Chemical elements

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In chemistry, elements are types of atom. All matter around us (solids, liquids, and gases) are made up of atoms. In nature there are 94 different atomic species—elements. Some elements are very abundant. For instance water is made up of the elements hydrogen and oxygen and, obviously, there is much water in the oceans. The element carbon is an important part of most living creatures as well as of fossil fuels, which are the remains of plant material that once lived. Other elements (atoms) are rare on earth, such as the noble gas neon. Some elements are stable (live for ever), while some elements have finite life times and decay to other elements, while sending out radiation (these are the so-called radioactive elements). A well-known radioactive element is plutonium. About 20 elements are man-made, they are characterized by having very short life times and being radioactive.

We recall that an atom consists of a positive nucleus of charge eZ, where e is the elementary charge, and the integral number Z is the atomic number. Remember that Z electrons (of charge −e) "orbit" the nucleus, so that an atom is neutral. The elements are distinguished by their value of Z. For instance, the elements just mentioned have the Z-value in brackets: hydrogen(1), oxygen(8), carbon(6), neon(10), plutonium(94). Template:TOC-leftThe naturally occurring elements have Z-values from 1 to 94 (with plutonium being extremely rare in nature and mainly man-made). The man-made elements run from Z = 95 to 118. The names of the elements are of historical origin and may vary between languages. The atomic number Z is a unique and universal label of an element, as is its international chemical symbol consisting of one or two letters.

There is a maximum to the number of elements due to the fact that a nucleus contains Z positively charged particles (protons). These repel each other by Coulomb forces and are bound together by strong nuclear forces. At a certain number of protons the strong nuclear forces will lose from the Coulomb forces—which add up with increasing number of protons—and the nucleus will no longer be stable. This is likely to happen between Z = 120 and Z = 130.

Chemical elements sorted on chemical symbol (CS)


CSNameZ CSNameZ CSNameZ

AcActinium 89 GdGadolinium 64 Po Polonium 84
AgSilver 47 GeGermanium 32 Pr Praseodymium 59
AlAluminum 13 H Hydrogen 1 Pt Platinum 78
AmAmericium 95 HeHelium 2 Pu Plutonium 94
ArArgon 18 HfHafnium 72 Ra Radium 88
AsArsenic 33 HgMercury 80 Rb Rubidium 37
AtAstatine 85 HoHolmium 67 Re Rhenium 75
AuGold 79 HsHassium 108 Rf Rutherfordium 104
B Boron 5 I Iodine 53 Rg Roentgenium 111
BaBarium 56 InIndium 49 Rh Rhodium 45
BeBeryllium 4 IrIridium 77 Rn Radon 86
BhBohrium 107 K Potassium 19 Ru Ruthenium 44
BiBismuth 83 KrKrypton 36 S Sulfur 16
BkBerkelium 97 LaLanthanum 57 Sb Antimony 51
BrBromine 35 LiLithium 3 Sc Scandium 21
C Carbon 6 LrLawrencium 103 Se Selenium 34
CaCalcium 20 LuLutetium 71 Sg Seaborgium 106
CdCadmium 48 MdMendelevium 101 Si Silicon 14
CeCerium 58 MgMagnesium 12 Sm Samarium 62
CfCalifornium 98 MnManganese 25 Sn Tin 50
ClChlorine 17 MoMolybdenum 42 Sr Strontium 38
CmCurium 96 MtMeitnerium 109 Ta Tantalum 73
CoCobalt 27 N Nitrogen 7 Tb Terbium 65
CrChromium 24 NaSodium 11 Tc Technetium 43
CsCesium 55 NbNiobium 41 Te Tellurium 52
CuCopper 29 NdNeodymium 60 Th Thorium 90
DbDubnium 105 NeNeon 10 Ti Titanium 22
DsDarmstadtium 110 NiNickel 28 Tl Thallium 81
DyDysprosium 66 NoNobelium 102 Tm Thulium 69
ErErbium 68 NpNeptunium 93 U Uranium 92
EsEinsteinium 99 O Oxygen 8 V Vanadium 23
EuEuropium 63 OsOsmium 76 W Tungsten 74
F Fluorine 9 P Phosphorus 15 Xe Xenon 54
FeIron 26 PaProtactinium 91 Y Yttrium 39
FmFermium 100 PbLead 82 Yb Ytterbium 70
FrFrancium 87 PdPalladium 46 Zn Zinc 30
GaGallium 31 PmPromethium 61 Zr Zirconium 40


Chemical elements sorted on atomic number (Z)


ZNameCS ZNameCS ZNameCS

1 Hydrogen H 38 Strontium Sr 75 Rhenium Re
2 Helium He 39 Yttrium Y 76 Osmium Os
3 Lithium Li 40 Zirconium Zr 77 Iridium Ir
4 Beryllium Be 41 Niobium Nb 78 Platinum Pt
5 Boron B 42 Molybdenum Mo 79 Gold Au
6 Carbon C 43 Technetium Tc 80 Mercury Hg
7 Nitrogen N 44 Ruthenium Ru 81 Thallium Tl
8 Oxygen O 45 Rhodium Rh 82 Lead Pb
9 Fluorine F 46 Palladium Pd 83 Bismuth Bi
10 Neon Ne 47 Silver Ag 84 Polonium Po
11 Sodium Na 48 Cadmium Cd 85 Astatine At
12 Magnesium Mg 49 Indium In 86 Radon Rn
13 Aluminum Al 50 Tin Sn 87 Francium Fr
14 Silicon Si 51 Antimony Sb 88 Radium Ra
15 Phosphorus P 52 Tellurium Te 89 Actinium Ac
16 Sulfur S 53 Iodine I 90 Thorium Th
17 Chlorine Cl 54 Xenon Xe 91 Protactinium Pa
18 Argon Ar 55 Cesium Cs 92 Uranium U
19 Potassium K 56 Barium Ba 93 Neptunium Np
20 Calcium Ca 57 Lanthanum La 94 Plutonium Pu
21 Scandium Sc 58 Cerium Ce 95 Americium Am
22 Titanium Ti 59 Praseodymium Pr 96 Curium Cm
23 Vanadium V 60 Neodymium Nd 97 Berkelium Bk
24 Chromium Cr 61 Promethium Pm 98 Californium Cf
25 Manganese Mn 62 Samarium Sm 99 Einsteinium Es
26 Iron Fe 63 Europium Eu 100 Fermium Fm
27 Cobalt Co 64 Gadolinium Gd 101 Mendelevium Md
28 Nickel Ni 65 Terbium Tb 102 Nobelium No
29 Copper Cu 66 Dysprosium Dy 103 Lawrencium Lr
30 Zinc Zn 67 Holmium Ho 104 Rutherfordium Rf
31 Gallium Ga 68 Erbium Er 105 Dubnium Db
32 Germanium Ge 69 Thulium Tm 106 Seaborgium Sg
33 Arsenic As 70 Ytterbium Yb 107 Bohrium Bh
34 Selenium Se 71 Lutetium Lu 108 Hassium Hs
35 Bromine Br 72 Hafnium Hf 109 Meitnerium Mt
36 Krypton Kr 73 Tantalum Ta 110 Darmstadtium Ds
37 Rubidium Rb 74 Tungsten W 111 Roentgenium Rg

Notes

  1. Ag (silver) is from Argentum
  2. Au (gold) is from Aurum
  3. Cu (copper) is from Cuprum
  4. Fe (iron) is from Ferrum
  5. Hg (mercury) is from Hydrargyrum
  6. K (potassium) is from Kalium
  7. Na (sodium) is from Natrium
  8. Pb (lead) is from Plumbum
  9. Sb (antimony) is from Stibium
  10. Si (silicon) is from Silicium
  11. Sn (tin) is from Stannum
  12. W (tungsten) is from Wolfram
  13. Man-made elements Z = 112, ..., 118 are not listed

See also