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List of elements in the periodic table
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For more information, see: Periodic Table
This is a list of the elements listed in the periodic table.[1]
Hydrogen[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hydrogen | 1 | Blowing up the Hindenburg, water, acidity, composing the vast majority of the universe's matter, and present in almost as many compounds as carbon | H | No |
Alkali metals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lithium | 3 | making rechargeable batteries, treating bipolar disorder | Li | No |
Sodium | 11 | explodes when touching water, table salt, baking soda, important in cell osmosis | Na | No |
Potassium | 19 | ![]() |
K | No |
Rubidium | 37 | In very precise clocks, photocells, purple-red fireworks | Rb | No |
Cesium | 55 | atomic clocks, ion propulsion systems, vacuum tubes, softest metal in its pure form | Cs | No |
Francium | 87 | ![]() |
Fr | Yes |
Alkaline earth metals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Beryllium | 4 | strong but lightweight material, gyroscopes, accelerometers, missiles, emeralds | Be | No |
Magnesium | 12 | Most used metal after steel and aluminum, present in chlorophyll, alloys, cars, planes, electronics, batteries, asbestos | Mg | No |
Calcium | 20 | bones, cement, limestone, gypsum, antacids, plays an important role in the carbon cycle | Ca | No |
Strontium | 38 | red fireworks, glass in old-fashioned CRT televisions | Sr | No |
Barium | 56 | drilling fluid, rat poison, medical imaging | Ba | No |
Radium | 88 | Being dangerously radioactive, decays to even-deadlier radon, was a fad in the early 20th century | Ra | Yes |
Transition metals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Scandium | 21 | When you need tools, bicycles, baseball bats | Sc | No |
Titanium | 22 | strong but lightweight, artificial bones, aircraft parts, non-toxic white paint | Ti | No |
Vanadium | 23 | In tools; shock-, vibration-, and neutron-resistant alloys; catalyst for sulfuric acid | V | No |
Chromium | 24 | Chrome plating, stainless steel, rubies, tanning leather | Cr | No |
Manganese | 25 | Alloying with steel and aluminum, certain enzymes | Mn | No |
Iron | 26 | ferromagnetic, Earth's magnetic field, (electro)magnets, steel, hemoglobin, blue ink, good conductor of heat and electricity, end of the line in stellar nucleosynthesis | Fe | No |
Cobalt | 27 | ferromagnetic, coloring glass blue, jet turbines | Co | No |
Nickel | 28 | in currency, certain kinds of stainless steel, corrosion-resistant | Ni | No |
Copper | 29 | coins, good conductor of heat and electricity, industrial equipment; The first metal humans smelted | Cu | No |
Zinc | 30 | In currency, brass, luminous paint, plating (galvanizing steel) | Zn | No |
Yttrium | 39 | Forms YBCO, microwave filters in radars | Y | No |
Zirconium | 40 | Fake diamonds, tubing in nuclear reactors, ultra-strong ceramics | Zr | No |
Niobium | 41 | Piercings, NMR equipment, destroying Congo's economy (with tantalum) | Nb | No |
Molybdenum | 42 | Alloys, maglevs, generating technetium | Mo | No |
Technetium | 43 | Nuclear medicine | Tc | Yes |
Ruthenium | 44 | olefin metathesis, chip resistors | Ru | No |
Rhodium | 45 | Plating cheap jewelry, catalytic converters in cars, having a very unstable market value | Rh | No |
Palladium | 46 | Imitating silver,[notes 1] catalytic converters, ceramic capacitors, cross-coupling reactions | Pd | No |
Silver | 47 | Mirrors, great conductor of heat and electricity, coins, anti-bacterial fabrics, killing werewolves | Ag | No |
Cadmium | 48 | Yellow, carcinogenic pigment, fission-controlling rods | Cd | No |
Hafnium | 72 | Plasma torches, control rods in nuclear submarines | Hf | No |
Tantalum | 73 | Capacitors,[notes 2] surgical implants, turbine blades, destroying Congo's economy (with niobium) | Ta | No |
Tungsten | 74 | Incredibly high melting point, mining drills, lightbulbs/globes, armor-piecing shells | W | No |
Rhenium | 75 | Alloys, thin wires, rarest stable element | Re | No |
Osmium | 76 | Alloying with iridium, fountain pens; most dense metal | Os | No |
Iridium | 77 | Spark plug electrodes, photocatalysis, common in meteorites; metal most resistant to corrosion | Ir | No |
Platinum | 78 | Jewelry, optical fibres, hard disks, |
Pt | No |
Gold | 79 | Jewelry, high performance electrical contacts, highly ductile and malleable, scamming elderly people, |
Au | No |
Mercury | 80 | Hg | No | |
Rutherfordium | 104 | None | Rf | Yes |
Dubnium | 105 | None | Db | Yes |
Seaborgium | 106 | None | Sg | Yes |
Bohrium | 107 | None | Bh | Yes |
Hassium | 108 | None | Hs | Yes |
Meitnerium | 109 | None | Mt | Yes |
Darmstadtium | 110 | None | Ds | Yes |
Roentgenium | 111 | None | Rg | Yes |
Copernicium | 112 | None | Cn | Yes |
Semimetals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Boron | 5 | Borax, fiberglass, green color in fireworks | B | No |
Silicon | 14 | Electronics, sand, glass, speculative life | Si | No |
Germanium | 32 | Camera lenses, old transistors | Ge | No |
Arsenic | 33 | Poison, doping semiconductors | As | No |
Antimony | 51 | Alloying with lead, mascara used in ancient times, ridiculously corrosive acid![]() |
Sb | No |
Tellurium | 52 | In DVDs, solar cells | Te | No |
Other Nonmetals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Carbon | 6 | Terrestrial life, High efficiency fuel, Plastic, dietary fats, carbs, and fibers, global warming, pencils, reducing iron ore to iron, steel, present in 95% of known compounds | C | No |
Nitrogen | 7 | Air, protein, ammonia, fertilizer, having a really low boiling point, dynamite | N | No |
Phosphorus | 15 | Fertilizer, matches, DNA, phospholipid bilayers, baking powder, making meth[notes 3] | P | No |
Post-transition metals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aluminum | 13 | Airplanes, foil, beverage cans, thermite, coins that aren't worth their weight in zinc | Al | No |
Gallium | 31 | LEDs, having a low melting point | Ga | No |
Indium | 49 | Thermometers, LCDs, quantum computers | In | No |
Tin | 50 | Many alloys, including bronze, pewter and solder | Sn | No |
Thallium | 81 | Poison, low temperature thermometers | Tl | No |
Lead | 82 | Pb | No | |
Bismuth | 83 | Pepto-Bismol, fire extinguishers, beautiful crystals | Bi | Yes(technically)[notes 4]The most common isotope is much less radioactive than... YOU! |
Polonium | 84 | Assassinating ex-FSB agents,![]() |
Po | Yes |
Nihonium | 113 | None | Nh | Yes |
Flerovium | 114 | None | Fv | Yes |
Moscovium | 115 | Mc | Yes | |
Livermorium | 116 | None | Lv | Yes |
Chalcogens[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Oxygen | 8 | Cellular respiration, fire, antifreeze, 65% of the mass of the human body | O | No |
Sulfur | 16 | Creating face-melting acid, pesticides, rotten egg smell | S | No |
Selenium | 34 | Glass production, photocopiers, anti-dandruff shampoo | Se | No |
Halogens[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fluorine | 9 | Toothpaste, Teflon, violent reactivity, separating uranium isotopes | F | No |
Chlorine | 17 | Table salt, disinfecting swimming pools, PVC, chloroform, chemical weapons | Cl | No |
Bromine | 35 | Disinfectant, flame retardants | Br | No |
Iodine | 53 | Antiseptic, dyes, nutritional suplements | I | No |
Astatine | 85 | Being the rarest naturally occurring element | At | Yes |
Tennessine | 117 | None | Ts | Yes |
Noble gases[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Helium | 2 | In balloons, blimps and zeppelins, shielding gas, coolant for MRI and NMR, gas chromatography, jokes about pitch-shifts; liquid helium has interesting properties and is one of the coolest materials known to science | He | No |
Neon | 10 | Gaudy casinos, lasers | Ne | No |
Argon | 18 | Shield gas for substances that oxidize easily, fluorescent bulbs, third most common gas in Earth's atmosphere | Ar | No |
Krypton | 36 | Kr | No | |
Xenon | 54 | Xe | No | |
Radon | 86 | Leading cause of lung cancer that isn't smoking or asbestos | Rn | Yes |
Oganesson[notes 5] | 118 | None | Og | Yes |
Rare Earth metals[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lanthanum | 57 | Flints, studio lighting, anodes of batteries used in hybrid cars | La | No |
Cerium | 58 | Lighter flints, floodlights, non-toxic red pigment | Ce | No |
Praseodymium | 59 | Coloring glass yellow, aircraft engines | Pr | No |
Neodymium | 60 | Very strong magnets, laser pointers | Nd | No |
Promethium | 61 | Atomic batteries, source of x-rays | Pm | Yes |
Samarium | 62 | Powerful magnets used in electronics, infrared-absorbing glass | Sm | No |
Europium | 63 | Red and blue phosphors in CRT televisions, anti-counterfeit measure in Euro banknotes | Eu | No |
Gadolinium | 64 | Increasing contrast in MRI scans, heat- and oxidation-resistant alloys | Gd | No |
Terbium | 65 | Fluorescent lights, solid-state devices, loudspeakers | Tb | No |
Dysprosium | 66 | Nuclear control rods, halide discharge lamps | Dy | No |
Holmium | 67 | High strength magnets, nuclear reactors | Ho | No |
Erbium | 68 | Photographic filters, pink glass, broadband signals | Er | No |
Thulium | 69 | Lasers, x-ray machines | Tm | No |
Ytterbium | 70 | Strengthening stainless steel, memory devices | Yb | No |
Lutetium | 71 | Lights in LEDs, refining oil | Lu | No |
Actinides[edit]
Element | Atomic Number | Use(s) | Symbol | Radioactive? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Actinium | 89 | Radio-immunotherapy | Ac | Yes |
Thorium | 90 | Lantern mantles, high-quality lenses, alloys with magnesium | Th | Yes |
Protactinium | 91 | None | Pa | Yes |
Uranium | 92 | Nuclear power, radiometric dating, yellow ceramic glaze | U | Yes |
Neptunium | 93 | Neutron detection equipment | Np | Yes |
Plutonium | 94 | Old pacemakers, some nuclear bombs | Pu | Yes |
Americium | 95 | Smoke detectors, source of gamma rays | Am | Yes |
Curium | 96 | Powering equipment used on space missions | Cm | Yes |
Berkelium | 97 | None | Bk | Yes |
Californium | 98 | Portable metal detectors, finding underground water and petroleum, strong neutron emitter | Cf | Yes |
Einsteinium | 99 | Found in debris created by hydrogen bombs | Es | Yes |
Fermium | 100 | Experimental radiotherapy, heaviest element that can be created in a nuclear reactor | Fm | Yes |
Mendelevium | 101 | None | Md | Yes |
Nobelium | 102 | None | No | Yes |
Lawrencium | 103 | None | Lr | Yes |
The musical elements[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Which is pretty ironic, considering that palladium is actually more expensive than silver.
- ↑ Maybe one is in the device you're using to read this...
- ↑ This is the reason it's illegal to buy elemental phosphorus in the United States
- ↑ All isotopes of bismuth are radioactive, some however have really, really long half-lives.
- ↑ Which is unlikely to be noble or a gas at room temperature
References[edit]
- ↑ Periodic Table, Royal Society of Chemistry