EX TENEBRIS CRESCIT FLOS

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PERIODIC TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS

The fascinating materials that make up our world

November 30, 2006

Updated May 3, 2008

All of the materials that we encounter in our day to day lives are composed of the chemical elements and their compounds. Over 90 elements are found in nature, and many more have been synthesized. Everyone has encountered a few of them in pure, elemental form, but most remain obscure. Just about everybody has encountered copper, but how many people have ever seen praseodymium? As a child, I was fascinated by unusual ones such as this, but I knew of no way to obtain them. But now I have an ingot of praseodymium sitting on a shelf, and I am working on getting as many of these elements as I can. The table below shows how my collection is progressing.

In practice, it is not possible to obtain all of the elements in pure form. All of the elements above americium (Number 95) are effectively impossible for the general public to obtain. They are all extremely dangerous, highly radioactive elements that are found only in laboratory settings or in nuclear waste. Americium would likely also be in this category, except that it is produced in large quantities in nuclear reactors, and it has proven useful in ionization-type smoke detectors. Because of this, a microscopic sample of americium, including a tiny amount of its decay product, neptunium, is actually quite easy to obtain. Out of the other significantly radioactive elements, the only ones possible to obtain in pure, macroscopic form are uranium and thorium. In those cases, the half-lives are so long that the radiation level is below dangerous levels for samples of reasonable size unless the sample is ingested or inhaled. Small samples of these elements can be purchased legally in the United States. Other radioactive elements can be obtained in mineral samples or manufactured products. Any piece of uranium or thorium ore will contain the decay series in equilibrium, so there will be at least tiny quantities of many elements present. The artificially-created mineral trinitite contains a tiny amount of plutonium, in addition to other radioactive materials. It was created when a plutonium bomb was tested in New Mexico; it fused the sand into this new mineral. As far as I know, this is the only legal way to obtain any quantity of plutonium. The only non-radioactive element that is extremely difficult to obtain in pure form is fluorine. This is because it reacts with almost anything, including glass. There is some indication that it can be contained at least temporarily in very pure quartz crystal. For now, I am using a sample of calcium fluoride to represent this element.

There are significant hazards associated with some of these elements, so anyone who contemplates collecting them should carefully research safety concerns first. Some are poisonous, while others are highly reactive. The radioactive ones that are possible to obtain present limited danger aside from chemical poisoning, provided that the quantities are of reasonable size; therefore, they should be treated with the same caution as poisonous ones. If one is brave (or stupid) enough to obtain more than a few pounds of relatively hot radioactive ore, it should be kept in a shielded container. Toxic elements, such as arsenic, thallium, mercury, or uranium, should be kept in well-sealed containers and well out of the reach of children or pets. Highly reactive ones, such as the alkali metals or the halogens, should be contained appropriately (usually in sealed ampoules) and should be kept away from incompatible materials. Potassium can form explosive peroxides and superoxides if it is kept under mineral oil. A bottle containing potassium under mineral oil should not be opened or disturbed after it has been sitting more than a few months, and it should be well-sealed and labeled appropriately. I am considering sealing mine in epoxy resin; that should keep the curious from opening the bottle. Rubidium and cesium also have this tendency, only they are even worse. Under no condition should these elements be stored in anything besides inside a sealed glass ampoule in a vacuum or under inert gas. For those who are concerned about safety, perfectly safe compounds containing the highly reactive ones can be obtained. However, the highly toxic ones are generally at least as toxic in compounds as in pure form. It might be best to skip these if there are children in the house.
1
H 		2
He
3
Li 		4
Be 		5
B 		6
C 		7
N 		8
O 		9
F 		10
Ne
11
Na 		12
Mg 		13
Al 		14
Si 		15
P 		16
S 		17
Cl 		18
Ar
19
K 		20
Ca 		21
Sc 		22
Ti 		23
V 		24
Cr 		25
Mn 		26
Fe 		27
Co 		28
Ni 		29
Cu 		30
Zn 		31
Ga 		32
Ge 		33
As 		34
Se 		35
Br 		36
Kr
37
Rb 		38
Sr 		39
Y 		40
Zr 		41
Nb 		42
Mo 		43
Tc 		44
Ru 		45
Rh 		46
Pd 		47
Ag 		48
Cd 		49
In 		50
Sn 		51
Sb 		52
Te 		53
I 		54
Xe
55
Cs 		56
Ba 		57
La 		58
Ce 		59
Pr 		60
Nd 		61
Pm 		62
Sm 		63
Eu 		64
Gd 		65
Tb 		66
Dy 		67
Ho 		68
Er 		69
Tm 		70
Yb 		71
Lu 		72
Hf 		73
Ta 		74
W 		75
Re 		76
Os 		77
Ir 		78
Pt 		79
Au 		80
Hg 		81
Tl 		82
Pb 		83
Bi 		84
Po 		85
At 		86
Rn
87
Fr 		88
Ra 		89
Ac 		90
Th 		91
Pa 		92
U 		93
Np 		94
Pu 		95
Am 		96
Cm 		97
Bk 		98
Cf 		99
Es 		100
Fm 		101
Md 		102
No 		103
Lr 		104
Rf 		105
Db 		106
Sg 		107
Bh 		108
Hs 		109
Mt 		110
Ds 		111
Rg 		112
Uub 		113
Uut 		114
Uuq 		115
Uup 		116
Uuh 		117
Uus 		118
Uuo
Not yet obtained In pure form In a compound In manufactured product Small quantity in mineral sample Not possible to obtain


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