Curated category
Native element minerals
- ChromiumOn the 26th of July 1761, Johann Gottlob Lehmann found an orange-red mineral in the Beryozovskoye mines in the Ural Mountains.
- NickelA silvery-white metal with a slight golden tinge, nickel stands as one of only four elements that remain ferromagnetic at room temperature.
- MolybdenumThe name molybdenum comes from the Ancient Greek word meaning lead. For centuries, miners confused molybdenite with graphite and galena.
- ZincZinc carries the symbol Zn and holds atomic number 30 on the periodic table. It sits as the first element in group 12, also known as IIB.
- CadmiumFriedrich Stromeyer isolated a new element in 1817 while examining zinc carbonate samples sold to pharmacies in Germany.
- TitaniumIn 1791, a clergyman named William Gregor examined black sand by a stream in Cornwall, Great Britain. He noticed the sand was attracted to a magnet and…
- LeadLead-208 holds 126 neutrons, a magic number that grants its nucleus exceptional stability. This isotope represents the heaviest stable nucleus known to…
- AluminiumThe stable isotope 27Al comprises virtually all naturally occurring aluminium. This single isotope makes the element mononuclidic for standard atomic weight…
- DiamondThe atoms in a diamond arrange themselves into a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Each carbon atom bonds to four nearest neighbors, forming tetrahedra…
- IndiumIn 1863, German chemists Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymus Theodor Richter examined ores from mines near Freiberg in Saxony.
- NiobiumIn 1801, English chemist Charles Hatchett examined a mineral sample sent from Connecticut to England. He identified a new element within the ore and named it…
- PlatinumThe element platinum carries the symbol Pt and holds atomic number 78 in the periodic table. It exists as six naturally occurring isotopes that define its…
- ManganeseManganese carries the atomic number 25 and exists as a hard, brittle, silvery metal. Its most common form is the stable isotope known as 55Mn.
- Mercury (element)A heavy, silvery-white metal flows freely at room temperature. Mercury remains liquid until the temperature drops to minus 38.83 degrees Celsius.
- ArsenicA heavy, brittle block of grey arsenic sits on a laboratory bench. Its density measures 5.73 grams per cubic centimeter.
- CobaltIn 1735, Swedish chemist Georg Brandt stood before a furnace in Riddarhyttan and proved that a dark powder was not bismuth.
- RutheniumIn 1844, Karl Ernst Claus worked inside a laboratory at Kazan State University to isolate six grams of a new metal from crude platinum residues.
- SeleniumIn 1817, Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Johan Gottlieb Gahn stood before a red solid precipitate in the lead chambers of their chemistry plant near Gripsholm…
- VanadiumIn 1801, a Spanish-Mexican mineralogist named Andrés Manuel del Río extracted compounds from a sample of Mexican brown lead ore.
- SilverA single electron in the 5s subshell defines silver's unique behavior. This configuration, written as [Kr]4d105s1, places it among group 11 elements…
- PalladiumIn July 1802, English chemist William Hyde Wollaston noted the discovery of a new noble metal in his lab book. He named it palladium in August of that same…
- RhodiumIn 1803, William Hyde Wollaston isolated a new element from crude platinum ore. He dissolved the material in aqua regia and neutralized the acid with sodium…
- TantalumIn 1802, Swedish chemist Anders Ekeberg examined two mineral samples from Sweden and Finland. He identified a new element within these rocks that defied the…
- TinA bar of tin makes a crackling sound when it is bent by hand. This noise is known as the tin cry. It happens because the crystals inside the metal twine…
- IridiumIn 1803, British chemist Smithson Tennant examined the dark residue left behind after dissolving platinum in aqua regia.
- GoldThe chemical symbol Au derives from the Latin word aurum. Gold holds atomic number 79 on the periodic table. It stands as a transition metal within group 11.
- CarbonCarbon is the sixth element, with a ground-state electron configuration of 1s22s22p2. Its four outer electrons are valence electrons that allow it to form up…