9 Favorite Elements Carmen Chadwick

Alkali Metals Sodium-Na The English word for which is soda Used in medicine, agriculture and photography Also used in street lights, soap, batteries, table salt (NaCl) (a compound vital to life) , and glass Sodium makes up 2.6% by weight of the Earth's crust, making it the fourth most abundant element overall and the most abundant alkali metal.

Metalloids Boron-B Used in tennis rackets, regulators in nuclear plants, heat resistant glass and eye disinfectant Compounds of boron have been known of for thousands of years Obtained from kernite, a kind of borax (Na2B4O7.10H2O) The element was not isolated until 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, and Louis Jacques Thenard, to about 50 percent purity, by the reduction of boric acid with sodium or magnesium

Non-Metals Oxygen-O World wide production is around 100 million tons Used in steel making, production of methanol (CH3OH), welding, water purification, cement and rocket propulsion Oxygen was first described by Michal Sedziwoj, a Polish alchemist and philosopher in the late 16th century

Rare Earth Metals Neptunium-Np From planet Neptune Produced by bombarding uranium with slow neutrons Neptunium is also found in trace amounts in uranium ores Used in neutron detection instruments Named for the planet Neptune, the next planet out from Uranus, after which uranium was named

Alkaline Metals Calcium-Ca Obtained from minerals like chalk, limestone and marble Very abundant Calcium is an important component of a healthy diet Calcium was prepared as lime by the Romans under the name calyx in the 1st century A.D., but the metal was not discovered until 1808 Pure calcium is a shiny soft metal that will react violently with water to release hydrogen and calcium hydroxide

Transition Metals Copper-Cu Copper has played a significant part in the history of mankind, which has used the easily accessible uncompounded metal for nearly 10,000 years Pure copper occurs rarely in nature Most often used as an electrical conductor Copper, as native copper, is one of the few metals to naturally occur as an uncompounded mineral Its alloys are used in jeweler, bronze sculptures and for coins

Noble Gases Neon-Ne In a vacuum tube, neon glows reddish orange, thus, the invention of neon lights Neon was discovered in 1898 by Scottish chemist William Ramsay and English chemist Morris W. Travers in London, England Neon has also been used to make lightening arrestors, voltage detectors and TV tubes While it is inert, there have been reports of it combining with fluorine

Halogens Chlorine-Cl Never found in free form in nature Used widely in paper product production, antiseptic, dyestuffs, food, insecticides, paints, petroleum products, plastics, medicines, textiles, solvents, and many other consumer products Chlorine was given its current name in 1810 by Sir Humphry Davy, who insisted that it was in fact an element

Other Metals Aluminum-Al Kitchen utensils, building decorations, electrical transmission (not nearly as conductive as copper, but cheaper) as well as packaging (can, foil etc.) Most plentiful metal in earth's crust (7.5% - 8.1%), but virtually never occurs in free form, so rare that it was once considered a precious metal more valuable than gold! Primary reserves are found in Surinam, Jamaica, Ghana, Indonesia and Russia