Elements and Minerals

[elements-and-minerals]

Argon

Argon (Ar) has an atomic number of 18 and is a noble gas that composes roughly 1% of the atmosphere. Its name comes from the Greek word, argos, meaning lazy.

In 1785, Henry Cavendish found that approximately 1 percent of air would not react with anything. Later in 1894, Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay discovered argon as a new element after they extracted it from liquid air in an attempt to explain why nitrogen in air and nitrogen in ammonia had different densities. Ramsay was left with a gas that didn't react, and once he looked at it's spectral lines, he confirmed it as a new element.

Argon is used in producing green lasers, and in incandescent lights, to produce a whiter flame. It is also used in fluorescent lighting to produce a blue colour, and in the tyres of luxury cars, to prevent the rubber being corroded by oxygen, as well as in K/Ar dating, to determine the age of rocks.

Additionally, argon is used in double glazing, and to inflate diving suits, as its thermal conductivity is very poor. However, the majority of argon is employed industrially, where it is used as a blanket to keep reactive metals pure, as well as to prevent air ignition in welding and to create super-fine metallic powders.

In 2000, researchers at the University of Helsinki managed to create argon's only known compound, argon fluorohydride. However, if it is kept above 27oK, it decomposes back into argon and hydrogen fluoride, making it virtually useless.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/ar.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/18/argon

https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/labs/argon/methods/home.html

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele018.html

[elements-and-minerals]

Silicon

Silicon (Si) is the fourteenth element on the periodic table and it is a brittle metalloid. It is the second-most occurring element in the Earth's crust and silicate minerals make up the majority of minerals found in the Earth's crust. It is also a solid-state conductor.

The first form of silicon used by humans is flint, which is silica, SiO2. And while we don't use flint today, silicon is still very important to our society today, being one of the main conducting components of solid-state computing and electronics. It is also used in pottery and ceramics, lasers, steel and metallurgy, soaps, desiccants, adhesives, lubricants, implants, granite, concrete and cement. 

While silicon was first isolated in 1811 by Joseph Gay Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard by reacting silicon tetrachloride with potassium, the resulting product was very impure, and so the credit for discovering silicon goes to Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who heated potassium fluorosilicate with potassium in 1824, and reacted the remaining potassium silicide with water, obtaining a relatively pure powder.

Silicon is named after the latin word for flint, silex, and modern industrial extraction processes heat sand with carbon in tempertaures above 2000°C. It has two allotropes that exist at room temperature, crystalline and amorphous. Amorphous is brown while crystalline is a grey colour.

Sources:

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele014.html

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/si.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/14/silicon

http://www2.uncp.edu/home/mcclurem/ptable/silicon/si.htm

[elements-and-minerals]

Indium

Indium (In) has an atomic number of 49. It is a rare metal found in the boron group, and is sometimes used as a soldering compound. The name indium comes from the latin 'indicium', meaning indigo or violet, reflecting its blue-indigo spectral line.

Indium was discovered by Ferdinand Reich, assisted Hieronymous Richter in Germany, 1863. The paper was jointly published, although Richter later tried to make it appear that Reich wasn't involved.

Indium is soft at low temperatures and is very 'sticky'. It is often used in various alloys, as small amounts of indium can change the alloy properties vastly. It is used in dental materials and electronic devices, as well as in low-temperature applications.

 Indium is also used in germanium transistors, lasers, liquid crystal displays, heavy duty/high speed bearings and in photocells. It is also used in nuclear medicine to detect infections. Indium oxidises only at high temperatures and doesn't react in hot water.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/in.html

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/In/In.html

http://www.beaumont.edu/nuclear-medicine-diagnostic-tests-idium-scan/

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/49/indium

[elements-and-minerals]

Oxygen

Oxygen (O) is one of the most well-known elements, and is element no. 8 on the periodic table. It has three stable isotopes, and it exists as a diatomic molecule in gas form. It is a chalcogen and the most abundant element on earth and is responsible for nearly half of the weight of earth's crust.

Most known life relies on oxygen to survive, and despite the fact that water dampens most fires, when oxygen is combined with liquid nitrogen it has a very explosive effect and is commonly used as rocket fuel. Oxygen is produced during photosynthesis.

Oxygen is highly reactive, and combines with most chemicals. Combustion and corrosion reactions are both oxidisation reactions, where a chemical combines with oxygen. In a combustion reaction, the chemical burns in air (oxygen) while in a corrosion reaction, a metal oxidises, or rusts. It is a much slower process.

The name 'oxygen' was bestowed by the Frenchman Antoine Lavoisier. It comes from the Greek words 'oxy' and 'genes', which when put together, mean acid-forming, although oxygen is not essential in the formation of acid. Ozone (O3) is an important part of our atmosphere, filtering the worst of the UV rays.

Oxygen was discovered by a Swedish chemist called Carl Scheele in 1772, by burning manganese oxide. He found that hot manganese oxide produced an unidentified gas, which he named 'fire air.' He found that all other elements produced this gas. However, he didn't publish his work for another three years, during which time Joseph Priestly discovered, using a modification of Steele's experiment, 'better air'.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/o.html

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Elements/Group_16%3A_The_Oxygen_Family/Chemistry_of_Oxygen

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/8/oxygen

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele008.html

[elements-and-minerals]

Osmium

Osmium (Os) has an atomic number of 76 and is a member of the platinum group. It is the second-densest naturally occurring element, being beaten by iridium, and is almost twice as dense as lead.

Osmium was discovered in 1803 by Smithson Tennant, after he separated it from the black residue left after dissolving crude platinum in aqua regia. He named it osmium after the Greek word 'osme', meaning smell, because of the odour of its toxic oxide, osmium tetroxide, or OsO4.

Osmium has seven stable isotopes and is very rare, occurring naturally at a rate of 0.005 ppm, which puts its price up to ~$7000 per 100g. It is used almost exclusively to make hard alloys with other platinum metals for instrument bearings, fountain pen tips and phonograph needles.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/Os.html

http://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Os/Os.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/76/osmium

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele076.html

[elements-and-minerals]

Tantalum

Tantalum (Ta) has an atomic number of 73 and is a transition metal. It has very similar properties to niobium and has the third-highest melting point of any element.

It was first isolated in 1802 from some Finnish minerals by Anders Gustav Ekberg. He called the new element Tantalum, after the king Tantalus, found in Greek mythology. However it was declared identical to columbium (now niobium) and it wasn't until 1844 that H. Rose showed that tantalum and columbium were different metals. Columbium was renamed niobium shortly after this.

Tantalum is very resistant to corrosion and is impervious to bodily fluids. For these reasons, it features heavily in surgical equipment and is widely used in chemical plants. Tantalum carbide is used for making high-speed cutting tools, as it is very strong. Approximately half of the world's production of tantalum is used in capacitors.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/ta.html

http://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Ta/Ta.html

http://elearning.emporia.edu/webapps/aoi-scitoolkit-bb_bb60/links/html/73.htm

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/73/tantalum

[elements-and-minerals]

Samarium

Samarium (Sm) is element 62, and is part of the lanthanide series. It has very similar properties to the rest of the lanthanides, four stable isotopes and is used in magnets. When alloyed with cobalt, it makes a permanent magnet that is the most resistant to demagnetisation of any known material.

Samarium was discovered in 1879 in the mineral samarskite by Lecoq de Boisbaudran. It was named after a Russian mine official, Colonel V. E. Samarsky

Samarium is used in infrared-absorbing glass and to dope calcium fluoride crystals so they can be used in optical lasers. It is also used as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors and in dating rocks. Like other lanthanides, samarium is used in carbon arc lighting.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/sa.html

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Sm/Sm.html

http://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/eps2/wisc/samar.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/62/samarium

[elements-and-minerals]

Creedite

Creedite is a sulfate mineral and its chemical formula is Ca3Al2SO4(OH)2F8.2H2O. It ranks a 4-4.5 on Moh's Scale and is brittle. It dissolves slowly in acids and its crystals are transparent. Its colours range from violet to white.

The name creedite comes from the Creede quadrangle, Colorado, where it was discovered. It is rare, and has a refractive index of 1.461-1.485, similar to glycerin, headlight glass and various oils.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/minerals/creedite.html

http://www.mindat.org/show.php?name=Creedite

http://www.gemdat.org/gem-1151.html

[elements-and-minerals]

Bismuth

Bismuth and its crystal.

Bismuth (Bi) has an atomic number of 83 and is a metallic member of the nitrogen family. The name Bismuth came from Bismuth's original name, Weisse Masse, which evolved into Wismuth and Bisemuthum before finally forming the element's current name.

Bismuth can occur naturally in elemental form, but it mainly occurs as a sulphide or oxide. Because it exists in a pure form naturally, it has been observed as a metal from as early as the 15th century, however it wasn't until 1753, when Claude Geoffroy the Younger demonstrated that it was separate from lead, that it was considered an element.

It is the heaviest non-radioactive element and is exceptional among metals as the second-most diamagnetic element, the metal with the greatest Hall effect and it has a high electrical resistance. It is often used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products because of its low toxicity. 

Sources:

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Bi/Bi.html

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/bi.html

http://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/eps2/wisc/bismuth.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/83/bismuth

[elements-and-minerals]

Fluorine

Fluorine (F) is the first member of the halogens, with an atomic number of 9. It is the most electronegative element, making it extremely reactive. It is a gas at room temperature, and is one of the few elements that can make a diatomic molecule (F2). Its only stable isotope is F-19.

Fluorine was first found in fluorspar in 1530 by Georgius Agricola, where it was used in smelting to make the metal flow. In 1670, it was discovered by Schwanhard to be useful in glass etching, although pure fluorine wasn't isolated until 1886, by Henry Moissan, after killing and burning many scientists in nearly 74 years of continuous efforts to isolate the element.

Because of its extreme electronegativity, fluorine will bond with almost any element, including noble gases krypton and xenon. It also reacts explosively with a great deal of other elements and compounds, including water and hydrogen. Copper and steel are attacked by fluorine, but are quickly coated by a thin layer of either copper fluoride or iron fluoride and resist further attack, meaning that steel containers can be used to transport it.

Fluorine has applications in polymer and plastics production as well as in toothpaste, water supplies, rocket fuels and uranium production. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) were used extensively in air conditioners and as refrigerator coolants, however this use has greatly diminished and almost completely ceased over environmental concerns, particularly to do with the ozone layer.

The name fluoride was derived from the latin word fluore, flux, after its original use in fluorspar, as an agent to help the material flow. It was coined in 1812 by André Ampère. Fluorine is a pale yellow gas. When forced into the compound O2F2 (dioxygen difluoride) it reacts explosively with almost anything, even at temperatures down to 113K (or -160C).

Sources:

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Elements/Group_17%3A_The_Halogens/Chemistry_of_Fluorine

http://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/f/F.html

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/f.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/9/fluorine

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ic50064a035

[elements-and-minerals]

Neon

Neon (Ne) is the tenth element and second noble gas. It has three stable isotopes and is produced mainly from the distillation of liquid air, where it has a concentration of 0.002%.

At low pressures, neon gas produces a bright orange colour when it's excited by an electric discharge - making it favoured for use in illuminated gas signs. While all such signs have come to be termed 'neon signs', the only colour neon produces is bright orange. All other colours are formed by mixes of different gases.

Neon was discovered in 1898 by Ramsay and Travers. Ramsay's son is said to have come up with the name, from the Greek word 'neos' meaning new.

Liquid neon has an important application as a cryogenic refrigerant - it has more than three times the refrigerating capacity of liquid hydrogen. Gaseous neon is used to make lasers, lighting arrestors, high-voltage indicators, TV tubes and wave meter tubes.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/ne.html

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Ne/Ne_Descr.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/10/neon

[elements-and-minerals]

Germanium

Germanium (Ge) has an atomic number of 32, making it a metalloid and part of the carbon family. It is quite similar to silicon, and is often used as an alternative. Germanium oxide is used in the treatment of anaemia,  in the production of optical glass and also as a semiconductor in electronics.

Germanium was found in 1885 in a mine near Freiburg, although it was initially called argyrodite. However, when Clemens Winkler later examined it, he discovered that it was quite similar to antimony and named it germanium after his home country, Germany.

There was great discussion as to where germanium would fit on the periodic table as it was similar to both antimony and arsenic.Yet thanks to Medeleev's predictions of the properties of undiscovered elements, germanium was put in the right place.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/ge.html

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Elements/Group_14%3A_The_Carbon_Family/Chemistry_of_Germanium

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/32/germanium

[elements-and-minerals]

Antimony

Antimony (Sb) is has an atomic number of 51 and is classed as a non-metal/metalloid from the nitrogen group. Because it expands upon freezing, its main application is in alloys, mainly intended for use in batteries and bearings. It is also used in casting moulds, since it expands to fill all the fine details when solidifying.

Antimony and its compounds are also used as mordants in dyes, the production of Kohl, red pigment and cable sheathing. The element itself, and some of its compounds, is poisonous, and  0.5 mg/m3 is considered a safe limit. However, antimony compounds are still used in the treatment of parasitic diseases, like schistosoma. Before the nineteenth century, it was used for a wide array of medicinal purposes - it is even suggested that Mozart died from an over-use of antimony remedies.

The name antimony comes from the latin word  anthemonium, which probably comes from an even older arabic word,  al ithymid, which was their word for antimony's principal ore, stibnite, which they used in mascara. The symbol is derived from the latin word stibium, which means "a mark".

Antimony is found in many minerals, but is also one of the few elements that can be, rarely, found pure in nature. It was recognised by ancients, and Basilium Valentinus is said to have first separated it from stibnite, but this is doubted. 1707 was the first time the element was accurately described, by Lemery.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/sb.html

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Sb/Sb.html

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Elements/Group_15%3A_The_Nitrogen_Family

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/51/antimony

[elements-and-minerals]

Beryllium

Beryllium (Be) has an atomic number of 4 and is an alkaline earth metal. It has one stable isotope, Be-9 and beryllium compounds are very poisonous, inhalation of the powder or dust from the metal or oxides are enough to cause serious lung corrosion.

Beryllium is used in making specialty alloys - the metal used for springs is copper, with about 2% beryllium. It is also used for making the windows for radiation counters and x-ray tubes, as x-rays are more able to penetrate materials with low atomic numbers, and beryllium has the best properties for their production.

Beryllium was first discovered in 1798, in beryl and emerald by Nicholas Vauquelin, and he proposed the name glucinium. However, it was first isolated in 1828 by Bussy and Wöhler, who reacted potassium and beryllium chloride together. Mass quantities of beryllium weren't produced until the early 1930's.

The name beryllium comes from the Greek word beryllos, which was the name for the mineral beryl, which is a very important source of beryllium.. Occaisonally, the element is still called glucinium, which came from the Greek word  glykys, meaning sweet, as beryllium compounds taste quite sweet - however one should never taste beryllium, or its compounds, as they are also highly toxic.

Sources:

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Be/Be.html

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/be.html

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Elements/Group__2%3A_The_Alkaline_Earth_Metals/Chemistry_of_Beryllium

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/4/beryllium

[elements-and-minerals]

Livermorium

Livermorium (Lv) is transactinide element 116 and is also sometimes referred to as ununhexium (Uuh) which was its latin placeholder name until livermorium was proposed and adopted in May 2012 by IUPAC. Its most stable isotope is Lv-293, with a half-life of just 53 milliseconds. It then decays into flerovium.  

It was first syntheisesd in late 2000, by scientists at the research facilities in Dubna, Russia, and also in America, at the Lawrence Livermore lab. It was produced by bombarding atoms of curium-248 with calcium-48 ions. This produced Lv-292, which has a half-life of 0.6 milliseconds. Livermorium is predicted to be a solid at room temperature.

Sources:

http://www.pa.uky.edu/~peter/newpage/content/elm116.html

http://plaza.ufl.edu/eric1987/periodic%20table/uuh.htm

http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/read/fall-2012/labscopes/

http://www.iupac.org/news/news-detail/article/element-114-is-named-flerovium-and-element-116-is-named-livermorium.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/116/livermorium

[elements-and-minerals]

Carbon

Carbon (C) is a member of the carbon group, and has an atomic number of 6. It is often referred to as the element of life because it plays an essential role in the chemistry of life. It is the sixth most abundant element in the universe and has five known allotropes - fullerene, diamond, graphite, amorphous and a newly discovered allotrope that has yet to be named.

The chemical structure of fullerene.

Carbon has three isotopes, C-12 - C-14. C-14 is used for carbon dating, where the levels of the radioactive carbon-14 are measured. Because this particular isotope appears to be produced at a constant rate, one can measure the amount of C-14 found in the once-living artefact with the equilibrium level of living things.

Carbon, in its various allotropes, is used to form the 'lead' in pencils, drill bits, steel, charcoal, jewellery/decorations, control rods for nuclear reactors and to absorb toxins from the digestive system. Diamond is the hardest substance known to man, ranking a 10 on Moh's scale of hardness. Carbon is so significant that an entire branch of chemistry is devoted to it.

The name carbon comes from the latin word carbo meaning charcoal. Carbon has been known in a pure form since ancient times, but wasn't recognised as an element until much later. Diamond wasn't recognised as a form of carbon until 1796, when Smithson Tennant showed that it produced carbon dioxide as it burned.

Sources:

http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/102carbon.html

http://www.edinformatics.com/math_science/c_atom.htm

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/cardat.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/6/carbon

[elements-and-minerals]

Promethium

Promethium (Pm) has an atomic number of 61 and is a member of the lanthanide series. It occurs in nature only outside of our planet, and so has been synthesised instead, from the decay of Sm-145. Its most stable isotope (Pm-145) has a half life of 17.7 years.

The element was first hypothesised to exist in 1902 by Branner, and was backed up by Moseley in 1914. However, promethium was first discovered in 1947 by Marinsky as a product of the irradiation of other rare earth elements. The following year he suggested promethium as a name for the element, with florentium and illinium being discussed as alternatives. In 1949, he name promethium was adopted at the Conference of the International Union of Chemistry.

The element was named in honour of the Greek god Prometheus, who allegedly stole fire from the heavens and gave it to humans. Promethium salts luminesce with either a pale blue or green glow, because of their radioactivity.

In 1963, around 10g of promethium was isolated while reprocessing fuels from nuclear reactors. Pm has been used to measure the thickness of materials in industry and also in nuclear batteries. It has  been suggested for use as nuclear batteries in deep space probes.

Sources:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/pm.html

http://www.pa.uky.edu/~peter/newpage/content/elm061.html

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Pm/Pm.html

www.nscl.msu.edu/~thoennes/2009/cs-la-pr-pm-adndt.pdf‎

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/61/promethium