Chemical Elements Starter
92 flashcards by MentisLibrary
The first 92 elements one card each, with symbol, atomic number, category and a real use, for students learning to read the periodic table.
- Hydrogen
- The lightest element and the most abundant in the universe. A colorless gas that exists as H2 molecules and burns in oxygen to form water.
- Helium
- The second lightest element and an unreactive noble gas. It has the lowest boiling point of any substance and is extracted from natural gas wells.
- Lithium
- The lightest metal, soft enough to cut with a knife and light enough to float on water. It reacts steadily with water to release hydrogen.
- Beryllium
- A light, stiff metal that is nearly transparent to X rays. Its dust causes a serious lung disease called berylliosis.
- Boron
- A metalloid that absorbs neutrons strongly and forms borax and boric acid. Its compounds make glass resistant to thermal shock.
- Carbon
- The element behind all organic chemistry, able to bond to itself in chains and rings. It appears as graphite, diamond and many amorphous forms.
- Nitrogen
- A colorless gas that makes up about 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume. The triple bond in N2 makes it very unreactive.
- Oxygen
- The gas that makes up about 21 percent of the atmosphere and supports both combustion and respiration. It is the most abundant element in Earth's crust.
- Fluorine
- The most reactive and most electronegative element, a pale yellow gas that attacks almost everything it touches.
- Neon
- An inert noble gas that glows a distinctive orange red when a current passes through it at low pressure.
- Sodium
- A soft, silvery alkali metal that reacts violently with water. It is stored under oil because it tarnishes within seconds in air.
- Magnesium
- A light structural metal that burns with a brilliant white flame. It sits at the center of every chlorophyll molecule.
- Aluminum
- The most abundant metal in Earth's crust, light and corrosion resistant thanks to the tough oxide film that forms on its surface. Spelled aluminium outside North America.
- Silicon
- A metalloid and the second most abundant element in Earth's crust, found in sand and in almost every rock as silicates.
- Phosphorus
- A reactive nonmetal that exists as white, red and black forms. It is built into DNA, ATP and bone mineral.
- Sulfur
- A brittle yellow nonmetal that burns with a blue flame to give choking sulfur dioxide. Older British texts spell it sulphur.
- Chlorine
- A dense green yellow gas that kills bacteria and bleaches dyes. Industry makes it by electrolysis of brine.
- Argon
- The most common noble gas in the atmosphere, at about 0.9 percent by volume. It is cheap and completely unreactive.
- Potassium
- A very reactive alkali metal that usually ignites the hydrogen it releases from water. It is essential for nerve signalling and plant growth.
- Calcium
- A reactive metal that is the fifth most abundant element in Earth's crust, locked up in limestone, chalk and gypsum. It is the main mineral of bone.
- Scandium
- A light, scarce transition metal usually counted among the rare earths. Its ores are so dispersed that it stays expensive.
- Titanium
- A strong, light, corrosion resistant metal with roughly the strength of steel at about half the weight. Bone grows directly onto it.
- Vanadium
- A hard transition metal that forms brightly colored compounds across four common oxidation states.
- Chromium
- A hard metal that takes a mirror polish and resists corrosion. It is what makes stainless steel stainless.
- Manganese
- A brittle transition metal added to nearly all steel to strip out sulfur and oxygen and to harden the alloy.
- Iron
- The most used metal on Earth and the main component of the planet's core. It rusts in moist air to hydrated iron oxide.
- Cobalt
- A hard, magnetic metal named from the German word for goblin, because its ores baffled early miners. Its compounds colour glass deep blue.
- Nickel
- A tough, corrosion resistant metal and one of the most common causes of contact allergy in jewelry.
- Copper
- A reddish metal that conducts heat and electricity superbly and was among the first metals humans learned to work.
- Zinc
- A bluish white metal that corrodes in place of the iron it coats, protecting it. It is also an essential trace nutrient.