral he detected it in, samarskite. Samarskite was named after a Russian miner named Samarski, making samarium the first element named after a person.
Europium is used, along with yttrium, to make the red phosphors for televisions. Many europium (and other lanthanide) compounds are fluorescent or phosphorescent.
Gadolinium is used in powerful rare-earth magnets. Due to its magnetic properties, it is also used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scans) as a contrast-enhancement agent. NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, is chemistry's equivalent to MRI scans. Here, gadolinum compounds spread out NMR spectra making them easier to interpret.
Terbium is a silver-gray metal used in some green phosphors, and with zirconium oxide for improving high temperature fuel cells.
Dysprosium is used in nuclear reactor control rods as a neutron absorber.
Holmium is used in nuclear reactor control rods because it is a good neutron absorber. The control rods are pushed into the reactor to slow down the reaction by absorbing some of the neutrons being produced by the reactor.
Erbium, like many lanthanides, is used to color ceramic glazes. Erbium oxide is pink.
Thulium is a soft, silver-gray metal. It can be cut with a knife. It is fairly rare and has few uses, though Tm-170 has been used as a source in x-ray machines.
Ytterbium is fairly rare and has few known uses.
Lutetium is the most expensive rare-earth (lanthanide) element. It has few known uses, though radioactive lutetium has been used as a catalyst for various chemical reactions.
Hafnium is often used for nuclear reactor control rods, as it absorbs neutrons very well. It is extremely difficult to separate hafnium from zirconium, where hafnium is often an impurity, and vice-versa.
Tantalum is widely used in capacitors (devices which store electric charge). Tantalum oxide is used in certain glasses with high refractive indexes.
Tungsten is a heavy, dense metal. It is most commonly found around the home in light bulb filaments. Its high melting point make it useful in high-temperature alloys.
Rhenium is a heavy, dense metal. It is used in certain light filaments, and in a variety of high-temperature thermometers. It finds use in a number of catalysts as well.
Osmium is one of the densest metals. It is blue-gray in color. It is very hard to work (shape) osmium. Historically, it was often used in phonograph (record player) needles.
Iridium is far more common on asteroids and meteorites than in native earth deposits. Because of this, the presence of a worldwide layer of iridium in sediments 65 million years old has led some palentologists to suggest that a comet or asteroid strike killed the dinosaurs.... Motorola's "Iridium" satellite network, the world's first personal satellite phone service, was so named because original designs for the system called for 77 satellites, and iridium is the 77th element. The system was later redesigned to require only 66 satellites, but the name stuck. Presumably the "Dysprosium" network didn't have the same ring to it!
Platinum, or white gold, is valuable as a catalyst and in electrical applications. It is also, of course, used in jewelry.
Gold has been known and used for thousands of years, because of its beauty and because it is readily found uncombined in nature. It is one of the few colored metals (it is yellow). (Because of this it is often called a "noble metal.") Gold is an excellent conductor of electricity, is very malleable (can be easily worked and pounded into very thin, strong sheets) and ductile (can be stretched into long, thin wires).
Mercury, or quicksilver, has been known for thousands of years. As the only liquid metal, it has found a myriad of uses. It is easily extracted from its natural ore, cinnabar, a red compound of mercury and sulfur (HgS) by simple heating. Mercury is used in thermometers and pressure gauges, in dental fillings, and in switches. Alloys containing mercury are known as amalgams.
Thallium is a poisonous metal. It was once used in rat poisons.
Lead is a soft, dense metal. It is easily worked and readily obtained, which led the Romans to use it to create the first high-pressure water distribution systems with their aqueducts through major cities. Unfortunately, some have suggested that this may have led to widespread lead poisoning among the upper classes in Roman society. Some lead compounds are highly colored--in the 18th and 19th centuries lead compounds were used to color candies. Lead-acid batteries are used in nearly all automobiles.
Bismuth is the heaviest known element with at least one nonradioactive isotope. One bismuth compound is the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol...but the pink coloring was added as marketing gimmick.
Polonium is a rare radioactive element. Most is produced in nuclear reactors. Polonium glows because of its radioactivity.
Astatine is a radioactive halogen. Though tiny amounts occur in nature, most astatine has been produced in nuclear reactors. All isotopes have short half-lives. Astatine has no known uses, but is presumed to be chemically like the other halogens.
Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive noble gas. It is a serious health hazard, and in some parts of the world can seep into basements. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking.
Francium is presumably the most electropositive element, based on its position in the periodic table. However, only trace amounts of it have ever been available, as its longest lived isotope has a half-life of 22 minutes, making study difficult.
Radium is a radioactive element. In its pure state it is white in color. It has been used in a number of medical applications, including production of radon gas, which is placed in small tubes and inserted into the body near cancers.
Actinium is a radioactive element. It has no known uses. Due to its radioactivity, it glows.
Thorium is a radioactive metal. It is interesting to note that the potential energy from all the thorium in the earth is far greater than the energy available from the world's uranium deposits. Thorium also finds use in mantles for gas lanterns.
Protactinium is a radioactive metal. It occurs in nature, but is extremely rare. It has no known uses.
Uranium compounds have been used to color glass for hundreds of years. But in 1896 uraniums radioactivity was discovered by Antoine Becquerel, igniting much interest in the element. In World War II, the massive gaseous diffusion plant at Paducah, Kentucky separated the rarer uranium-235 isotope from uranium-238, providing the fissionable material for the first atomic bombs. This was a fairly primitive method of isotope separation; in fact, today you can view some of these obsolete devices in the public museum in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. After the Persian Gulf War, United Nations weapons inspectors found a number of "unusual" and unidentifiable devices in the Iraqi desert. Their purpose was a mystery until someone at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory saw pictures of the devices and realized they were near-exact copies of wartime uranium enrichment devices, now viewable by all in public museums.
Neptunium was the first "trans-uranium" element discovered. It is generally produced as a by-product of nuclear reactions, and has no current uses.
Plutonium is the much-maligned element. Produced in nuclear reactors, it is poisonous if inhaled, but its radioactivity is not extremely dangerous outside the body--its principle decay mode is alpha decay, and alpha partices cannot penetrate human skin. It finds uses in power sources for deep space probes (not in a nuclear reactor, but as a heat source), and certain isotopes can be used as fuel for nuclear reactors.
Americium is the only transuranium element likely to be found in your home-- Americium-235 is often used in smoke detectors.
Curium has no current uses. It was named for Pierre and Marie Curie.
Berkelium was named for the University of California at _Berkeley_, where the element was discovered. It has no known uses.
Californium was named for the University of _California_ at Berkeley, where the element was discovered. It is thought that one isotope of californium has been detected in certain supernova explosions, perhaps making it the heaviest element known to occur in nature.
Einsteinium was named for Albert Einstein. It has no known uses.
Fermium was named for Enrico Fermi, who built the worlds first nuclear reactor under the University of Chicago football field in the early 1940s. It has no known uses.
Mendelevium was named for Dimitri Mendeleev, who discovered the periodic law, and thus, the periodic table in the 19th century. His work allowed the prediction of properties of elements not yet discovered, and aided in the discovery of many elements. Mendelevium has no known uses.
Nobelium was named for Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite who later regretted his discovery and set up the fund which provides the Nobel prizes. It has no known uses.
Lawrencium was named for physicist Ernest O. Lawrence. It has no known uses.
Rutherfordium was named for Rutherford, who helped developed the modern theory of atomic structure. It has no known uses.
Dubnium was named for the Russian laboratory at Dubna, which developed the cold fusion technique used to produce many of the heaviest elements. It has no known uses.
Seaborgium was named for Glenn T. Seaborg, the discoverer or co-discoverer of many of the transuranium elements. It has no known uses, but was featured (one supposes erroneously) in the Disney movie "Flubber."
Bohrium (formerly called Nielsbohrium) was named for Niels Bohr, who developed the first model of hydrogen which correctly predicted its spectrum. It has no known uses.
Hassium... no further data available. It has no known uses.
Meitnerium was named for Lise Meitner. It has no known uses.
Element 110 has not yet been named. It has no known uses.
Element 111 has not yet been named. It has no known uses.
Element 112 has not yet been named. It has no known uses.
Element 113 has not yet been produced or discovered.
Element 114 has not yet been named. It has no known uses. It is interesting to note that Element 114 is longer-lived than any other transactinide element (atomic number greater than 103). This raises hopes of producing other "super-heavy" elements which may be relatively stable.
