PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS

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PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS
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A very soft, silvery white metal which melts in
the hand
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Half-melted cube. This shape started as a
carefully cast perfect one-inch cube of gallium.
It was left in an un-air-conditioned room on a
summer day, and because the melting point of
gallium is only about 30C, it partially melted.
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A hard, brittle, silvery white semi-metal which
has unusual electrical properties and is widely
used in the semi-conductor industry.
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Germanium is quite similar to silicon in
appearance and properties. Both are used to make
semiconductor devices, both can be melted and
crystallized, and both are available in
hyper-pure forms for semiconductor manufacture.
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Transistors. Germanium shot to fame in 1947 when
researchers at Bell Labs discovered that this
semi-conducting element could be used to amplify
electrical currents. Soon then device that was
perfected from this discovery - the transistor -
was being mass produced and the consumer
electronics industry was born. Germanium
continued to be used as the critical raw material
for transistors for a couple of decades until it
was largely replaced by devices based on silicon.
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A silvery grey semi-metal which tarnishes in air
and is highly toxic.
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Crystals under argon. These lovely arsenic
crystals make clear that arsenic really is a
metal, even though most people think of it as a
classic poison powder. It is said to be the cause
of Napoleons death.
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Realgar, derived from the Arabic rahj al ghar
(powder of the mine), is an arsenic ore known
since ancient times and was once used as a
pigment. It is translucent to transparent, bright
red to orange red in color and occurs in ore
veins with other arsenic, antimony or lead
minerals as well as in volcanic and hydrothermal
environments. Realgar is photosensitive,
decomposing to arsenic trisulfide (yellow
orpiment) on exposure to light.
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A silvery semi-metal which also exists in the
form of a powdery red allotrope. It is stable in
air but will burn.
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Light meter. Selenium is used to make
light-sensing surfaces, including this
self-powered light meter (the selenium surface
generates electricity from light, which moves the
meter to indicate the amount of light striking
the surface). Selenium is also used on the
surface of photocopier drums.
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Native selenium. Selenium is rare as a native
element. Like its neighbor sulfur, it forms
around volcanic fumaroles smaller or secondary
vents, burning coal dumps and from the reduction
of other minerals.
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A dark brown pungent liquid which is toxic and
highly reactive.
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Ampoule. Bromine is the Houdini element that
manages to escape from most attempts at
containment. It will quickly eat its way through
rubber and plastic bottle tops and even attacks
teflon.
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A very rare, unreactive noble gas that is found
in trace amounts in the atmosphere. Kryptonite
cannot exist. Why?
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Discharge tube. Krypton gas is used in fancy
flashlight Mag-Lite bulbs because it allows the
filament to run at a higher temperature, and
hence more efficiently.
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Soft, silvery white alkali metal that is highly
reactive, igniting spontaneously in air. It melts
on a very hot day.
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Ampoule. Rubidium is one of four metallic
elements that can be liquid at room temperature.
It catches fire when exposed to oxygen in the air
and reacts explosively with water.
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Time standard cell. This is an oscillator from a
highly accurate atomic clock. This vaporizes in
the vacuum when heated by an electric coil and
the atoms of rubidium are then excited with a
radio signal so that their electrons vibrate at a
characteristic and highly precise frequency. This
vibration is measured and used as the reference
for the clock. Such timepieces are accurate to
within 3 seconds in a billion years!
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A silvery white metal that can form long needle
shaped crystals. It is reactive and easily
oxidizes if exposed to the air.
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Dendritic crystals ampouled under argon.
Strontium oxidizes within seconds of being
exposed to the air. When it solidifies, strontium
forms pronounced crystals which give the metal an
almost fibrous character.
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Celestite. Celestine or celestite, from the
Latin coelestic (celestial) is an important ore
of strontium. Celestine colors a flame red due to
its strontium content.
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Yttrium A soft, silvery metal chemically similar
to the rare earths. It is protected from
tarnishing by an oxide layer and is used to make
the red phosphor for TV screens.
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Large chunk. The element is used as a minor
ingredient in number of alloys, including a
combination with aluminium and chromium which has
the unusual property - for a metal - of being a
poor conductor of heat. Added to magnesium, it
improves the latter's already excellent casting
properties.
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YAG crystal. YAG stands for yttrium aluminium
garnet. This crystal was produced for use in a
high powered laser. The green color comes from a
small addition of chromium (Cr3) ions.
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A hard, shiny silver transition metal that reacts
with many gases but which is normally protected
from tarnishing by an oxide layer. Used to make
alloys.
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Lumps. These beautiful knobs of high purity
zirconium look as though they might be made of
metal butter! They were made during the Soviet
era using a gigantic version of the process in
which a white-hot wire is used to decompose
zirconium iodide vapor. Hence this material is
sometimes referred to as iodic zirconium.
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Tube. Almost all the zirconium currently
produced finds its way into nuclear reactors. The
properties which make zirconium so well suited
for nuclear applications are its very low
neutron absorption, its resistance to corrosion
and its capacity to withstand high temperatures.
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