Table Of Elements

Aluminum Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust. Aluminum is a silver colored, lightweight metal. Its atomic weight is 26.9815. Aluminum is also extremely reactive. Aluminum is covered in a layer of aluminum oxide which resists coffosion because all things made of aluminum don't rust or tarnish. It reduces many other metal compounds to their base metals. The history of aluminum starts with Hans Christian Oersted, a Dutch chemist who isolated aluminum in 1845, using a potassium amalgam. Friedrich Wholer, a German chemist, improved the previous process by using a metallic potassium. Friedrich was also the first person to measure the specific gravity of aluminum. Pure aluminum was first seen at the Paris exposition of 1855. Aluminum is only outnumbered by the nonmetals oxygen and silicon. It is never found as a free metal. The silicates of aluminum are not useful ores. Bauxite is the commercial source of aluminum. The Hall-Heroult process, a low-cost tequnique that reduces aluminum to a crude molten metal, is the major method of commercially producing aluminum. Aluminum in a commercially pure form is about 99.5% pure, but it can further be purified to 99.99% pure. Aluminum has a high heat conductivity, and because of this, it can be used in kitchen utensils and the pistons of internal-combustion engines. It can also be used in cars, planes, and train cars because of its light weight. Aluminum is becoming important in architecture for constructional and decorative purposes. Aluminum is a good insulator, so it is used for siding, foil, and storm windows. It gets stronger as it gets colder, therefore it is used at cryogenic temperature. Aluminum also resists corrosion in water, so it is used for boat hulls. Argon Argon is a chemical element and its atomic number is 18. Argon is tasteless, colorless, odorless, and forms one percent of the earth's atmosphere. Sir William Ramsay and Baron Rayleigh discovered argon in a experiment. They removed all the nitrogen and oxygen from the air. The heaviest gas that was remaining was argon, which was the first noble gas that was discovered on Earth, and is most common out of all the noble gases. A major portion of earthly argon has been produced in potassium-containing minerals by the decay of rare, naturally radioactive isotope potassium-40. The gas slowly leaks out into the atmosphere from the rocks and keeps producing. Argon is used in electric light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, and is used for fliling incandescent light bulbs. In incandescent light bulbs the argon replaces the oxygen-rich air that corrodes the Tungsten filament and causes blackening of the bulb. It can also be used in a neon lamp. The pure neon gives off a red color, where as argon gives a blue color. Argon lasers can manufacture a variety of blue-green wavelengths of light. They are used in laser entertainment shows and have many medical uses, such as laser eye surgery and in hardening dental fillings. Argon is also used for arc-welding metals, such as aluminum and stainless steel. It is commonly used for the building and manufacturing of metals, such as titanium, zirconium, uranium, and also for growing crystals of semiconductors, such as silicon and germanium. In argons outermost shell it has eight electrons. This makes It very stable and chemically motionless. Argon atoms do not combine together and also have not been recorded to come together chemically with atoms of any other element. Argon gas condenses to a colorless liquid at -302.4 degrees fahrenheit, and to a solid at -308.9 degrees fahrenheit. The amount of argon that will dissolve in 100 volumes of water at a temperature of 53.6 degrees fahrenheit is 3.94 volumes of argon gas. Sir William Ramsay, a British scientist best known for his work in the separation of elemental gases from the atmosphere. Ramsay worked as a professor of chemistry at the University of Bristol from 1880 to 1887 and at the University of London from 1887 until 1913. He was awarded with the 1904 Nobel Prize in chemistry. While looking for sources of argon in the mineral territory, Ramsay discovered helium in 1895. Besides argon, Ramsay also discovered neon, krypton, and xenon and contributed to the finding that helium is a product found by the breakup of radium. Arsenic Arsenic is almost always thought of as a poison, but what people overlook is all its other uses in everyday life. It is a brittle, gray, semi-metal. Though it looks metallic, it is a poor conductor of heat and electricity. On the periodic table, arsenic is element thirty-three. Its symbol is As and has an atomic weight of 74.9216. It has a crystalline struc- ture and a melting point of 14,860 F. Arsenic combines easily with metals to form compounds called arsenides. It also forms two oxides: arsenic trioxide (AS303), and arsenic pent- oxide (As2O5). It is most commonly found in arsenopyrite (FeAsS). We do not really know who first discovered arsenic, but it is thought that Albertos Magnus, a German chemist, first isolated it around 1250 AD. We do know that the early Greeks and Romans had their slaves mine arsenic, and that the ancient Chinese prepared and used arsenic. The most widely known use of arsenic is as a poison. It is used in bug, weed, and rat poisons. It is also highly toxic to humans and can cause cancer when it comes in contact with humans. If ingested in small amounts over time, it will produce the symptoms of pneumonia and the victim will die with hardly a trace Of arsenic in his body. Coroners today have ways of detecting the smallest amounts in an autopsy, so arsenic is rarely used for poisoning people anymore. It was discovered that Napoleon Bonaparte might have died from arsenic poisoning. Massive amounts of arsenic were found in his hair structure. The dye in the wallpaper of his room large amounts of arsenic, and the damp may have created a deadly gas which he inhaled. Arsenic today is used in a lot of things besides poison. Arsenides can be found in paints, wallpapers, shotgun pellets, mirrors and semiconductors. One of the most interesting uses of arsonic is when it is added to gallium to make gallium arsen-ide. This produces light as a laser beam and is the light emitting diode that reads your compact discs. Beryllium Beryllium is a light gray metal discovered by Nicholas Louis Vauquelin in 1797. This metal has four protons, and 5 neutrons. Beryllium is used in space shuttles, missiles, communications satellites, and X-ray tubes. It is the forth atom on the Periodic Table of Elements, and is also used in the nuclear industry. The early Egyptians used beryllium alloys and Emeralds for showy occasions. The chemical symbol for Beryllium is Be, its atomic number is 4, and its atomic weight is 9.0122. Beryllium is part of the Alkaline Earth metals. Its boiling point is 2770 C, and its melting point is 1277 C. It is ordinarily a metal (at 298 K). Beryllium has a density of 1.85 kg at the temperature of 293 kelvin. Beryllium metal is available commercially and would never, under normal conditions, be made in a laboratory. Its extraction from ores is very complex. It is heated gradually to the very high temperature of 7000 C with sodium hexafluorosilicate, Na2SiF6. This procedure forms beryllium fluoride. This is water soluble and the beryllium may be precipitated as the hydroxide Be(OH)2 by changing the pH indicator. Beryllium metal dust can cause major lung damage, and beryllium salts are very toxic. Compounds containing beryllium are very poisonous and only to be handled by a professional under controlled conditions. One way for beryllium into the biosphere is by way of industrial smoke. It seems that some types of camping gas mantle may cause problems as a consequence of their beryllium content. Boron Boron has been around for thousands of years; however, it had only been found in compounds until Sir Humphry Davy, Gay-Lussac, and Thenard discovered pure boron in 1808. Their discovery led to a deduction of the atomic number, weight, and electronic configuration. The atomic number is 5, its atomic weight is 1 0.81, its electronic configuration is [He] and its symbol is B. Boron is not found free in nature, but it is found in volcanic sprin water and as orthoboric acid. It is also found as borates in boron and colemantie. Ulexite, also a boron mineral, is natures own version of fiber optics. Sources of boron are ore rasorite (kernite) and tincal (borax ore). These are both found in the Mojave Desert. Tincal is the most important boron source from the Mojave. Boron deposits can also be found in Turkey. Boron exists naturally as 19.78% 10B isotope and 80.22% 11B isotope High-purity crystalline boron may be prepared by the vapor phase reduction of boron trichloride or tribromide with hydrogen on electrically heated filaments. Heating the trioxide with magnesium powder can make impure boron, a brownish-black powder. Boron has an energy band gap of 1.5 to 1.56 eV, which is higher than that of germanium or silicon. Boron is a bad conductor of electricity at room temperature but a good conductor at a high temperature. Impure boron is used in pyrotechnic flares to make a distinctive green color, and in rockets as an igniter. This pentahydrate is used in very large quantities in the manufacture of insulation fiberglass and sodium perborate bleach. Boric acid is also an important boron compound with major markets in textile products. Use of borax as a mild antiseptic is minor in terms of dollars and tons. Boron compounds are also extensively used in the manufacture of borosilicate glasses. Other boron compounds are used in treating arthritis. The isotope boron-10 is used as a shield for nuclear radiation, as a control for nuclear reactors, and in instruments for detecting neutrons. Boron nitride has remarkable properties and can also be used to make a material as hard as a diamond. The nitride behaves like an electrical insulator but conducts heat like a metal. Boron also has properties similar to graphite like lubrication. The hydrides are easily oxidized with considerable energy liberation and have been studied for use as rocket fuels. Demand is also increasing for boron filaments, a high- strength, lightweight material chiefly employed for advanced aerospace structures. Boron is similar to carbon in that it has a capacity to form stable covalently bonded molecular networks. Carbonates, metalloboranes, and other families comprise thousands of compounds containing boron. Crystalline boron (99%] costs about $5/g. Amorphous boron costs about $2/g. Elemental boron and the borates are not considered to be toxic, and they do not require special care in handling. However, some of the more exotic boron hydrogen compounds are definitely toxic and do require careful handling. Bromine The history of bromine begins with creation. But was discovered in 1826 by Antoine-J. Its name comes from the Greek word bromos, which means stench. It was first used in compounds to make a mussel dye called Tyrian purple it was known as organobromine. A student, Carl LDwig, at Heidelberg gave Leopold Gmelin, his lecturer, a sample of bromine that he made over the summer. This sample was enough for Balard to take precedence in 1826. The element bromine was not produced in mass quantity until 1860. Bromine is a Halogen in period table 4. Its atomic mass is 79.904 (1). Its atomic number is 35 and its symbol is Br. It is the only none metal that is a liquid at room temperature. It is a red-brown, metallic lustre when solid. It is a heavy, volatile, mobile, and dangerous element. The red vapor is strong and unpleasant odor and irritates the eye and the throat. If spilled on your skin it will produce painful sores. The radii of the bromine atom is 1 PM( 1 X 10-12). Bromine has many uses. One is fumigants. It can also be used as a flame proofing agent in many types of materials. It also is being used for water purification compounds which is a little confusing because it is also used as a pesticide to kill pests. Bromine also is used to make plastics flame retardant. Also It is used, when in inorganic bromide form, in photography. Bromine's shell structure is: 2-8-18-7. It has a structure of 2-6-6-2, 4-6-4, 2-6-6-2, 4-6-4. Cadmium The element cadmium, although not widely known, is quit useful and is also important to our society. Here are a few example of cadmium's historical background, its technical data and the practical and every day uses of this element. This historical background of cadmium started when Friedrich Stormeyer, who was a significant scientist of the eight-teenth century in Germany discovered it in 1817. He obtained a sample of zinc carbonate for laboratory use and use and observed that the odd samples changed colors when they were influenced by heat. This was a characteristic that did not exict in pure zinc caronate. The impurity of the zinc carbonate let the curious scinetist to hypothesize that another element was present in his sample. He eventually proved his educated guess to be a silvery-gray metal, and is now known as Cadmium. Thanks to stromeyer, scientits of today now know that cadmium is usually found in very small quanities that are associated with zinc ores. Cadium is very similar in many aspects to zinc and should be handled with care because of its toxic properties. It Is also a natural emement in the earth's crust and has no definite taste or odor. Cadiums chemical symbol is Cd and its atomic number is 48. It has an atomic weight of 112.411 grams and is in group 12 of the periodic table. The element is in a solid state at room temperature and it's boiling point is at 1038 Kelvin or 756 degrees celsius. Carbon All living things contain carbon. The human body is about 18% carbon by weight. Carbon is the sixth element in the Periodic Table of Elements. Its atomic number is 6, its atomic symbol is C, and its atomic weight is 12.011. Carbon has a melting point of 3,555 C and the boiling point of Carbon is 4,827 C. The word carbon comes from the Latin word carbo, which means coal, charcoal, or ember. It is abundant in compounds and has many uses. No one really knows who discovered carbon because it has been here since creation. It is abundant in the sun ,the stars, comets, and atmospheres of most planets. Carbon was first recognized as an element in the seven-teenth century by Robert Boyle. Carbon exists in three main forms. They are diamond, graphite, and carbon black or amorphous carbon. Pure diamond is the hardest substance know to man that naturally occurs. Dimonnds are very valuable, beautiful and used in jewelry. Also because of their hardness, they are used for cutting, grinding, and drilling. It is also a very bad conductor of electricity. Then, graphite is a soft and slippery solid that does conduct electricity. Graphite makes a very good lubricant and is also used in paints. Another use of graphite is when it is mixed with clay to become pencil lead. Amorphous carbon forms include charcoal, lampblack, coal, and coke. Over 1,000,000 carbon compounds have been described in chemical literature, and chemists synthesizes many new ones each year. Because carbon compounds are so numerous, complex, and important, their study constitutes for a specialized field of chemistry called organic chemistry. Also carbon forms compounds that make up about eight-teen percent of all living things. In the earth's atmosphere, carbon exists as carbon dioxide. It amounts of about 0.03 percent by volume, and dissolves in all natural waters. Carbon also comes in form of carbonates, which are found in the earths crust. These forms are found in rocks such as marble, limestone, and chalk. Carbon is very unreactive at ordinary or room temperatures. Also it is difficult to oxidize. It does not react with acids or alkalies. Carbon does combine with sulfiir vapor at extremely high temperatures to form carbon disulfide. It also combines, silicon and certain metals and forms carbides. Then of course, when it is combined with oxygen it forms oxides, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Casium Cesium is the 55 element on the Periodic Table of the Elements. It was discovered by G. R. Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen in 1860 in mineral water. They used it in the cesium beam clock from the National Physical Laboratory. Here are some general things on it. Atomic number - 55 Atomic weight - 132.9054 Bonding radius - 2.35 Atomic radius - 3.34 Ionization Potential - 3.894 Electro negativity - .79 Density - g/ml 1.87 Melting point - K 301.55 Boiling point - K 944 Heat of vaporization - kj/mol 67.74 Heat of Fusion - kj/mol 2.092 Specific heat - J/gK 0.24 Cesium is found in large amounts in Bernic Lake, Manitoba. It comes from the Latin word "caesius" which mean sky blue. The color of cesium is a silvery white, it is ductile and soft. It is characterized by a spectrum with two bright lines in the blue along with several others. The blue would explain the name it was given. Cesium has the most isotopes out of all the elements. It has 32 isotopes ranging from 114-145. It is used in atomic clocks, and is accurate at 5 s in 300 yrs. The chief compounds of cesium are chloride and nitrate. Cesium is from the alkali metals and like the alkali metals reacts explosively with cold water. It is the most alkaline element out of all the elements and also the most electropositive of all. It also reacts with ice and temperatures above 116C. The strongest base known is cesium hydroxide and it attacks glass. It is used in electronic tubes as a "getter" because of it's high affinity for oxygen. It is also used in photoelectric cells, and it is also used as a catalyst in the hydrogenation of certain organic compounds. Chromium Chromium was discovered by the, French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquolin in the year 1797, who named it after "chroma", the greek word for color since, it is also found in some precious gems. Vauquelin was very excited with discovery, also because, he was better at finding things dealing with science, than his master when he was just a small aprentice. Vauquelin also went on to discover a lot more chemicals and bonds later in his life time. Chromium is used for quite a few things. You can find chromium in homes or outside. A water faucet and sink, is made of stainless steal, which chromium makes 10% of it up. It is also used in high speed metal cutting tools, when it is mixed with cobalt and tungsten. This gives it a hardness which is good for this job. Since it is lustrous and hard to corrode, it is used in the body trim of many vehicles. It is also used for this reason and many others because of its high melting point and the stability of its crystalline structure. The chief use, of chromium is to form allots with with iron, nickle and cobalt. The symbol for Chromium is Cr. The atomic number is 24. Its melting point is at 1857 degrees celsius and its boiling point is 2672 degrees ceisius. This element has 9 isotopes and its specific gravity is at 7.18-7.20. Cobalt Many artifacts that have been found from ancient Egyptian and Persian civilizations as far back as 3,000 B.C. and also in China from dynasties dating as far back as 600 A.D. have contained the color blue. Sometimes this blue color was found in glass beads, statues, and porcelain. It wasn't until the mid- I 700's that the blue color was finally attributed to the element cobalt. The element cobalt (Co), was originally isolated by Swedish chemist Georg Brandt in 1742. He was the one who said the blue color was from cobalt as explained above. However, one part he did not explain was that the ores were poisonous due to the fact that most people thought these ores contained another element named copper and did not know these were arsenic-bearing cobalt ores. This element makes up only about 0.00 1 % of the Earth's surface. It can be found in minute quantities of meteoritic native nickel-iron, soils, plants and animals, combined with other elements in natural waters, and in nodules beneath the oceans. It can even be found in the Sun, cosmic atmospheres, and in some minerals such as, cobaltite, linnaeite, heterogenite, and erythrite. Its two allotropes, a hexagonal structure, which is stable below 417 C (783 F), and a fa6e-centered-cubic, which is stable at very high temperatures, is known to be part of polished cobalt that is silver-white with a faint bluish tinge. In a compound that has cobalt, cobalt nearly always exhibits a +2 or +3 oxidation state, although other states are known to exist. Compounds where cobalt is divalent are called cobaltous, while trivalent cobalt compounds are called cobaltic. However, if cobalt is finely divided, it will ignite spontaneouly. The element cobalt has many well known uses both in metals and minerals. One of its uses is that it can be combined with other metals, such as nickel and iron, to make alloys or magnets. Of course when combined with nickel, iron, and other metals, we get Alnico which is used in jet and gas turbine engines. It can be used in electroplating and as a paint pigment. It is also used in magnet steels and stainless steels. Another use of the element cobalt is in some minerals and in some materials that emit high levels of radioactive energy. One of the mineral uses is that it can be found in Marmite (yeast extract) which happens to be a source of vitamin B 12 which is used in preventing the disease pernicious anemia. It also can be found in the Australian compound Vegemite. Some of the materials cobalt is used in are highly radioactive and very dangerous. One of these materials happens to be a lethal kind of isotope of cobalt which is cobalt-60. This isotope of cobalt produces Gamma radiation which is being used in place of X-rays or alpha rays from the inspection of industrial machines to the treatment of cancer in hospitals. However, this does not mean it is safe. radiation. The reason it has already been replaced is that cesium 1-3-7 has a long 30 year half-life. Of course this is probably not the last time we will see cobalt. For in the future someone might invent something that has the element cobalt. Then again, maybe there will be a product that involves the element cobalt. Copper Copper, is an element that has been around for as long as time, but it has only been mined for the last five thousand years. A copper pendant discovered in what is now northern Iraq has been dated about 8700 B.C. It was only in the early eighteen hundreds that extensive mining of copper took place, primarily in the American West. Copper has no known discoverer. Its name was derived from the Latin word 'cyprum". Copper is one of the most used elements in American history. Copper's atomic number is 29, and its symbol is Cu. It has 29 protons and 35 neutrons while combining at a total of 63.546 nucleons. Copper has four shells. The first shell has two electrons; and the second shell has eight electrons. The third has eighteen electrons and the fourth only has one electron. It is classified as a transition metal. Copper's melting point is 1083 degrees Celsius, and its boiling point is 2567 degrees Celsius. Copper's crystal structure is cubic. It has a reddish orange color; and has a density of 8.96-gm/cm sq. at 293k. Because of its many desirable properties, such as its conductivity of electricity and heat, its resistance to corrosion, its malleability and ductility and its beauty, copper has long been used in a wide variety of applications. The prime uses are electrical, because of copper's extremely high conductivity, which is second only to that of silver. Because copper is very ductile, it can be drawn into wires of any diameter from about 0.025 mm (about 0.001 in) upward. The strong point of drawn copper wire is about 4200-kg/sq cm. It can be used in outdoor power lines and cables, as well as in house wiring, lamp cords, and electrical machinery such as generators, motors, controllers, signaling devices, electromagnets, and communications equipment. Copper is an element that has no lasting harm on the human body. It can be made into almost anything, and is an element that is going to make the world a safer more reliable place. Flourine The element fluorine was discovered in 1529, but only isolated in 1866 by Mossian in Russia. It took seventy-four years of effort and experiments to turn out successful. It cannot be found in pure form. It is found as hydrogen Fluoride. Fluorine has too bee kept in steel containers because it is so dangerous. Fluorine in the most reactive element of all the elements. It is also electronegative. It is a corrosive, pale yellow gas that reacts with everything. Its atomic number is 9. Its atomic symbol is "F". it has an atomic weight of 18.998403, and its electron configuration it [HE] 2s2p5. Most of what fluorine does is blow up and destroy things. It is used in the nuclear bomb and most other bombs. It is also used in steel production and aluminum smelting. It is used in etching glass and light bulbs. One of its added to water to prevent dental cavities. It is used in toothpaste. It is laundry detergents and siliofluoride salts. Fluorine is a very useful element. The fluorine industry is a profitable industry for and important element. Cleaning detergents, toothpaste and other household items have fluorine in them somewhere. Hydrogen Hydrogen is the lightest element, and is by far the most abundant in the universe. Even with its small weight, hydrogen takes up about 90% of the universe in weight. Hydrogen, in the form of water, is essential to life and is present in all organic compounds. The atomic symbol of hydrogen is H, and its atomic number is 1. Its atomic weight is 1.00797 (7). The lightest gas known, hydrogen was used in lighter than air balloons. As we learned from the Hindenburg, hydrogen combusts at any spark. When this happens, the hydrogen combines with the oxygen in the air and makes water. In 1766, Henry Cavendish, the discoverer of nitrogen, discovered hydrogen in London England. Its name came from the Greek words 'hydro" meaning water and 'genes' meaning generator. Earlier, Robert Boyle published a paper entitled: "New experiments touching the relation betwixt flame and air'. This paper dealt with the reaction between iron fillings and dilute acids, which release hydrogen. Deuterium gas (H2, often written D2), made up from deuterium, a heacy isotope of hydrogen, was discovered in 1931 by Harold Urey, a chemistry professor at Chicago and California. The many uses of hydrogen include the following: commercial fixation of nitrogen from the air in the Haber ammonia process, hydrogenation of fats and oils, methanol production, and hydrodealkylation, hydrocrackirg, and hydrodesulphurization, rocket fuel, welding, production of hydrochloric acid, reduction of metallic ores, filling balloons, and liquid H2 is important in cryogenics and in the study of superconductivity since its melting point is only just above absolute zero. One of hydrogen's isotopes, tritium (H3) is radioactive. This is produced in nuclear reactors and is used in the hydrogen bomb. It is also used as an agent in making luminous paints, and as a tracer isotope. Hydrogen has many compounds, and its abundance brings out even more. Hydrogen fluoride has a formula weight of 20.006, and hydrogen chloride, or hydrochloric acid, has a formula weight of 36.461. Hydrogen bromide's weight is 80.912, and hydrogen iodide sports a formula weight of 127.912. Water, or hydrogen oxide, weighs in at 18.015, and a similar compound, hydrogen peroxide, is 34.015. Hydrogen in its gaseous state (H2) sports a weight of 2.016. This diatomic state of hydrogen is the form it takes when not in a compound. Iron There is a lot of technical information on the element iron. Its atomic number is 26. Its melting point is 1808 degrees Kelvin, and its boiling point is 3023 degrees Kelvin. Its density at 300 degrees Kelvin is 7.874. Its symbol is Fe. Its covalent radius is 1.17. Its atomic radius is 1.26. Its atomic volume is 7.1. It is a crystalline structure too. lt9s electro-negativity is 1.83, and its electrical conductivity is 11.2. Iron has been used through the ages. It is a "pre historic" element. An iron pillar still stands in India from about 400 AD. It is also one of the seven metals of alchemy; the others are gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead and tin. The origin of its name is from the Anglo- Saxon word "iren". It is probably one of the world's most important metals, with the world consuming over 700 million tons a year. The human body it's self contains about 6 milligrams as well. Iron is also a metal of alchemy, of which the others are gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron, and tin. It is mainly used in alloys due to its reactivity. The most common alloy for it to be found in is hematite, a magnetize able rock, of which the iron is taken out with carbon. Another alloy is magnetite, which is commonly seen as black sand alongside beaches, rivers, and lakes. Still, even another alloy is taconite, which is becoming an increasing ore for commercial uses. Even though the pure metal is rarely found used for commercial uses. Common iron is a combination or mixture of four isotopes, but six other isotopes are known to exist. Iron is commonly used in compasses because it is easily magnetize able, along with nickel and cobalt. Different alloys of iron are pig iron of which contains about 3% carbon along with a few other trace amount otherelements, and is hard, brittle, and fairly fusible. It is also used to produce steel and other alloys. Another alloy is the hard, carbon steel, the corrosion resistant stainless steel, and the "ally" steel, or carbon steel with other additives like nickel, chromium, and others. Krypton Krypton is colorless, odorless, and tasteless element. It is a noble, or inert gas (one that will usually not combine with other elements). Krypton exists in the air to the extent of one part in one million by volume. The fission, or splitting, of atoms produces Uranium-235. Its discoverers gave Krypton (Greek for "hidden") the name to it, who were British scientists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers, in 1898. Krypton gives a brilliant, fog-piercing light in lamps used for airport runways. It is also used in high-speed photographic lamps, and is mixed with Argon to fill fluorescent lamps. This element was discovered by fractional distillation of a mixture of the noble gases. Several compounds of Krypton were discovered in 1962 and 1963. The symbol for Krypton is a capital K, and a lower case r. The atomic number for Krypton is 36, it's atomic weight is 83.3. The element Krypton has a boiling point of -241.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and it has a melting point of -251.14 degrees Fahrenheit. Krypton belongs to the group eighteen of the periodic table of elements. Krypton is used alone or with the elements Argon and the element neon incandescent light bulbs. It emits a characteristic bright, orange-red color in an electric discharge tube; such tubes filled with Krypton are used in lighting airfields because the red light is visible for long distances and penetrates through fog and haze to a greater extent of an ordinary light. The incandescent lamp consist of a filament of a material with a high melting Point sealed inside a glass bulb from which the air has been evacuated, or which is filled with an inert gas. Filaments with high melting points must be used because the proportion increases, and the most efficient light source is obtained at the highest filament temperature. Carbon filaments were employed in the first practical incandescent lamps, but modem lamps are universally made with filaments of fine tungsten wire. The filament must be enclosed in either a vacuum or an inert atmosphere. Using an inert gas instead or a vacuum in incandescent lamps has the advantage of slowing evaporation of the filament, thus making the life of the incandescent lamp longer. Most modem incandescent lamps today are filled with a mixture of Argon or Krypton and a small amount of Nitrogen. Of light energy to heat energy radiated by the filament rises as the temperature. One of the founders, Sir William Ramsay, who was best known for his work in the isolation of elemental gases from the atmosphere, lived from 1852-1916. Sir William Ramsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was educated at the universities of Glasgow and Tubingen. He served as professor of Chemistry at the University of Bristol from 1880 to 1887 and at the University of London from 1887 until 1913. He was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 1895 he became the first to isolate Helium successfully from terrestrial sources. Ramsay also discovered Argon, Neon, and Xenon, and he contributed to the discovery that Helium is a product of the atomic disintegration of radium. Lithium Lithium, symbol Li, is a silvery white, chemically reactive metallic element. Lithium is the lightest weight of all metals. In group one of the periodic table, lithium is one of the alkali metals. The atomic number of lithium is 3. Credit to the discovery of lithium is generally given to Johann A. Arfvedson in 1817. Chemically, lithium resembles sodium in itsbehavior. Lithium is created by the electrolysis of a mixture of fused lithium and potassium chloride. When expoused to air, lithium will tarnish and corrode rapidly. Lithium must be stored in a liquid form such as naphtha. Lithium ranks thirty-five in order of abundance of the elements in the earth's crust. It does not occur in nature in a free state, but in compounds which are widely distributed. Lithium has many different uses. The metal is a deoxidizer and to remove unwanted gases during the manufacture of nonferrouscastings. Lithium vapor is used to prevent carbon dioxide and oxygen from forming scale in furnaces in heat-treating steel. Some important compounds of lithium include the hydroxide, used for bonding carbon dioxide in the ventilator systems of spacecraft and submarines; and the hydride, used to inflate lifeboats, and its heavy hydrogen equivalent, used in making the hydrogen bomb. One of the most important compounds, (and uses) of lithium is a lithium carbonate, a common mineral used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and some forms of depression. Artists, musicians, and writers have suffered from mood swings caused by bipolar disorder. Many lives are ruined by this disease; and without effective treatment the illness is associated with and increased risk of suicide. Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depressive illness. This is a serious brain disease that causes extreme shifts in mood, energy, and functioning. It affects approximately 2.3 million adult Americans, which is about 1.2 percent of the population. Men and women are equally open to getting this disease. The disorder typically emerges in adolescence of early adult hood. Cases of this disease occur rairly in childhood. Cycles, or episodes, of depression, mania, or mixed manic and depressive symptoms typically recur and may become more frequent, often disrupting work, school, family, and social life. A variety of medications are used to treat bipolar disorder. Lithium has long been used as a first ine of treatment for the disorder. Approved for the treatment of acute mania in 1970 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), lithium has been an effective mood stabilizing for many people with bipolar disorder. Uthium melts at about 181 degrees Celsius (about 358F) and has a specific gravity of .53. The atomic weight of lithium is 6.941. Iridium Iridium, a chemical element, one of the platinum metals of Group 8, of the periodic table. It is very dense and rare and is used in platinum alloys. A precious, silver-white metal, it is hard and very brittle, but it becomes ductile and can be worked at a white heat, from 1,200 degrees to 1,500 degrees Celsius. It is one of the densest terrestrial substances. In the massive state the metal is practically unbreakable in acids and is not attacked even by aquaregia. It can be dissolved in concentrated hydrochloric acid in the presence of sodium perch lorate at 125 degrees to 150 degrees Celsius. The element was discovered in 1802 in the acid-insoluble residues of platinum ores by the English chemist Smithson Tennant. The name iridium, comes from the Greek word iris "rainbow", refers to the various colors of its compounds. Natural iridium consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes. The chemistry of iridium centers on the oxidation state, though compounds of all states from 0 to 6 are known with perhaps the exception of +2. Iridium-containing ores are found in South Africa, Alaska, USA, as well as in Myonnor (Buram), Brarit, Russia, and Australia. In the late 20th century South Africa was the world's major producer of the element iridium. Because of difficulties in preparation and fabrication, the pure metal has few applications. lridium is mainly, used in the form of platinum alloys. Platinum-itidium alloys (5 to 10 percent iridium) are already workable metals that are much harder and stiffer, and also more resistant to chemical attack than the soft pure platinum. Such alloys are used for jewelry, pen points, surgical pens, and electrical contacts and sparking points. It has a face-centered cubic crystalline structure. The atomic number is 77, the atomic weight is 192.2, the melting point is 2,410 degrees Celsius, the boiling point is 4,527 ceases, the specific gravity is 22.4. Pure iridium probably does not occur in nature; its abundance in the earth's crust is very low, about 0.001 parts per mmbw. Though very rare, iridium does occur in natural alloys with other platnium metals. Iridium generally is produced commercially along with the other platinum metals as a by-product of nickel of copper production. Magnesium Magnesium is a very important element. Its atomic number is 12, its atomic mass is 24.305, its chemical symbol is Mg. Magnesium is an Alkaline Earth metal, which means that it is in family 2. Most life on earth depends on chlorophyll, which is a magnesium compound that enables plants to make food. This element is the 8th most abundant element on Earth. It makes up 2.5% of the Earth's crust and it has 3 isotopes that occur naturally which are 24, 25, and 26. The 4 most important magnesium minerals are: brucite, dolomite, magnesite, and olivine. Magnesium has many different properties. It is a solid (state of matter) in the form of metal in certain circumstances. It is lightweight, but strong as a metal. Pure magnesium is silvery white, soft, ductile, and is a malleable metal that oxidizes in the air. It is a very highly reactive metal and it dissolves in acids. This element slowly decomposes in boiling water and it is one of the most important metals in both plants and animals. Sir Humphrey Davy announced in 1808 that he had isolated a new element, magnesium, from the hitherto unknown magnesium oxide, which he discovered. Antoine Bussy is credited for the discovery of this metal and isolated larger and purer amounts in 1828. Magnesium is also used in galvanic anode to prevent corrosion in pipelines, storage tanks, the hulls of ships, home water heaters, and oil tanks. Also, it is used as a source of light in some flashbulbs, fireworks, and pyrotechnics; when divided, magnesium burns in the air with an intense white light. It is used in incendiary bombs, the production of titanium -and zirconium, catalyst in some organic chemical reactions, the manufacture of copper and nickel alloys, and magnesium alloys are used as structural materials for the fuselages of airplanes, guided missiles, electronic equipment, portable tools, baseball catchers masks, snowshoes, skis, boats, horseshoes, luggage, ladders, and racing cars. Magnesium is also made into a fine wire that burns so bright, that it is used in some photographic flashes. This element is also used in fireworks to produce brilliant white. Magnesium is produced and divided in two separate ways. 20% of the magnesium that is produced in the world is extracted from roasted dolomite by thermal reduction. The other 80% is extracted from seawater by the electrolytic method. The biological significance of magnesium is very interesting. An average adult contains25 grams of this element. It does many different things in the body, and it is found in many different foods, such as: meats, cereals, vegetables, and milk. An average adult ingests 300 milligrams of magnesium each day. Also, kidneys regulate the amount of magnesium in the body; overdoses of this element may result from failure of the kidneys, hormonal disruption, or use of too much magnesium as a drug. Magnesium is also found in many different compounds. Magnesium carbonate is used as a filler for paper, in cosmetics, fire-resistant and insulating materials, and for clarifying drinking water. Magnesium sulfate is marketed as Epsom salts, which are used as laxatives. It is also used in medicine to treat arthritis and to treat burns. This element is also used for the tanning of leather, the dyeing of textiles, ceramics, explosives, and the manufacturing of matches. Also, milk of magnesia is used as an antacid and as a laxative. Magnesium is a very interesting element. The technical data is very impressive. It is very neat to know the many properties of magnesium and to know how it reacts with different things. It s also cool to see all that magnesium is used for and how it can help us in our everyday life.