Chemistry - Elements - Andrew Lerario

Chemistry - Elements

10/15/2012

Today we began to take a look at the periodic table. We discussed its history, the significance to its organization, and how to use it to find relevant information for our work.

In addition to our discussion, each student was given a packet to complete and two elements to detail. From those two elements, students are expected to choose one and reply to this post with information regarding the following:

It's discovery and history.
Significant properties

shared with elements in the same family
shared with elements in the same group (could be identical to family)
unique individual properties

Interesting and/or historical and current uses
Any surprising facts

The packet is due by Wednesday October 17th. Students are expected to post their findings for their element research as a reply to this blog entry by Thursday October 18th. Below is another copy of the assignment if needed.
Please contact me if there is need for clarity or assistance.

Element Worksheet

37 Comments

Marisela Diaz

10/15/2012 08:11:20 am

Chlorine was founded by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774. Scheele collected the gas released by the reaction of pyrolusite with spiritus sails (breath of salt) [ now called hydrochloric acid]. According to Scheele, the new gas had “a very perceptible suffocating smell, which was most oppressive to the lungs… and gives the water a slightly acidic taste… the air in it acquires a yellow color…” Scheele had thought that the new gas was a dephlostiganated form of muriatic acid.
In 1810 the scientific consensus was that Chlorine was a compound that contained oxygen. Sir humphry Davy found that the consensus was wrong; he couldn’t get the new gas to react to a charcoal electrode, which made Davy believe that it did not contain oxygen. He then used a 2000 plate voltaic pile (battery) to see if he could extract the oxygen from the gas’s phosphorus and sulfur compounds, but he still found no oxygen.
In 1811, Sir Humphry Davy concluded that the new cas was an element. He then named the new element chlorine, from the greek word ‘chloros’ which means pale green or yellow green.
Chlorine is a greenish-yellow dense gas that has a sharp smell (the smell of bleach). It is two and a half times heavier than air. Chlorine has a high electronegativity and a high electron affinity, which is slightly higher that fluorine. Chlorine occurs in nature as commonly as salt, Carnallite, and sylvite.
Chlorine is used for producing safe drinking water. Chlorine compounds are mostly used for sanitation,disinfectants, textile process, and pulp bleaching. Chlorine compounds could also be used for medicines, antiseptics,paints,plastic and others.

Chlorine is heavier than air. Chlorine was used a chemical weapon is WW1 but didn’t work as planned because of its strong smell. The soldiers protected themselves by breathing in through damp clothes because chlorine is water soluble.
Chlorine is the sixth most abundant element in the earth’s crust.

Michael Gracia

10/15/2012 08:11:43 am

1.) The discovery of Gallium: Gallium was discovered by Paul E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran through a spectroscope in the year 1875.De Boisbaudran extracted Gallium the first time from a zinc blende ore from the Pyrenees, but obtained initially only 0.65 grams from 430 kilograms of ore. By electrolysis of its hydroxide in potassium hydroxide solution, De Boisbaudran was the first person that isolated Gallium.
2.) Significant Properties: Gallium looks like silver, yet looks glass-like, and is a soft metal.
a.) Looks metallic, combines with most non-metals.
b.) Low oxidation state Gallium and Indium are effective catalyst for organic synthesis.
c.) Melting Point: 85.5 degrees F
Boiling Point: 4,400 degrees F
3.) Low melting Gallium is used for medical thermometers.
Semiconductor for for laser diodes, solar panels, etc.
4.) Gallium expands as it freezes, which I thought was pretty cool. It's a worse conducter than lead. Clings to or wets to glass.
Can melt on a humans' hand.

Elijah Sanchez

10/15/2012 11:17:02 am

Lithium was discovered by Johan Arfvedson in 1817. It was found during an analysis of petalite. Arfvedson tried to reproduce a pure copy of the newly found element but he could not.

Lithium is an alkali metal. Metals in this family group are generally shiny, silver soft and are highly reactive at standard temperature/lithium. Some of its properties that make it stand out include that it requires more acid to neutralize it than sodium and unlike potassium it did not give a precipitate with tartaric acid.

Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries. It is also an important metal for airplanes. It even has nuclear applications. It can be used to cool down breeder reactors and a source of tritium.

Nirvana, one of my favorite bands has a song titled Lithium. They choose the title because Lithium can be used as a mood controller.

Sebastian White

10/15/2012 05:42:23 pm

Phosphorus was discovered in 1669 by Hennig Brand, who prepared it from urine. He discovered it by boiling down large amounts of urine in a bath tub.

Phosphorus is a member of the Nitrogen family. All members of the nitrogen family, become solid at 298 Kelvin. When Phosphorus is exposed to oxygen it has a faint glow. Phosphorus also reacts vigorously with all halogens.

Phosphorus has many important uses, and is crucial for farming and sustaining plant life. Phosphorus is used in fertilizer, to re-enrich the soil after all nutrients has been depleted. Phosphorus is also found used in all matches as a material to catch fire, because phosphorus is readily flammable Phosphorus is also a main component in the bones and teeth of many animals, including humans.

.An early form of matches used white phosphorus in the match head over exposure of the white phosphorus would often result in a jaw deformation known as "phossy jaw".

Ana

10/16/2012 07:31:02 am

My element is Neon.
Neon was discovered by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris M. Travers, an English chemist. They discovered it after their disovery of Krypton in the year 1898 through the study of liquified air.

Like all other elements in group 18, Neon is a noble gas. It is called a "Noble" gas because, since it is in group 18, it has 8 electrons in its outer shield which means it does not readily react with any other element. The "gas" part of it comes from Neon, like all other elements in its family, is a gas at room temperature. Neon has a melting point of 24.56 K (-248.59°C or -415.46°F), and a boiling point of 27.07 K (-246.08°C or -410.94°F). It has a density of 0.0008999 grams per cubic centimeter, and is the fourth most abundant element in the universe. Also, it is colorless under normal conditions but, it glows a reddish-orange in a vacuum discharge tube

Currently neon is mostly used for advertising signs. It is also combined with helium to make helium-neon lasers, or used alone to make high voltage indicators. Neon in its liquid form is used as a cryogenic refrigerant.

INTERESTING FACTS:
-Neon forms in stars with a mass of eight or more Earth suns during the end of their lives during the carbon burning stage.
-If you could gather all the neon from the rooms in a typical new home in the United States, you would get 10 liters (2 gallons) of neon gas.

Claudia Zaragoza

10/16/2012 09:21:17 am

My element is Titanium.

It was discoverd in 1791 by a man named Martin Heinirich Klaproth and William Gregor both were british chemist. This element is made up of a number of mineral deposits, it is also found in living things, such as rocks, water bodies, and soils.

People use it in manufacture of white pigments. There is also titianium trichloride, it is used for catalyst in polypropylene.

Titanium is similar to Ziriconium, becuase they both have same electrons. Currently titanium is used in jet engines, missiles, spacecraft, sporting goods, and jewlery.

The characteristics of titanium are; this element is reconized for high strength-to-weight ratio. It's metal is low density, it is quite ductile. Titanium has a high melting point, it makes it useful as refactory metal.

Interesting Facts
.-Titanium loses strength when heated above 430 degrees
-Titanuim is 60 percent more dense than aluminum
-Melting is only possible in a inert atmosphere
- When it combines with chlorine is turns 550 degrees celcius
-It reacts with halogens and absorbs hydrogen

Diana Day

10/16/2012 09:31:38 am

Nickel was discovered by Axel Fredrik in 1751. Cronstedt was trying to extract copper from copper-nickel. However, he instead obtained a white metal that he called nickel.

Nickel has the atomic number of 28. It is a silvery-white colored hard mental that can be found almost anywhere. Nickels have a slow rate of chemical reaction at room temperature, it is considered impervious to corrosion. Before this has led to its use for plating metals such as iron and brass, to its use for chemical equipment, and its use in certain alloys that will retain a high silvery polish, such as German silver. About 6% of world nickel production is still used for corrosion-resistant pure-nickel plating. Corrosion Resistant that it protects against degradation from moisture Nickel was once a common component of coins, but has largely been replaced by cheaper iron for this purpose, especially since the metal has proven to be a skin allergen for some people.
The characteristic of nickel is that its melting point of is 1453°C, boiling point is 2732°C, specific gravity is 8.902 (25°C), with a valence of 0, 1, 2, or 3.

Some What interesting Fact:
Nickel (as a natural meteoric nickel–iron alloy) has been traced as far back as 3500 BC.

Kelley Hernandez

10/16/2012 12:43:03 pm

My element is Calcium.

Calcium was first isolated by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808 in London. He used electrolysis to isolate the element. Calcium is a silvery white, soft alkaline earth metal and with a little bit of effort, it can be cut with a sharp knife. Calcium comes from the Latin word calcis meaning "lime". Calcium is essential for human, animal, and plant nutrition. It is one of the elements you need in order to live. It not only builds the structures that support our bodies, many of us also live in homes built using structural concrete or cement made with lime. On the periodic table, Calcium's atomic number is 20 and is in group 2 row 4.

Characteristics of Calcium: The melting point of calcium is 839 +/- 2°C, the boiling point is 1484°C, and specific gravity is 1.55 (20°C), with a valence of 2.

Francisco M.

10/16/2012 01:38:02 pm

Platinum

1. Platinum has been found in objects since 700 B.C. Platinum is thought of first being discovered in 1735 while panning for gold. It was given the name platina, which is little silver in spanish. It was thought of as unripe gold for quite some time and it had no value. The melting point for it is very high and the boiling point is even higher. Bushveld Igneous Complex mines provide three quarters of the world’s platinum output.

2. The family Platinum is in is transitional metals. It consists of group metals 3 through 12. They are more brittle and harder than groups 1 and 2 and a higher boiling, and melting point. Also they are a good conductor of heat and electricity. They have silver luster except silver and gold. Groups are elements have the same outer electron arrangement. Platinum has a melting point of 3221.6 °F and an obviously higher boiling point of 6920.6 °F. It is a silvery, whitish metal. It does not oxidize in air at any temperature. Platinum does not dissolve in hydrochloric or nitric acid, but it does dissolve when the two acids are combined to make aqua regia. Platinum is used in jewelry, wire, to make crucibles and vessels for laboratory work, electrical contacts, and thermocouples.The metal is often used as a catalyst.
3. Platinum wire will glow red-hot in the vapor of methanol, where is acts as a catalyst, converting it for formaldehyde. Hydrogen and oxygen will explode in the presence of platinum.
4. Platinum has a really high melting and boiling point. I didn't know this until about a month and a half ago that Platinum is worth more gold (I learned this from a Bud Light commercial).

Joshua Quiroz

10/16/2012 01:46:22 pm

My element is Arsenic
No one really knows who discovered arsenic but it was given to a German chemist by the name of Albertus Magnus who isolated it around 1250 AD. he obtained it by heating soap together with orpiment.

Arsenic is in the nitrogen family and shares properties of being metalloids with anitmony. It is also in group number 15 which shares many chemical properties, for example it is metal and non - metal at times and that means they are semi conducters. Arsenic shows up in three allotropic forms yellow, black, and grey , yet the stable form is a silver - grey, brittle crystalline solid.

It is currently used everywhere even food believe it or not it is in foods, but it is mostly used for rat traps and pest poison

Characteristics: 814 degress celcius is it's melting point, and 615 degrees celcius is its boiling point. Has 8 isotopes. Symbol is As atomic number is 33, mass is 74.92, group number is 15, and is a metalloid.

Tyler Hill

10/16/2012 02:06:46 pm

My element is Xenon. Xenon was discovered by Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay and English chemist Morris Travers in 1898 using liquefied air. Xenon has a high Atomic Mass. Xenon is a noble gas, all noble gases are odorless, colorless, monatomic, with very low reactivity. Xenon creates a bright flash when excited with electricity. It is often used in strobe lights. Xenon, due to it's high weight, was used in an experimental ion engine aboard the space probe Deep Space 1.

Atomic Number: 54
Atomic Weight: 131.293
Melting Point: 161.36 K (-111.79°C or -169.22°F)
Boiling Point: 165.03 K (-108.12°C or -162.62°F)
Density: 0.005887 grams per cubic centimeter
Phase at Room Temperature: Gas
Element Classification: Non-metal
Period Number: 5 Group Number: 18 Group Name: Noble Gas

Stevon Marshall

10/16/2012 02:17:37 pm

My element is Francium.

Francium was first discovered by Marguerite Catherine Perey in France of the year, 1939. When the French chemist was analyzing actinium-227's decay sequence, the result from it was an alpha particle. That particle contained the nucleus or Francium-223. Francium's discovery took place in Paris at a Curie Institute, and the element’s takes its name from France. It's been studied that Francium is a natural element, from Earth's crust.
The element can be produced by bombarding thorium with protons, or by bombarding radium with neutrons. Francium's most stable isotope, francium-223, has a half-life of about 22 minutes. It decays into radium-223 through beta decay or into astatine-219 through alpha decay. Due to the small amounts produced and its short half-life, there are currently no uses for francium outside of basic scientific research.
Francium is in group 1 on the Periodic Table, that group is mainly metal related elements. Their nickname is the Alkali Metals. Yet Francium is very radioactive and is one of the hardest elements to find on Earth. It is estimated that there are only about 15 grams or half an ounce in the Earth's crust at a single time.
Today Francium is currently just being dissected for studies to improve the knowledge of the substance. But back then it was used for gaining even more knowledge on it. Just study after study.

Jorge

10/16/2012 03:52:06 pm

IRON

Ancient Egyptians had learned how to use iron before the First Dynasty, which began in about 3400 B.C. The Egyptians most likely found the iron in meteorites. Some meteorites are very rich in iron. The Egyptians made tools and jewelry out of iron. By the time of the Roman civilization, iron had become an essential metal around 23-79 A.D. They constructed houses, cleaved rocks, and made so many other useful of necessities of life. Chinese civilizations also knew about iron. Workers learned to produce iron as early as 200 B.C. A number of iron objects, including cannons, remain from the Han period of 202 B.C. to A.D. 221.

Iron is a part of the transitional metals family. The elements within that family usually share properties amongst each other. They contain one or two valence electrons. They are good conductors of heat and electricity, and are also malleable and ductile. Most of them usually have a silvery luster, except copper and gold. Iron is also a part of group eight, on the periodic table. Like other groups, the members of this one shows patterns in its electron configuration, especially the outermost shells resulting in trends in chemical behavior. Iron is a silvery-white/grayish metal. It is both ductile and malleable, meaning it can be drawn into thin wires and hammered into sheets. Iron has a very high tensile strength, meaning it can be stretched without breaking. Iron is also very workable due to these three physical properties. The melting point of pure iron is 1,536°C (2,797°F) and its boiling point is about 3,000°C (5,400°F). Its density is 7.87 grams per cubic centimeter.

The list for all of the uses of iron are infinite. In general, it is greatly used when the following categories; automotive, construction, containers, machinery, industrial equipment, rail transportation, oil and gas industries, electrical equipment, and appliances & utensils.

Some fun facts about iron is that it is one of only three naturally occurring magnetic elements. The other two are nickel and cobalt. Also, the famous Iron man suit is NOT made of iron because it is too heavy, dense, and rusts. The comic book suit is actually made up of titanium.

Jessie Aguilar

10/17/2012 04:56:23 am

Robert Hooke, Ole Borch, Mikhail lomonsov, and Pierre Bayen all produced Oxygen in experiements in the 17th and the 18th century but didn't recognize it as an element, but is was really discovered by a swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhem Scheele. He had done this by heating mercuric oxide and a couple of nitrates. When he did this he called her a "fire air" because it was the only known supporter of combustion and wrote a book a book about it which ws called Treatise On Air and Fire" that was publish in 1775, but took two years to actually publish making it available until 1777. Later in years there was more contribution on Oxygen on making it more noticable and more understanding to people that were interested in it at the time, and everyone as also.

Sierra Renna

10/17/2012 09:41:52 am

Argon was discovered in 1894 by a Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay and Lord Raleigh, an English chemist. .93% of our world atmosphere is made up of argon. Argon can be used to fill incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs so that the oxygen doesn’t destroy the filament. It is also used for arc welding. Argon is known to form at least one compound, argon Fluor hydride. Argon Fluor hydride is only stable at very low temperatures. It will begin to decompose if it reaches above the temperature of -246°C (-411°F). Because of this, argon Fluor hydride cannot be used for anything besides basic scientific research. Argons freezing point of -189.2°C, boiling point of -185.7°C, and the density of 1.7837 g/l. Argon is a noble gas and dose not form true chemical compounds. Ion molecules of argon have been observed, including (ArKr)+, (Arxe) +, and (NeAr) +. Argon forms a clathrate with b hydroquinone, which is stable yet without true chemical bonds. Argon is two and a half times more soluble in water than nitrogen, with approximately the same solubility as oxygen. Argon’s emission spectrum includes a characteristic set of red lines. Argon is similar to helium and neon because they are all gases and they’re all inert. Argon is created when the potassium in the earths crust decays. Argon is the most abundant of rare gases. Argon emits light when an electro current is exposed to it. It’s most commonly used in light bulbs, glow tubes, lasers, welding, and plasma globes. Something that shocked me was that argon has a 35day life span.

Lukas

10/17/2012 09:46:04 am

Lead was discovered in Ancient times and used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Chinese. At one time in amercian history, lead was extremely valuable. Lead used to be used for pencils but it was found to be dangerous for pencil chewers. They now use graphite. Romans also used lead to make water pipes for their aqueducts. The decline o fthe roman empire is in part blamed on the poisonous lead water pipes.
2. Lead is described as soft, malleable.
Lead, like other metals has a high conductivity, shininess, and ductility.
b.The carbon family elements tend to be unreactive, and exist in nature. They all contain 4 electrons.
c. Lead is bluish grey It is the softest and heaviest metal of the common metals. It melts at 600 degrees F.
3. Lead was very valuable in the US in the 19th century. It is currently used in bulletproof vests.
4. The latin name is plumbum. Some believe that Vincent Van Gogh went crazy because he chewed on the ends of his brushes that had lead paint. Because of this he cut off his ear.Lead is soft enough to be cut with a knife.

Alyssa Abeyta

10/17/2012 10:51:55 am

Discovery & History
Iodine is found on Earth mainly as the highly water-soluble iodide. Iodine is found on Earth mainly as the highly water-soluble iodide. Iodine was discovered by Bernard Courtois in 1811. He was born to a manufacturer of saltpeter (a vital part of gunpowder). At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, France was at war and saltpeter was in great demand. Saltpeter produced from French niter beds required sodium carbonate, which could be isolated from seaweed collected on the coasts of Normandy and Brittany. To isolate the sodium carbonate, seaweed was burned and the ash washed with water. The remaining waste was destroyed by adding sulfuric acid. Courtois once added excessive sulfuric acid and a cloud of purple vapor rose. He noted that the vapor crystallized on cold surfaces, making dark crystals. Courtois suspected that this was a new element but didn’t have the funding to pursue it further.
Properties
a. Shared Properties with other elements in the same family:
Iodine belong to the family of Halogen Gasses. Other elements that belong to this family is; Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Astatine
b. Shared properties with elements in the same group:
All these gases are non-toxic, non-metallic elements. Most of these elements melt at a really high level.
c. Individual properties:
-Fluorine has a melting point of -219.62°C (1 atm), boiling point of -188.14°C (1 atm), density of 1.696 g/l (0°C, 1 atm), specific gravity of liquid of 1.108 at its boiling point
-Chlorine has a melting point of -100.98°C, boiling point of -34.6°C, density of 3.214 g/l, specific gravity of 1.56 (-33.6°C), with a valence of 1, 3, 5, or 7. Chlorine is a member of the halogen group of elements and directly combines with almost all of the other elements.
- At room temperature, bromine is a deep reddish-brown liquid. It evaporates easily, giving off strong fumes that irritate the throat and lungs. Bromine boils at 58.8°C (137.8°F), and its density is 3.1023 grams per cubic centimeter. Bromine freezes at -7.3°C (18.9°F).
- Astatine has a melting point of 302°C, an estimated boiling point of 337°C, with probable valences of 1, 3, 5, or 7. Astatine possesses characteristics common to other halogens. It behaves most similarly to iodine, except that At exhibits more metallic properties.

Interesting and/or main historical or current uses
- Iodide, and Thyroxin (besides the point) which contains iodine, are used internally in medicine. A solution of KI and iodine in alcohol is used as a disinfectant for external wounds.
- Silver iodide is used in photography
- Nutrient, Added to Table Salt
Any surprising facts
- Its used in food

miles

10/17/2012 11:00:37 am

Silicon was first discovered by Antoine Lavoisier in 1787 by heating sand with carbon. Silicon was named sillicium but was later changed to silicon because of the mixture of carbon.
Silicon is a metalloid, meaning it has characteristics of both metal and non metal elements. Silicon is also part of the the carbon family, like germanium, tin, lead, and carbon. About 90% of the Earth's outer crust is composed of silicate minerals. But unlike most elements silicon expands when in a frozen state and shrinks when heated.
Silicon is also the 2nd most common element in the universe below oxygen, it is used in many things such as glass, metals, circuits, soaps and compuder chips; which is why “silicon” valley is named because of the technology usage.
-silicon is never used alone.
-8th most abundant in the universe.
- it is used to make most glassware.

Isak Nuhic

10/17/2012 11:38:55 am

Radon Gas was discovered in 1900 by Fredrich E. Dorn. In 1908 William Ramsay and Robert Gray isolated the gas and named it Niton. Since 1923 is has been called Radon (after radium one of its sources). Radon is one of the noble gases therefore it is chemically inert. It is also radioactive, colorless and has no odor. Radon was used for treating cancer by radio therapy but now safer treatments are available. Some interesting facts about Radon are that Radon accounts for the earths average radioactivity. Recent estimates show that 21,000 people die a year due to Radon Gases.

John

10/17/2012 12:04:35 pm

Mercury dates back to ancient times when it was discovered in Egyptian tombs that date back to 1500 BC. Mercury has also been used in other cultures in different parts of the world such as Greece, China, and Tibet and has also been harvested throughout the world since ancient times.
Although it is part of the metalloids family, in its natural form, Mercury is a silvery liquid that takes the shape of the container that it is in. Although it is naturally a liquid, Mercury shares group 12 along with zinc and cadmium. All three of them share metallic properties and can be shaped into other forms.
In recent times, mercury has been an ingredient in dental amalgams as well as the main component of thermometers.Quantities of liquid mercury ranging from 90 to 600 grams have been recovered from elite Maya tombs or ritual caches at six sites. This mercury may have been used in bowls as mirrors for divinatory purposes. Five of these date to the Classic Period of Maya civilization but one example predated this.
Some amounts of mercury have been found in fish and other seafood but it is not a harmful amount and can be consumed safely. Mercury was also the main ingredient when hatters made hats out of animal skins in the 1600s and 1700s. However, the hatters would be exposed to so much mercury that they would acquire "mercury poisoning" and would go crazy thus starting the phrase " mad as a hatter".

Jimmy Nguyen

10/17/2012 12:13:54 pm

In 1781, Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered a new acid call tungstic acid. The tungstic acid could be made from scheelite. At that time two chemists, Scheele and Torbern Bergman suggested that by reducing the acid it could be possible to get a new metal out of it. In 1783, Jose and Fausto Elhuyar discovered an acid made from wolframite that was identical to tungstic acid. Later that year, the brothers isolated tungsten by reducing its acid with charcoal.
The elements in the family of transition metal posses a high density, high melting point, and high boiling point. As a transition metal they are also conductors of electricity. The metals in the group with tungsten has a high melting point but out of all of them tungsten has the highest. Tungsten in raw form is a hard steel-gray metal that is brittle and hard to work with. When made pure tungsten retains its hardness and becomes malleable enough to be worked with.
Tungsten played a huge role in world war two. Portugal was the main source of tungsten for the Europeans. Since tungsten’s resistance to high temperatures and its strengthening of alloys made it an important raw material for both sides of the war. In the jewelry industry tungsten is used to make rings. Tungsten rings are brittle so that means that they are strong but may crack under a sharp blow.
Tungsten originated from the Swedish words “tung sten” which means heavy stone. The reason tungsten’s element symbol is W is because it was called Wolfram. Tungsten has the highest melting point and the lowest vapor pressure of all metals. Western Europe controls 30% of the world’s total tungsten. U.S and China both control 25%. Japan controls 13%.

Paisley Dutcher

10/17/2012 12:29:08 pm

Helium was discovered, surprisingly, not on Earth but on the Sun on August 18, 1868 by a French astronomer Jules Janssen during a solar eclipse in Guntur, India. What the astronomer saw was a bright yellow stripe in the chromosphere of the sun. Though he didn't know it was helium, this yellow stripe was assumed to be sodium. Later, it was hypothesized that this element was, in fact, not sodium but a completely new element that is only created on the Sun. The name Helium comes from the the Greek word Helios, meaning Sun. In 1882, the still mysterious element was observed in gases erupting from Mount Vesuvius, proving that it actually did exist on Earth and not just the Sun. After that, very little progress was made on the discovery of this new element until 1895 when a Scottish chemist by the name of Sir William Ramsay examined the gas produced by a Norweigen ore called cleveite and saw the same bright yellow stripe that Janssen had almost 30 years before.

Helium is a gas with an atomic number of 2 and an atomic mass of 4.0026 g/mol. It is a noble gas and shares that family with other noble gases like Neon, Argon, Krypton, (the gas, not the planet where super heroes live. Sad, I know) Xenon, Radon, and Ununoctium. Helium is the second lightest element (Hydrogen is the first). It is also tasteless, odorless, inert and non-toxic.

Everyone knows that you use helium to fill up balloons but Helium can actually be used for many more, highly scientific, purposes. It can act as an inert shield for welding, engineers use Helium to pressurize fuel tanks of liquid fueled rockets and super sonic wind tunnels and it can be combined with oxygen to create a nitrogen free atmosphere for deep sea divers in order to avoid something called Nitrogen Narcosis. Nitrogen Narcosis occurs when divers breath compressed air at about 100 ft below the surface. The increase in the partial pressure of Nitrogen creates an altered mental state for the divers that is similar to being drunk.

Helium is the most abundant element on Earth and a large portion of the Helium we use is found in Texas. A quarter of the universe is made up of Helium atoms. It never freezes and also doesn't burn, it also has the lowest melting point of all the elements. If you put liquid Helium next to any object, the Helium saps the objects energy, making the object very, very cold.

Kira

10/17/2012 12:34:04 pm

Sulfer is a non-metallic element that occurs in combined and free states and is distributed over the worlds surface. It doesnt smell and doesnt taste like anything. It is insoluable in water and looks like yellow crystal. It's the element that is found most in their pure crystalline forms. Sulfur in latin is translated to "burning stone". It was used by Greeks and Romans to purify sick rooms and to make fire. Sulfur is distibuted among the world, but it is mostly found in very small quanities. sulfurs become one of the basic materials of industrial production. Sulfur is used to make gunpowder, matches, phosphate, insecticides, fungicides, and medicine. An interesting fact is that sulfur is mostly used in fertilizer, one half of the countries sulfur is used for it. Sulfur is also know as Brimstone. Before sulfur was thought as a compound, not an element. Antoine Lavoisier made it seen as an element. Sulfur has a very strong smell like when a match is struck. Sulfur is in the chalcogen family along with oxygen, selenium, tellurium, and polonium.

Javier Vizcarra

10/17/2012 12:36:57 pm

Thallium was discovered by a man named Sir William Crookes, an English chemist in 1861. He had obtained a sludge left over from the production of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) from a friend. He removed all of selenium from the sludge; he inspected it with a device that was called spectroscope to look for signs of tellurium. Rather than seeing the yellow spectral lines produced by tellurium, he observed a bright green line that no one had ever seen before. Once he found out it was an element he decided to name the element that was producing the green line thallium, after the Greek word for 'green twig', Thallos. It is usually obtained as a byproduct of the production of sulfuric acid or as a byproduct of refining zink or lead.

Thallium has a Atomic Number of 81
Atomic Weight is 204.3833
Its melting point is 577 K (304°C or 579°F)
Boiling Point is 1746 K (1473°C or 2683°F)
Density is 11.8 grams per cubic centimeter
Phase at room Temperature: Solid
Element Classification: Metal
Period Number: 6 Group Number: 13 Group Name: None

Thallium is used for the electronics industry, and the rest is used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Britton

10/17/2012 12:44:58 pm

Fluorine was discovered in 1886 by Henri Moissan in France.
Fluorine was thought to be an element in 1810 but wasn’t actually discovered until 1886.
Fluorine was named from the Latin word 'fluere' meaning to flow.
It belongs to the Halogen Family.
It has an atomic weight of 18.998.
A density of 1.554 g/l.
A melting point of -219.62C.
A boiling point of -188.12C.
It is normally a gas, (which I didn’t know), at a temperature of 25C.
It has a pale yellowy green color.
Classified as non metallic.
Other elements in the Halogen Family, like Fluorine, are non metallic, highly reactive, and some are toxic gases.
Fluorine is the most electronegative element.
It is commonly used in teeth whiteners and refrigeration appliances.
Fluorine if highly reactive and reacts with almost any organic and inorganic material.
Both fluorine and the fluoride ion are highly toxic, surprising enough.
It has a pungent smell.
Fluorine in the 13th most common element found on Earth’s surface.

Sergio Ramirez

10/17/2012 12:56:19 pm

Phosphorus

Symbol: P
Atomic Number: 15
Atomic Mass: 30.97 amu
Melting Point: 44.1 °C (111.38 °F)
Boiling Point: 280.0 °C (536.0 °F)
Number of Protons/Electrons: 15
Number of Neutrons: 16
Classification: Non-metal
Period: 3
Group: 15
Crystal Structure: Monoclinic
Density @ 293 K: 1.82 g/cm3
Color: white
Name Origin: From the Greek words phôs (light) and phoros (bearer) it got it's name because it glows in the dark.
Uses: fertilizers, detergents
Obtained From: phosphate rock

Phosphorus was discovered in 1669 by physician Hennig Brand in Germany. He prepared it from urine by boiling it in a bath tub trying to create gold. The discovery was important because it was the first time someone had discovered an element not known to ancient peoples. Brand was the first person who could be called the discoverer of an element. Phosphorus is part of the nitrogen family along with nitrogen, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.

There are different colored phosphorus. As a gas it is colorless, but as a solid it can be a silvery white or a red depending on the how is bonded with itself. White phosphorus is very reactive. It combines with oxygen so easily that it catches fire spontaneously. As a safety precaution, white phosphorus is stored under water in chemical laboratories. Phosphorus also combines with metals to form compounds known as phosphides.

Fun Fact:
White phosphorus ignites spontaneously in air! Red phosphorus needs friction to ignite; its used on matches.Red phosphorus is made by heating white phosphorus to 300 C in the absence of air.

Bryanna Rivera link

10/17/2012 01:05:35 pm

Cadmium is the 48th Element on the periodic table. In 1817, it was discovered by two German scientists (Stromeyer and Herman) as an impurity of Zinc Carbonate.
Cadmium is a bluish-white, soft metal similar to Zinc and Mercury. Like Mercury, it shows a low melting point compared to other transitional metals. You can find concentrated amounts of Cadmium directly under the earths crust (near granite slabs).
Cadmium occurs most often in zinc pores- therefore considered a bi-product of zinc. Like zinc, when making complex molecules, it prefers two Oxygens.
In the past, Cadmium has been used for batteries and solar panel coating and wiring due to its high conductivity. Cadmium has also been used as a pigment and corrosion resistent plating on steel. Because of cadmium's high toxicity, it is no longer used as steel coating (in the US).

Like lead, Cadmium is used to paint toys. All toys that have lead paint have been recalled. Cadmium also has deathly results when inhaled, consumed, or absorbed by skin- although interestingly has not been recalled.

Jordan

10/17/2012 01:31:52 pm

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, a building material, and a constituent of various metal alloys.

The metal and its alloys have been used for thousands of years. In the Roman era, copper was principally mined on Cyprus, hence the origin of the name of the metal as сyprium, later shortened to сuprum. Its compounds are commonly encountered as copper salts, which often impart blue or green colors to minerals such as turquoise and have been widely used historically as pigments. Architectural structures built with copper corrode to give "green verdigris".

Sam

10/17/2012 01:37:37 pm

1. Hydrogen was first discovered in 1766 by English chemist Henry Cavendish, though this was not actually the first time it was written about. In 1671 Robert Doyle had conducted an experiment and observed the reaction between iron filings and dilute acids, with the end outcome being hydrogen gas. Cavendish is given credit for the discovery because he was the first to recognize hydrogen as an actual element. Antoine Lavoisier named the element hydrogen using the Greek roots “hydro” and “gene” meaning “water” and “former” after he recreated Cavendish’s experiment and outcome; the element produced water when burned.

2. Hydrogen is classified as an Other Nonmetal on the Periodic Table. Non-metals are generally considered to be poor conductors for heat and electricity, have significantly lower boiling and melting points compared to metals, and have high electronegativity. The gas is tasteless, colorless, odorless, non-metallic, and non-toxic when kept at standard room temperature, and is also highly flammable. Hydrogen is the lightest element on the Table and is four times lighter than air and is the most abundant chemical substance known to man.

3. In 1937, Hydrogen was used as fuel for the German LZ 129 Hindenburg passenger airship. The ship’s flight ended in disaster as the aircraft seemingly spontaneously combusted; this horrendous example proved how Hydrogen is extremely flammable.

Today the element is commonly used in power stations as a coolant in generators.

Marco Day

10/17/2012 02:09:19 pm

Cobalt was discovered in 1733 by a french chemist named Greog Brandit. Most gases that contacted with cobalt turn to the color blue. Cobalt are usually found mine caves. Pure cobalt are not found in nature, however small amounts of it are found in rocks, animals, and plants. Cobalt is a hard brittle metal. It is known that Cobalt is more magnetic than iron, being put in coins for high magnetic strength. Cobalt has many practical uses, one of them is that it is used as a bomb to enhance nuclear fallout. Canada and Morocco are important sources of Cobalt. Cobalt are the fastest use of metals having be used in rechargeable batteries.

Fedja Milz

10/17/2012 02:19:49 pm

My element is tantalum. It was originally named Tantalus, after a Greek mythology character. It was discovered in 1802 by Anders Ekeberg in Sweden. A year later, an English chemist called William Hyde compared the oxides from the element Columbium and Tantalus(Called that back then) and found that they were exactly the same. He then decided to name it "Tantalum" and change the name of "Columbium" to "Columbite". Later many other chemists tested this, and found that they were indeed two separate elements.

Tantalum is in the "Transition Metal" family of elements. This family features elements that are metals, they can conduct heat and electricity, and also use electrons from mutiple shels to give to other atoms. Transition metals is a large and rather broad family. The group that Tantalum is in is called the "refractory metals". These metals exclusively feature very high melting points: 2,200 C. This makes them good for a number of practical technology, such as nuclear reactor rods, lighting, lubricants and more. One downfall is that they have extreme oxidability at high temperatures, and that you need very high temperatures to make them properly. Tantalum has a very high melting point, and is used in a number of things today. It is used in electronics, such as computers, cellphones CD players and things of the sort. It used to be used in light bulbs until tungsten replaced it.

Fun Fact: Tantalum is also used in jet engines.

Sofia Bresciani link

10/17/2012 03:09:47 pm

Iron:
Iron has been around from 4000 years B.C. so there is not a specific person that can claim the discover of Iron. Also was considered one of the first metals.
Iron is a, ductile, malleable, silver-gray metal of group VIII.
Iron is the most used of all the metals, including 95 % of all the metal tonnage produced worldwide. Thanks to the combination of low cost and high strength it is indispensable. Its uses go from food containers ,family cars, screwdrivers, washing machines, cargo ships, paper staples.Steel is the best known alloy of iron, and some of the forms that iron takes include: pig iron, cast iron, carbon steel, wrought iron, alloy steels, iron oxides. Iron I one of the easiest metals to find there is plenty supply in the inner and outer core's of earth.
FACTS:
Within the human body, there is enough iron to make a nail. When alloyed with other metals iron makes cast iron, pig iron and steel. Since iron rust so easily, it is necessary to coat the iron with either paint or a coating of some kind. Even when the iron is alloyed with other metals. Has also played an important role to the Industrial Revolution.

Tiano Lange

10/17/2012 03:47:11 pm

In 1860, Robert Bunsen and gastav kirchhoff discovered caesium in the mineral water from durkheim, Germany. Due to the bright blue lines in its emission spectrum , they chose a name derived from the Latin word caesius, meaning sky-blue. Caesium was the first element to be discovered spectroscopically, only one year after the invention of the spectroscope by Bunsen and Kirchhoff.
To obtain a pure sample of caesium, 44,000 litres of mineral water had to be evaporated to yield 240 kilograms (530 lb) of concentrated salt solution. The alkaline earth metals were precipitated either as sulfates or oxalates, leaving the alkali metal in the solution. After conversion to the nitrites and extraction with ethanol, a sodium-free mixture was obtained. From this mixture, the lithium was precipitated by ammonium carbonate. Potassium, rubidium and caesium form insoluble salts with chloroplatinic acid, but these salts show a slight difference in solubility in hot water.
Caesium is a very soft (it has the lowest hardness of all elements), very ductile, pale golden metal, which darkens in the presence of trace amounts of oxygen. It has a melting point of 28.4 °C (83.1 °F), making it one of the few elemental metals which are liquid near room temperature. mercury is the only elemental metal with a known melting point lower than caesium. In addition, the metal has a rather low boiling point, 641 °C (1,186 °F), the lowest of all metals other than mercury.Its compounds burn with a blue or violet color.
Caesium forms alloys with the other alkali metals, as well as with gold, and amalgams with mercury. At temperatures below 650 °C(1,202 °F), it alloys with cobalt, iron, nickel, platinum. It forms well-defined intermetallic compounds with antimoney, gallium, indium and thorium, which are photosensitive It mixes with the other alkali metals (except with lithium), and the alloy with a molar distribution of 41% caesium, 47% potassium, and 12% sodium has the lowest melting point of any known metal alloy, at −78 °C (−108 °F). A few amalgams have been studied.
Caesium metal is highly reactive and very pyrophoric. In addition to igniting spontaneously in air, it reacts explosively with water even at low temperatures, more so than other members of the first group of the periodic table. The reaction with solid water occurs at temperatures as low as −116 °C (−177 °F). Because of its high reactivity, the metal is classified as a hazardous material. It is stored and shipped in dry saturated hydrocarbons such as mineral oil. Similarly, it must be handled under inert gas such as argon. It can be stored in vacuum-sealed glass ampoules. In quantities of more than about 100 grams (3.5 oz), caesium is shipped in hermetically sealed, stainless steel containers.
Caesium-based atomic clocks observe electromagnetic transitions in the structure of caesium atoms and use it as a reference point. The first accurate caesium clock was built by Louis Essen in 1955 at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. Since then, they have been improved repeatedly over the past half-century, and form the basis for standards-compliant time and frequency measurements.Caesium and mercury were used as a propellant in early ion engines designed for spacecraft propulsion on very long interplanetary or extraplanetary missions.
interesting facts are that that it reacts explosively with water even at -116 degrees fahrenheit.
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Matt Larson

10/17/2012 04:13:27 pm

-Helium
Helium was discovered in 1895 by Pierre Janssen and joseph norman lokyer. It's name Comes from the Greek god Helios. The first real known evidence of helium was found on August 18th 1865, but was only a bright yellow line which no one knew what it really was which is why it was later discovered 30 years later.

Atomic number: 2
Atomic mass: 4.00260 g.mol -1
Electronegativity according to Pauling: unknown
Density: 0.178*10 -3 g.cm -3 at 20 °C
Melting point: - 272.2 (26 atm) °C
Boiling point: - 268.9 °C
Vanderwaals radius: 0.118 nm
Ionic radius: unknown
Isotopes: 2
Electronic shell: 1s 2
Energy of first ionization: 2372 kJ.mol -1

Joanna Cardona

10/18/2012 04:13:00 am

Carbon has been around for many years now, same a the diamond. It was not until 1803 when Carbon was able to be explaned, they assumed it was composed by atoms, and another sort of element with a combined weight.
If we had no carbon we would not be able to live on earth because it includes framework and it provides fuels--coal, coke, oil, gasoline, and natural gas.

Some unique facts about Carbon is that is has the ability to form covalent bonds and with it's self, Carbon also can forms double, and triple bonds

Some intresting facts I found were that Carbon is made in the interiors of stars, though it was not produced in the Big Bang, I found this intresting becasue I believe it gets me wondering more about what every element is really made up of. Also Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe!

Grace Ojeda

10/18/2012 03:48:00 pm

Silver has been around for a very long time, about 5,000 years long. At least that is how long people have been using silver. It was known to have been mentioned in the book of Genesis. Men then learned to separate silver from lead in 3000 B.C. It was found in many places such as Asia.
Silver's family is Alkali Metals. Silver is a very inactive metal. It does not react with oxogen or sulfur. However over time silverware turns into silver sulfide. Nickel like Silver does not react easily to oxogen or sulfur. In silver's group which is group 11 IB, copper and gold are found in the same group because them all have similar chemical behaviors and show some of the same electron configuration.
Interesting Fact: Silver is a mildly toxic element.

Grace Ojeda

10/18/2012 03:51:38 pm

Today Silver is used in many things like silverware, jewelry, and frames. Silver is found to be in different everyday items just laying around your house.
Another fact would be that Silver has been used to make coins since 700 B.C..

Chemistry - Elements

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