Spu Book

PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Hydrogen
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1766
Henry Cavendish
The name is derived from the Greek 'hydro' and 'genes' meaning
water forming.
H2
1.008
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Atomic number
State at 20C
Gas
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
1s1
4515072
Melting
-259.16 oC, -434.49 oF, 13.99 K
point
Boiling
-252.879 oC, -423.182 oF, 20.271
point
K
Density (g
0.000082
-3
cm )
Relative
1.008
atomic mass
1
Key
H, 2H
isotopes
CAS
133-74-0
number
ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database
History
In the early 1500s the alchemist Paracelsus noted that the bubbles given off when iron filings were
added to sulfuric acid were flammable. In 1671 Robert Boyle made the same observation. Neither followed up
their discovery of hydrogen, and so Henry Cavendish gets the credit. In 1766 he collected the bubbles and
showed that they were different from other gases. He later showed that when hydrogen burns it forms water,
thereby ending the belief that water was an element. The gas was given its name hydro-gen, meaning waterformer, by Antoine Lavoisier.
In 1931, Harold Urey and his colleagues at Columbia University in the US detected a second, rarer,
form of hydrogen. This has twice the mass of normal hydrogen, and they named it deuterium
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1895
Sir William Ramsay in London, and independently by Per Teodor Cleve
and Nils Abraham Langlet in Uppsala, Sweden
The name is derived from the Greek, 'helios' meaning sun, as it was in
the suns corona that helium was first detected.
Helium
2
4.003
Fact box
Group
Period
18
1
Block
Atomic number
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Gas
1s2
Melting point Unknown

Boiling point -268.928 oC, -452.07 oF, 4.222
K
Density (g
0.000164
-3
cm )
Relative
4.003
atomic mass
Key isotopes 4He
CAS number 7440-59-7
22423
History
In 1868, Pierre J. C. Janssen travelled to India to measure the solar spectrum during a total
eclipse and observed a new yellow line which indicated a new element. Joseph Norman Lockyer
recorded the same line by observing the sun through London smog and, assuming the new element to
be a metal, he named it helium.
In 1882, the Italian Luigi Palmieri found the same line the spectrum of gases emitted by
Vesuvius, as did the American William Hillebrand in 1889 when he collected the gas given off by the
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
mineral uraninite (UO2) as it dissolves in acid. However, it was Per Teodor Cleve and Nils Abraham
Langer at Uppsala, Sweden, in 1895, who repeated that experiment and confirmed it was helium and
measured its atomic weight.
Lithium
3
6.94
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1817
Johan August Arfvedson
The name is derived from the Greek 'lithos' meaning stone.
Fact box
180.50 oC, 356.90 oF, 453.65 K
1342 oC, 2448 oF, 1615 K
0.534
Group
Period
Block
1
2
s
Atomic number
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[He] 2s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
2293625
History
6.94
7
Li
7439-93-2
The first lithium mineral petalite, LiAlSi 4O10, was discovered on the Swedish island of Ut
by the Brazilian, Joz Bonifcio de Andralda e Silva in the 1790s. It was observed to give an intense
crimson flame when thrown onto a fire. In 1817, Johan August Arfvedson of Stockholm analysed it
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
and deduced it contained a previously unknown metal, which he called lithium. He realised this was a
new alkali metal and a lighter version of sodium. However, unlike sodium he was not able to separate
it by electrolysis. In 1821 William Brande obtained a tiny amount this way but not enough on which
to make measurements. It was not until 1855 that the German chemist Robert Bunsen and the British
chemist Augustus Matthiessen obtained it in bulk by the electrolysis of molten lithium chloride.
Beryllium
4
9.012
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1797
Nicholas Louis Vauquelin
The name is derived from the Greek name for beryl, 'beryllo'.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
2
2
s
Atomic number
State at 20C
Electron
Solid
[He] 2s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
1287 oC, 2349 oF, 1560 K

2468 oC, 4474 oF, 2741 K
1.85
9.012
9
Be
7440-41-7
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
configuration
ChemSpider ID
4573986
Chemistry
History
The gemstones beryl and emerald are both forms of beryllium aluminium silicate,
Be3Al2(SiO3)6. The French mineralogist Abb Ren-Just Hay thought they might harbour a new
element, and he asked Nicholas Louis Vauquelin, to analyse them and he realised they harboured a
new metal and he investigated it. In February 1798 Vauquelin announced his discovery at the French
Academy and named the element glaucinium (Greek glykys = sweet) because its compounds tasted
sweet. Others preferred the name beryllium, based on the gemstone, and this is now the official name.
Beryllium metal was isolated in 1828 by Friedrich Whler at Berlin and independently by
Antoine-Alexandere-Brutus Bussy at Paris, both of whom extracted it from beryllium chloride
(BeCl2) by reacting this with potassium.
Boron
5
10.81
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1808
Louis-Josef Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jacques Thnard in Paris, France,
and Humphry Davy in London, UK
The name is derived form the Arabic 'buraq', which was the name for
borax.
-rhombohedral B, -rhombohedral B, -B, tetragonal boron
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
13
2
p
Atomic number
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
2077 oC, 3771 oF, 2350 K

4000 oC, 7232 oF, 4273 K
2.34
Solid
[He] 2s22p1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4575371
10.81
11
B
7440-42-8
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
For centuries the only source of borax, Na 2B2O5(OH)4, was the crystallized deposits of Lake
Yamdok Cho, in Tibet. It was used as a flux used by goldsmiths.In 1808, Louis-Josef Gay-Lussac and
Louis-Jacques Thnard working in Paris, and Sir Humphry Davy in London, independently extracted
boron by heating borax with potassium metal. In fact, neither had produced the pure element which
is almost impossible to obtain. A purer type of boron was isolated in 1892 by Henri Moissan.
Eventually, E. Weintraub in the USA produced totally pure boron by sparking a mixture of boron
chloride, BCl3 vapour, and hydrogen. The material so obtained boron was found to have very
different properties to those previously reported.
Carbon
6
12.011
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
Prehistoric
The name is derived from the Latin carbo, charcoal
diamond, graphite, graphene, amorphous, fullerene
Fact box
Group
14
Period
Block
Atomic
number
Melting
point
Boiling
point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic
Sublimes at 3825 oC, 6917 oF, 4098

K
K
3.513 (diamond); 2.2 (graphite)
12.011
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
State at 20C
Solid
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider
ID
[He] 2s22p2
4575370
Chemistry
mass
12
Key
C, 13C, 14C
isotopes
CAS
7440-44-0
number
History
Carbon occurs naturally as anthracite (a type of coal), graphite, and diamond. More readily
available historically was soot or charcoal. Ultimately these various materials were recognised as
forms of the same element. Not surprisingly, diamond posed the greatest difficulty of identification.
Naturalist Giuseppe Averani and medic Cipriano Targioni of Florence were the first to discover that
diamonds could be destroyed by heating. In 1694 they focussed sunlight on to a diamond using a
large magnifying glass and the gem eventually disappeared. Pierre-Joseph Macquer and Godefroy de
Villetaneuse repeated the experiment in 1771. Then, in 1796, the English chemist Smithson Tennant
finally proved that diamond was just a form of carbon by showing that as it burned it formed only
CO2.
Nitrogen
7
14.007
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1772
Daniel Rutherford
The name is derived from the Greek 'nitron' and 'genes' meaning nitre
forming.
N2
Fact box
Group
15
Period
Block
Melting
point
Boiling
point
Density (g
-210.0 oC, -346.0 oF, 63.2 K
-195.795 oC, -320.431 oF, 77.355

K
0.001145
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Atomic number
State at 20C
Gas
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
[He] 2s22p3
20473555
Chemistry
cm-3)
Relative
14.007
atomic mass
14
Key
N
isotopes
CAS
7727-37-9
number
History
Nitrogen in the form of ammonium chloride, NH 4Cl, was known to the alchemists as sal
ammonia. It was manufactured in Egypt by heating a mixture of dung, salt and urine. Nitrogen gas
itself was obtained in the 1760s by both Henry Cavendish and Joseph Priestley and they did this by
removing the oxygen from air. They noted it extinguished a lighted candle and that a mouse breathing
it would soon die. Neither man deduced that it was an element. The first person to suggest this was a
young student Daniel Rutherford in his doctorate thesis of September 1772 at Edinburgh, Scotland.
Oxygen
8
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
15.999
1774
Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire, England and independently by Carl
Wilhelm Scheele in Uppsala, Sweden
The name comes from the Greek 'oxy genes', meaning acid forming.
O2, O3
Fact box
Group
16
Period
Block
Melting
point
Boiling
point
Density (g
-218.79 oC, -361.82 oF, 54.36 K

-182.962 oC, -297.332 oF, 90.188
K
0.001308
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Atomic number
State at 20C
Gas
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
[He] 2s22p4
140526
Chemistry
cm-3)
Relative
15.999
atomic mass
16
Key
O
isotopes
CAS
7782-44-7
number
History
In 1608, Cornelius Drebbel had shown that heating saltpetre (potassium nitrate, KNO 3)
released a gas. This was oxygen although it was not identified as such. The credit for discovering
oxygen is now shared by three chemists: an Englishman, a Swede, and a Frenchman. Joseph Priestley
was the first to publish an account of oxygen, having made it in 1774 by focussing sunlight on to
mercuric oxide (HgO), and collecting the gas which came off. He noted that a candle burned more
brightly in it and that it made breathing easier. Unknown to Priestly, Carl Wilhelm Scheele had
produced oxygen in June 1771. He had written an account of his discovery but it was not published
until 1777. Antoine Lavoisier also claimed to have discovered oxygen, and he proposed that the new
gas be called oxy-gne, meaning acid-forming, because he thought it was the basis of all acids.
Fluorine
9
18.998
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1886
Henri Moissan
The name is derived form the Latin 'fluere', meaning to flow
F2
Fact box
Group
17
Melting point -219.67 oC, -363.41 oF, 53.48 K
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
-188.11 oC, -306.6 oF, 85.04 K

0.001553
Period
Block
2
p
Atomic number
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Gas
[He] 2s22p5
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4514530
18.998
19
F
7782-41-4
History
The early chemists were aware that metal fluorides contained an unidentified element
similar to chlorine, but they could not isolate it. (The French scientist, Andr Ampre coined
the name fluorine in 1812.) Even the great Humphry Davy was unable to produce the
element, and he became ill by trying to isolate it from hydrofluoric acid. The British chemist
George Gore in 1869 passed an electric current through liquid HF but found that the gas
which was liberated reacted violently with his apparatus. He thought it was fluorine but was
unable to collect it and prove it. Then in 1886 the French chemist Henri Moissan obtained it
by the electrolysis of potassium bifluoride (KHF2) dissolved in liquid HF.
Neon
10
20.180
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1898
Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers
The name comes from the Greek 'neos', meaning new.
10
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
Group
18
Period
Block
Atomic number
10
State at 20C
Gas
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
[He] 2s22p6
22377
Melting
-248.59 oC, -415.46 oF, 24.56 K
point
Boiling
-246.046 oC, -410.883 oF, 27.104
point
K
Density (g
0.000825
-3
cm )
Relative
20.180
atomic mass
20
Key
Ne
isotopes
CAS
7440-01-9
number
History
In 1898, William Ramsay and Morris Travers at University College London isolated krypton
gas by evaporating liquid argon. They had been expecting to find a lighter gas which would fit a
niche above argon in the periodic table of the elements. They then repeated their experiment, this
time allowing solid argon to evaporate slowly under reduced pressure and collected the gas which
came off first. This time they were successful, and when they put a sample of the new gas into their
atomic spectrometer it startled them by the brilliant red glow that we now associate with neon signs.
Ramsay named the new gas neon, basing it on neos, the Greek word for new.
Sodium
11
11
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1807
Humphry Davy
The name is derived from the English word 'soda'.
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
22.990
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Atomic
number
11
State at 20C
Solid
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider
ID
[Ne] 3s1
4514534
Melting
97.794 oC, 208.029 oF, 370.944 K
point
Boiling
882.940 oC, 1621.292 oF, 1156.090
point
K
Density (g 0.97
cm-3)
Relative
22.990
atomic
mass
23
Key
Na
isotopes
CAS
7440-23-5
number
History
Salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) and soda (sodium carbonate, Na 2CO3) had been known since
prehistoric times, the former used as a flavouring and preservative, and the latter for glass
manufacture. Salt came from seawater, while soda came from the Natron Valley in Egypt or from the
ash of certain plants. Their composition was debated by early chemists and the solution finally came
from the Royal Institution in London in October 1807 where Humphry Davy exposed caustic soda
(sodium hydroxide, NaOH) to an electric current and obtained globules of sodium metal, just as he
had previously done for potassium, although he needed to use a stronger current.
Magnesium
12
12
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
24.305
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1755
Joseph Black
The name is derived from Magnesia, a district of Eastern Thessaly in
Greece.
-
Fact box
650 oC, 1202 oF, 923 K
1090 oC, 1994 oF, 1363 K
1.74
Group
Period
Block
2
3
s
Atomic number
12
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ne] 3s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4575328
24.305
24
Mg
7439-95-4
History
The first person to recognise that magnesium was an element was Joseph Black at Edinburgh
in 1755. He distinguished magnesia (magnesium oxide, MgO) from lime (calcium oxide, CaO)
although both were produced by heating similar kinds of carbonate rocks, magnesite and limestone
respectively. Another magnesium mineral called meerschaum (magnesium silicate) was reported by
Thomas Henry in 1789, who said that it was much used in Turkey to make pipes for smoking
tobacco. An impure form of metallic magnesium was first produced in 1792 by Anton Rupprecht who
heated magnesia with charcoal. A pure, but tiny, amount of the metal was isolated in 1808 by
Humphry Davy by the electrolysis of magnesium oxide. However, it was the French scientist,
Antoine-Alexandre-Brutus Bussy who made a sizeable amount of the metal in 1831 by reacting
magnesium chloride with potassium, and he then studied its properties.
Aluminium
13
13
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
26.982
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1825
Hans Oersted
The name is derived from the Latin name for alum, 'alumen' meaning
bitter salt.
Fact box
Group
13
Period
Block
3
p
Atomic number
13
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ne] 3s23p1
Melting point 660.323 oC, 1220.581 oF,

933.473 K
Boiling point 2519 oC, 4566 oF, 2792 K
Density (g
2.70
-3
cm )
Relative
26.982
atomic mass
Key isotopes 27Al
4514248
History
The analysis of a curious metal ornament found in the tomb of Chou-Chu, a military leader in
3rd century China, turned out to be 85% aluminium. How it was produced remains a mystery. By the
end of the 1700s, aluminium oxide was known to contain a metal, but it defeated all attempts to
extract it. Humphry Davy had used electric current to extract sodium and potassium from their socalled earths (oxides), but his method did not release aluminium in the same way. The first person to
produce it was Hans Christian Oersted at Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1825, and he did it by heating
aluminium chloride with potassium. Even so, his sample was impure. It fell to the German chemist
Friedrich Whler to perfect the method in 1827, and obtain pure aluminium for the first time by using
sodium instead of potassium.
Silicon
14
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
14
28.085
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1824
Jns Jacob Berzelius
The name is derived from the Latin 'silex' or 'silicis', meaning flint.
amorphous Si, crystalline Si
Fact box
1414 oC, 2577 oF, 1687 K
3265 oC, 5909 oF, 3538 K
2.3296
Group
Period
Block
14
3
p
Atomic number
14
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ne] 3s23p2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4574465
28.085
28
Si, 30Si
7440-21-3
History
Silica (SiO2) in the form of sharp flints were among the first tools made by humans. The
ancient civilizations used other forms of silica such as rock crystal, and knew how to turn sand into
glass. Considering silicons abundance, it is somewhat surprising that it aroused little curiosity among
early chemists.Attempts to reduce silica to its components by electrolysis had failed. In 1811, Joseph
Gay Lussac and Louis Jacques Thnard reacted silicon tetrachloride with potassium metal and
produced some very impure form of silicon. The credit for discovering silicon really goes to the
Swedish chemist Jns Jacob Berzelius of Stockholm who, in 1824, obtained silicon by heating
potassium fluorosilicate with potassium. The product was contaminated with potassium silicide, but
he removed this by stirring it with water, with which it reacts, and thereby obtained relatively pure
silicon powder.
Phosphorus
15
15
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
30.974
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1669
Hennig Brandt
The name is derived from the Greek 'phosphoros', meaning bringer of
light.
White P, Red P, Black P, P2
Fact box
44.15 oC, 111.47 oF, 317.3 K
280.5 oC, 536.9 oF, 553.7 K
1.823 (white)
Group
Period
Block
15
3
p
Atomic number
15
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ne] 3s23p3
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4575369
30.974
31
P
7723-14-0
History
Phosphorus was first made by Hennig Brandt at Hamburg in 1669 when he evaporated urine
and heated the residue until it was red hot, whereupon phosphorus vapour distilled which he collected
by condensing it in water. Brandt kept his discovery secret, thinking he had discovered the
Philosophers Stone that could turn base metals into gold. When he ran out of money, he sold
phosphorus to Daniel Kraft who exhibited it around Europe including London where Robert Boyle
was fascinated by it. He discovered how it was produced and investigated it systematically. (His
assistant Ambrose Godfrey set up his own business making and selling phosphorus and became rich.)
When it was realised that bone was calcium phosphate, and could be used to make phosphorus, and it
became more widely available. Demand from match manufacturers in the 1800s ensured a ready
market.
Sulfur
16
16
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
32.06
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Prehistoric
The name is derived either from the Sanskrit 'sulvere', or the Latin
'sulfurium'.
-S (orthorhombic), -S (monoclinic), S2, S3, cyclo-S8
Fact box
115.21 oC, 239.38 oF, 388.36 K
444.61 oC, 832.3 oF, 717.76 K
2.07
Group
Period
Block
16
3
p
Atomic number
16
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ne] 3s23p4
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4515054
32.06
32
S
7704-34-9
History
Sulfur is mentioned 15 times in the Bible, and was best known for destroying Sodom and
Gomorrah. It was also known to the ancient Greeks, and burnt as a fumigant. Sulfur was mined near
Mount Etna in Sicily and used for bleaching cloth and preserving wine, both of which involved
burning it to form sulfur dioxide, and allowing this to be absorbed by wet clothes or the grape juice.
For centuries, sulfur along with mercury and salt, was believed to be a component of all metals and
formed the basis of alchemy whereby one metal could be transmuted into another. Antoine Lavoisier
thought that sulfur was an element, but in 1808 Humphry Davy said it contained hydrogen. However,
his sample was impure and when Louis-Josef Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jacques Thnard proved it to be
an element the following year, Davy eventually agreed.
Chlorine
17
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
17
35.45
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1774
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
The name is derived from the Greek 'chloros', meaning greenish
yellow.
Cl2
Fact box
-101.5 oC, -150.7 oF, 171.7 K
-34.04 oC, -29.27 oF, 239.11 K
0.002898
Group
Period
Block
17
3
p
Atomic number
17
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Gas
[Ne] 3s23p5
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4514529
35.45
35
Cl, 37Cl
7782-50-5
History
Hydrochloric acid (HCl) was known to the alchemists. The gaseous element itself was first
produced in 1774 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele at Uppsala, Sweden, by heating hydrochloric acid with
the mineral pyrolusite which is naturally occuring manganese dioxide, MnO 2. A dense, greenishyellow gas was evolved which he recorded as having a choking smell and which dissolved in water to
give an acid solution. He noted that it bleached litmus paper, and decolourised leaves and flowers.
Humphry Davy investigated it in 1807 and eventually concluded not only that it was a simple
substance, but that it was truly an element. He announced this in 1810 and yet it took another ten
years for some chemists finally to accept that chlorine really was an element.
Argon
18
18
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
39.948
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1894
Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay
The name is derived from the Greek, 'argos', meaning idle.
Fact box
Group
18
Period
Block
Atomic number
18
State at 20C
Gas
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
[Ne] 3s23p6
22407
Melting
-189.34 oC, -308.81 oF, 83.81 K
point
Boiling
-185.848 oC, -302.526 oF, 87.302
point
K
Density (g
0.001633
-3
cm )
Relative
39.948
atomic mass
40
Key
Ar
isotopes
CAS
7440-37-1
number
History
Although argon is abundant in the Earths atmosphere, it evaded discovery until 1894 when
Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay first separated it from liquid air. In fact the gas had been isolated
in 1785 by Henry Cavendish who had noted that about 1% of air would not react even under the most
extreme conditions. That 1% was argon.Argon was discovered as a result of trying to explain why the
density of nitrogen extracted from air differed from that obtained by the decomposition of
ammonia. Ramsay removed all the nitrogen from the gas he had extracted from air, and did this by
reacting it with hot magnesium, forming the solid magnesium nitride. He was then left with a gas that
would not react and when he examined its spectrum he saw new groups of red and green lines,
confirming that it was a new element.
19
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Potassium
19
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1807
Humphry Davy
The name is derived from the English word 'potash'.
39.098
Fact box
63.5 oC, 146.3 oF, 336.7 K
759 oC, 1398 oF, 1032 K
0.89
Group
Period
Block
1
4
s
Atomic number
19
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 4s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4575326
39.098
39
K
7440-09-7
History
20
Potassium salts in the form of saltpetre (potassium nitrate, KNO 3), alum (potassium
aluminium sulfate, KAl(SO4)2), and potash (potassium carbonate, K 2CO3) have been known for
centuries. They were used in gunpowder, dyeing, and soap making. They were scraped from the walls
of latrines, manufactured from clay and sulfuric acid, and collected as wood ash respectively.
Reducing them to the element defeated the early chemists and potassium was classed as an earth by
Antoine Lavoisier. Then in 1807, Humphry Davy exposed moist potash to an electric current and
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
observed the formation of metallic globules of a new metal, potassium. He noted that when they were
dropped into water they skimmed around on the surface, burning with a lavender-coloured flame.
Calcium
20
40.078
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1808
Humphry Davy
The name is derived from the Latin 'calx' meaning lime.
Fact box
842 oC, 1548 oF, 1115 K
1484 oC, 2703 oF, 1757 K
1.54
Group
Period
Block
2
4
s
Atomic number
20
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 4s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4573905
History
40.078
40
Ca
7440-70-2
21
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Lime (calcium oxide, CaO) was the useful material obtained by heating limestone and used
for centuries to make plaster and mortar. Antoine Lavoisier classified it as an earth because it
seemed impossible to reduce it further, but he suspected it was the oxide of an unknown element. In
1808, Humphry Davy tried to reduce moist lime by electrolysis, just as he had done with sodium and
potassium, but he was not successful. So he tried a mixture of lime and mercury oxide and while this
produced an amalgam of calcium and mercury, it was not enough to confirm that hed obtained a new
element. (Jns Jacob Berzelius had conducted a similar experiment and also obtained the amalgam.)
Davy tried using more lime in the mixture and produced more of the amalgam from which he
distilled off the mercury leaving just calcium.
Scandium
21
44.956
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1879
Lars Frederik Nilson
The name derives from 'Scandia', the Latin name for Scandinavia.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
3
4
d
Atomic number
21
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
Solid
[Ar] 3d14s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
1541 oC, 2806 oF, 1814 K

2836 oC, 5137 oF, 3109 K
2.99
44.956
45
Sc
7440-20-2
22
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
ChemSpider ID
22392
Chemistry
History
In 1869, Mendeleev noticed that there was a gap in atomic weights between calcium (40) and
titanium (48) and predicted there was an undiscovered element of intermediate atomic weight. He
forecast that its oxide would be X2O3. It was discovered as scandium in 1879, by Lars Frederik Nilson
of the University of Uppsala, Sweden. He extracted it from euxenite, a complex mineral containing
eight metal oxides. He had already extracted erbium oxide from euxenite, and from this oxide he
obtained ytterbium oxide and then another oxide of a lighter element whose atomic spectrum showed
it to be an unknown metal. This was the metal that Mendeleev had predicted and its oxide was
Sc2O3.Scandium metal itself was only produced in 1937 by the electrolysis of molten scandium
chloride.
Titanium
22
47.867
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1791
William Gregor
The name is derived from the Titans, the sons of the Earth goddess of
Greek mythology.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
4
4
d
Atomic number
22
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
1670 oC, 3038 oF, 1943 K

3287 oC, 5949 oF, 3560 K
4.506
Solid
[Ar] 3d24s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22402
47.867
48
Ti
7440-32-6
23
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
The first titanium mineral, a black sand called menachanite, was discovered in 1791 in
Cornwall by the Reverend William Gregor. He analysed it and deduced it was made up of the oxides
of iron and an unknown metal, and reported it as such to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.
In 1795, the German scientist Martin Heinrich Klaproth of Berlin investigated a red ore known as
Schrl from Hungary. This is a form of rutile (TiO2) and Klaproth realised it was the oxide of a
previously unknown element which he named titanium. When he was told of Gregors discovery he
investigated menachanite and confirmed it too contained titanium. It was not until 1910 that M. A.
Hunter, working for General Electric in the USA, made pure titanium metal by heating titanium
tetrachloride and sodium metal.
Vanadium
23
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1801
Andrs Manuel del Rio
The element is named after 'Vanadis', the old Norse name for the
Scandinavian goddess Freyja.
50.942
Fact box
1910 oC, 3470 oF, 2183 K
3407 oC, 6165 oF, 3680 K
6.0
Group
Period
Block
5
4
d
Atomic number
23
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d34s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22426
History
50.942
51
V
7440-62-2
24
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Vanadium was discovered twice. The first time was in 1801 by Andrs Manuel del Rio who
was Professor of Mineralogy in Mexico City. He found it in a specimen of vanadite, Pb 5(VO4)3Cl and
sent a sample to Paris. However, French chemists concluded that it was a chromium mineral. The
second time vanadium was discovered was in 1831 by the Swedish chemist Nil Gabriel Selfstrm at
Stockholm. He separated it from a sample of cast iron made from ore that had been mined at
Smland. He was able to show that it was a new element, and in so doing he beat a rival chemist,
Friedrich Whler, to the discovery He was also working another vanadium mineral from Zimapan.
Pure vanadium was produced by Henry Roscoe at Manchester, in 1869, and he showed that previous
samples of the metal were really vanadium nitride (VN).
Chromium
24
51.996
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1780
Nicholas Louis Vauquelin
The name is derived from the Greek 'chroma', meaning colour.
Fact box
1907 oC, 3465 oF, 2180 K
2671 oC, 4840 oF, 2944 K
7.15
Group
Period
Block
6
4
d
Atomic number
24
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d54s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22412
51.996
52
Cr
7440-47-3
25
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Chromium was discovered by the French chemist Nicholas Louis Vauquelin at Paris in1798.
He was intrigued by a bright red mineral that had been discovered in a Siberian gold mine in 1766
and was referred to as Siberian red lead. It is now known as crocoite and is a form of lead chromate.
Vauquelin analysed it and confirmed that it was a lead mineral. Then he dissolved it in acid,
precipitated the lead, filtered this off, and focused his attention on the remaining liquor from which he
succeeded in isolating chromium. Intrigued by the range of colours that it could produce in solution,
he named it chromium from the Greek word chroma meaning colour. He then discovered that the
green colouration of emeralds was also due to chromium
Manganese
25
54.938
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
1774
Johan Gottlieb Gahn
The derivation of Manganese may have come from one of two
routes: either from the Latin 'magnes', meaning magnet, or from the
black magnesium oxide, 'magnesia nigra'.
Allotropes
Fact box
1246 oC, 2275 oF, 1519 K
2061 oC, 3742 oF, 2334 K
7.3
Group
Period
Block
7
4
d
Atomic number
25
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d54s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22372
54.938
55
Mn
7439-96-5
26
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Manganese in the form of the black ore pyrolucite (manganese dioxide, MnO 2) was used by
the pre-historic cave painters of the Lascaux region of France around 30,000 years ago. In more
recent times was used by glass makers to remove the pale greenish tint of natural glass.In 1740, the
Berlin glass technologist Johann Heinrich Pott investigated it chemically and showed that it contained
no iron as has been assumed. From it he was able to make potassium permanganate (KMnO 4), one of
the strongest oxidising agents known. Several chemists in the 1700s tried unsuccessfully to isolate the
metal component in pyrolusite. The first person to do this was the Swedish chemist and mineralogist
Johan Gottlieb Gahn in 1774. However, a student at Vienna, Ignatius Kaim, had already described
how he had produced manganese metal, in his dissertation written in 1771.
Iron
26
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
approx 3500BC
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon name 'iren'.
55.845
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
8
4
d
Atomic number
26
V
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
27
1538 oC, 2800 oF, 1811 K

2861 oC, 5182 oF, 3134 K
7.87
55.845
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
Solid
[Ar] 3d64s2
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22368
56
Fe
7439-89-6
History
Iron objects have been found in Egypt dating from around 3500 BC. They contain about
7.5% nickel, which indicates that they were of meteoric origin. The ancient Hittites of Asia Minor,
todays Turkey, were the first to smelt iron from its ores around 1500 BC and this new, stronger,
metal gave them economic and political power. The Iron Age had begun. Some kinds of iron were
clearly superior to others depending on its carbon content, although this was not appreciated. Some
iron ore contained vanadium producing so-called Damascene steel, ideal for swords.The first person
to explain the various types of iron was Ren Antoine Ferchault de Raumur who wrote a book on the
subject in 1722. This explained how steel, wrought iron, and cast iron, were to be distinguished by the
amount of charcoal (carbon) they contained. The Industrial Revolution which began that same
century relied extensively on this metal.
Cobalt
27
58.933
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1739
Georg Brandt
The name is derived from the German word 'kobald', meaning
goblin.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
9
4
d
Atomic number
27
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
28
1495 oC, 2723 oF, 1768 K

2927 oC, 5301 oF, 3200 K
8.86
58.933
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
Solid
[Ar] 3d74s2
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
94547
59
Co
7440-48-4
History
The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, who ruled from 1361-1352 BC, contained a small glass
object coloured deep blue with cobalt. Cobalt blue was known even earlier in China and was used for
pottery glazes. In 1730, chemist Georg Brandt of Stockholm became interested in a dark blue ore
from some local copper workings and he eventually proved that it contained a hitherto unrecognised
metal and he gave it the name by which its ore was cursed by miners in Germany, where it was
sometimes mistaken for a silver ore. He published his results in 1739. For many years his claim to
have uncovered a new metal was disputed by other chemists who said his new element was really a
compound of iron and arsenic, but eventually it was recognised as an element in its own right.
Nickel
28
58.693
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1751
Axel Fredrik Cronstedt
The name is the shortened for of the German 'kupfernickel' meaning
either devil's copper or St. Nicholas's copper.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
10
4
d
29
Melting point 1455 oC, 2651 oF, 1728 K

Density (g
8.90
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Atomic number
28
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d84s2
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
910
58.693
58
Ni
7440-02-0
History
Meteorites contain both iron and nickel, and earlier ages used them as a superior form
of iron. Because the metal did not rust, it was regarded by the natives of Peru as a kind of
silver. A zinc-nickel alloy called pai-tung (white copper) was in use in China as long ago as
200 BC. Some even reached Europe. In 1751, Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, working at Stockholm,
investigated a new mineral now called nickeline (NiAs) which came from a mine at Los,
Hlsingland, Sweden. He thought it might contain copper but what he extracted was a new
metal which he announced and named nickel in 1754. Many chemists thought it was an alloy
of cobalt, arsenic, iron and copper these elements were present as trace contaminants. It
was not until 1775 that pure nickel was produced by Torbern Bergman and this confirmed its
elemental nature.
Copper
29
63.546
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Prehistoric
The name is derived from the Old English name 'coper' in turn derived
from the Latin 'Cyprium aes', meaning a metal from Cyprus
30
Fact box
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Group
11
Period
Block
4
d
Atomic number
29
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d104s1
Melting point 1084.62 oC, 1984.32 oF, 1357.77

K
Density (g
8.96
-3
cm )
Relative
63.546
atomic mass
Key isotopes 63Cu
22414
History
Copper beads have been excavated in northern Iraq and which are more than ten thousand
years old and presumably made from native copper, nuggets of which can sometimes be found.
Copper was widely used in the ancient world as bronze, its alloy with tin, which was used to make
cutlery, coins, and tools. In China it was used for bells. Copper is not difficult to extract from it ores,
but mineable deposits were relatively rare. Some, such as the copper mine at Falun, Sweden, date
from the 1200s, were the source of great wealth. One way to extract the metal was to roast the sulfide
ore then leach out the copper sulfate that was formed, with water. This was then trickled over scrap
iron on the surface of which the copper deposited, forming a flaky layer that was easily removed.
Zinc
30
65.38
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Fact box
Identified as an element in 1746, but known to the Greeks and

Romans before 20BC.
Andreas Marggraf
The name is derived from the German, 'zinc', which may in turn be
derived from the Persian word 'sing', meaning stone.
31
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Group
12
Period
Block
4
d
Atomic number
30
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d104s2
Melting point 419.527 oC, 787.149 oF, 692.677

K
Density (g
7.134
-3
cm )
Relative
65.38
atomic mass
Key isotopes 64Zn
22430
History
Zinc was known to the Romans but rarely used. It was first recognised as a metal in its own
right in India and the waste from a zinc smelter at Zawar, in Rajasthan, testifies to the large scale on
which it was refined during the period 1100 to the 1500. Zinc refining in China was carried out on a
large scale by the 1500s. An East India Company ship which sank off the coast of Sweden in 1745
was carrying a cargo of Chinese zinc and analysis of reclaimed ingots showed them to be almost the
pure metal. In 1668, a Flemish metallurgist, P. Moras de Respour, reported the extraction of metallic
zinc from zinc oxide, but as far as Europe was concerned zinc was discovered by the German chemist
Andreas Marggraf in 1746, and indeed he was the first to recognise it as a new metal.
Gallium
31
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1875
Paul-mile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
The name is derived from the Latin name for France, 'Gallia'
69.723
32
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
Group
13
Period
Block
4
p
Atomic number
31
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d104s24p1
Melting point 29.7646 oC, 85.5763 oF,

302.9146 K
Density (g
5.91
-3
cm )
Relative
69.723
atomic mass
Key isotopes 69Ga
4514603
History
Gallium was discovered in Paris by Paul-mile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875. He observed
a new violet line in the atomic spectrum of some zinc he had extracted from a sample of zinc blende
ore (ZnS) from the Pyrenees. He knew it meant that an unknown element was present. What
Boisbaudran didnt realise was that its existence, and properties, had been predicted by Mendeleev
whose periodic table showed there was a gap below aluminium which was yet to be occupied. He
forecast that the missing elements atomic weight would be around 68 and its density would be 5.9
g/cm3. By November of 1875, Boisbaudran had isolated and purified the new metal and shown that it
was like aluminium. In December 1875 he announced it to the French Academy of Sciences.
Germanium
32
72.630
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1886
Clemens Winkler
The name is derived from the Latin name for Germany,
'Germania'.
-Ge, -Ge
33
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
938.25 oC, 1720.85 oF, 1211.4
K
2833 oC, 5131 oF, 3106 K
5.3234
Group
14
Melting point
Period
Block
4
p
Atomic number
32
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d104s24p2
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4885606
72.630
73
Ge, 74Ge
7440-56-4
History
Germanium was discovered by Clemens A. Winkler at Freiberg, Germany, in 1886. Its
existence had been predicted by Mendeleev who predicted its atomic weight would be about 71 and
that its density around 5.5 g/cm3. In September 1885 a miner working in the Himmelsfrst silver
mine near Freiberg, came across an unusual ore. It was passed to Albin Weisbach at the nearby
Mining Academy who certified it was a new mineral, and asked his colleague Winkler to analyse it.
He found its composition to be 75% silver, 18% sulfur, and 7% he could not explain. By February
1886, he realised it was a new metal-like element and as its properties were revealed, it became clear
that it was the missing element below silicon as Mendeleev had predicted. The mineral from which it
came we know as argyrodite, Ag8GeS6.
Arsenic
33
74.922
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
34
approx 1250
Albertus Magnus
The name is thought to come from 'arsenikon', the Greek name for the
yellow pigment orpiment.
Yellow As, Grey As, Black As
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
Group
15
Period
Block
Atomic
number
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider
ID
33
Solid
[Ar] 3d104s24p3
4514330
Melting
point
K
Boiling point Sublimes at 616 oC, 1141 oF, 889
K
Density (g
5.75
-3
cm )
Relative
74.922
atomic mass
Key isotopes 75As
CAS
7440-38-2
number
History
Arsenic was known to the ancient Egyptian, and is mentioned in one papyrus as a ways of
gilding metals. The Greek philosopher Theophrastus knew of two arsenic sulfide minerals: orpiment
(As2S3) and realgar (As4S4). The Chinese also knew about arsenic as the writings of Pen Tsao KanMu. He compiled his great work on the natural world in the 1500s, during the Ming dynasty. He
noted the toxicity associated with arsenic compounds and mentioned their use as pesticides in rice
fields. A more dangerous form of arsenic, called white arsenic, has also been long known. This was
the trioxide, As2O3, and was a by-product of copper refining. When this was mixed with olive oil and
heated it yielded arsenic metal itself. The discovery of the element arsenic is attributed to Albertus
Magnus in the 1200s.
Selenium
34
78.971
35
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1817
Jns Jacob Berzelius
The name is derived from 'selene', the Greek name for the Moon.
Red Se, Grey Se, Black Se
Fact box
220.8 oC, 429.4 oF, 494 K
685 oC, 1265 oF, 958 K
4.809
Group
Period
Block
16
4
p
Atomic number
34
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Ar] 3d104s24p4
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4885617
78.971
80
Se
7782-49-2
History
Selenium was discovered by Jns Jacob Berzelius at Stockholm in 1817. He had shares in a
sulfuric acid works and he was intrigued by a red-brown sediment which collected at the bottom of
the chambers in which the acid was made. At first he thought it was the element tellurium because it
gave off a strong smell of radishes when heated, but he eventually realised that it was in fact a new
element. He also noted that it was like sulfur and indeed had properties intermediate between sulfur
and tellurium. Berzelius found that selenium was present in samples of tellurium and gave that
element its characteristic smell. He also became affected by it personally it can be absorbed through
the skin and it caused him to experience the bad breath associated with those who work with this
element.
Bromine
35
36
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
79.904
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1826
Antoine-Jrme Balard in Montpellier, France and Carl Lwig in
Heidelberg, Germany
The name comes from the Greek 'bromos' meaning stench.
Fact box
-7.2 oC, 19 oF, 266 K
58.8 oC, 137.8 oF, 332 K
3.1028
Group
Period
Block
17
4
p
Atomic number
35
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Liquid
[Ar] 3d104s24p5
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4514586
79.904
79
Br
7726-95-6
History
Antoine-Jrme Balard discovered bromine while investigating some salty water from
Montpellier, France. He took the concentrated residue which remained after most of the brine had
evaporated and passed chlorine gas into it. In so doing he liberated an orange-red liquid which he
deduced was a new element. He sent an account of his findings to the French Academys journal in
1826. A year earlier, a student at Heidelberg, Carl Lwig, had brought his professor a sample of
bromine which he had produced from the waters of a natural spring near his home at Keruznach. He
was asked to produce more of it, and while he was doing so Balard published his results and so
became known at its discoverer.
Krypton
36
83.798
37
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1898
The name is derived from the Greek 'kryptos', meaning hidden.
Fact box
Group
18
Period
Block
Atomic
number
State at 20C
36
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider
ID
[Ar] 3d104s24p6
Gas
5223
Melting
-157.37 oC, -251.27 oF, 115.78 K
point
Boiling
-153.415 oC, -244.147 oF, 119.735
point
K
Density (g
0.003425
-3
cm )
Relative
83.798
atomic mass
84
Key
Kr
isotopes
CAS
7439-90-9
number
History
Having discovered the noble gas argon, extracted from air, William Ramsay and Morris
William Travers of University College, London, were convinced this must be one of a new group of
elements of the periodic table. They decided others were likely to be hidden in the argon and by a
process of liquefaction and evaporation they hoped it might leave behind a heavier component, and it
did. It yielded krypton in the afternoon of 30 th May 1898, and they were able to isolate about 25 cm3
of the new gas. This they immediately tested in a spectrometer, and saw from its atomic spectrum that
it was a new element.
38
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Rubidium
37
85.468
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1861
Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen
The name is derived form the Latin 'rubidius', meaning deepest red.
Fact box
39.30 oC, 102.74 oF, 312.45 K
688 oC, 1270 oF, 961 K
1.53
Group
Period
Block
1
5
s
Atomic number
37
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 5s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4512975
85.468
85
Rb, 87Rb
7440-17-7
History
The lithium potassium mineral lepidolite was discovered in the 1760s and it behaved oddly.
When thrown on to glowing coals it frothed and then hardened like glass. Analysis showed it to
contain lithium and potassium, but it held a secret: rubidium. In 1861, Robert Bunsen and Gustav
Kirchhoff, of the University of Heidelberg, dissolved the ore in acid and then precipitated the
potassium it contained which carried down another heavier alkali metal. By carefully washing this
precipitate with boiling water they removed the more soluble potassium component and then
confirmed that they really had a new element by examining the atomic spectrum of what remained.
This showed two intense ruby red lines never seen before, indicating a new element, which they
named after this colour. A sample of pure rubidium metal was eventually produced in 1928.
39
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Strontium
38
87.62
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1790
Adair Crawford
Strontium is named after Strontian, a small town in Scotland.
Fact box
777 oC, 1431 oF, 1050 K
1377 oC, 2511 oF, 1650 K
2.64
Group
Period
Block
2
5
s
Atomic number
38
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 5s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4514263
History
87.62
86
Sr, 87Sr, 88Sr

7440-24-6
40
In 1787, an unusual rock which had been found in a lead mine at Strontian, Scotland, was
investigated by Adair Crawford, an Edinburgh doctor. He realised it was a new mineral containing an
unknown earth which he named strontia. In 1791, another Edinburgh man, Thomas Charles Hope,
made a fuller investigation of it and proved it was a new element. He also noted that it caused the
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
flame of a candle to burn red. Meanwhile Martin Heinrich Klaproth in Germany was working with
the same mineral and he produced both strontium oxide and strontium hydroxide. Strontium metal
itself was isolated in 1808 at the Royal Institution in London by Humphry Davy by means of
electrolysis, using the method with which he had already isolated sodium and potassium.
Yttrium
39
88.906
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1794
Johan Gadolin
Yttrium is named after Ytterby, Sweden.
Fact box
1522 oC, 2772 oF, 1795 K
3345 oC, 6053 oF, 3618 K
4.47
Group
Period
Block
3
5
d
Atomic number
39
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d15s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22429
History
88.906
89
Y
7440-65-5
41
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
In 1787, Karl Arrhenius came across an unusual black rock in an old quarry at Ytterby, near
Stockholm. He thought he had found a new tungsten mineral, and passed the specimen over to Johan
Gadolin based in Finland. In 1794, Gadolin announced that it contained a new 'earth' which made up
38 per cent of its weight. It was called an earth because it was yttrium oxide, Y 2O3, which could not
be reduced further by heating with charcoal. The metal itself was first isolated in 1828 by Friedrich
Whler and made by reacting yttrium chloride with potassium. Yet, yttrium was still hiding other
elements. In 1843, Carl Mosander investigated yttrium oxide more thoroughly and found that it
consisted of three oxides: yttrium oxide, which was white; terbium oxide, which was yellow; and
erbium oxide, which was rose-coloured.
Zirconium
40
91.224
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1789
Martin Heinrich Klaproth
The name is derived form the Arabic, 'zargun', meaning gold
coloured.
Fact box
1854 oC, 3369 oF, 2127 K
4406 oC, 7963 oF, 4679 K
6.52
Group
Period
Block
4
5
d
Atomic number
40
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d25s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22431
91.224
90
Zr, 92Zr, 94Zr

7440-67-7
42
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Gems that contain zirconium were known in ancient times as zircon. In 1789, the German
chemist, Martin Klaproth analysed a zircon and separated zirconium in the form of its earth
zirconia, which is the oxide ZrO2. Klaproth failed to isolate the pure metal itself, and Humphry Davy
also failed when he tried electrolysis in 1808. It was not until 1824 that the element was isolated,
when the Swedish chemist Jns Berzelius heated potassium hexafluorozirconate (K 2ZrF6) with
potassium metal and obtained some zirconium as a black powder. Totally pure zirconium was only
produced in 1925 by the Dutch chemists Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer by the
decomposition of zirconium tetraiodide (ZrI 4). These days the metal is produced in bulk by heating
zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl4) with magnesium.
Niobium
41
92.906
Discovery date
Discovered by
1801
Charles Hatchett
Origin of the name
The name comes from Niobe from Greek mythology, who was the
daughter of king Tantalus. This was chosen because of niobium's
chemical similarity to tantalum
Allotropes
Fact box
2477 oC, 4491 oF, 2750 K

4741 oC, 8566 oF, 5014 K
8.57
Group
Period
Block
5
5
d
Atomic number
41
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d45s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22378
History
92.906
93
Nb
7440-03-1
43
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
When examining minerals in the British Museum in 1801, Charles Hatchett was intrigued by
a specimen labelled columbite. He suspected it contained a new metal, and he was right. He heated a
sample with potassium carbonate, dissolved the product in water, added acid and got a precipitate.
However, further treatment did not produce the element itself, although he named it columbium, and
so it was known for many years.Others doubted columbium, especially after the discovery of
tantalum which happened the following year. These metals occur together in nature, and are difficult
to separate. In 1844 the German chemist Heinrich Rose proved that columbite contained both
elements and he renamed columbium niobium. A sample of the pure metal was produced in 1864 by
Christian Blomstrand who reduced niobium chloride by heating it with hydrogen gas .
Molybdenum
42
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1781
Peter Jacob Hjelm
The name is derived from the Greek 'molybdos' meaning lead.
95.95
Fact box
2622 oC, 4752 oF, 2895 K

4639 oC, 8382 oF, 4912 K
10.2
Group
Period
Block
6
5
d
Atomic number
42
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d55s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22374
History
95.95
95
Mo, 96Mo, 98Mo

7439-98-7
44
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
The soft black mineral molybdenite (molybdenum sulfide, MoS 2), looks very like graphite
and was assumed to be a lead ore until 1778 when Carl Scheele analysed it and showed it was neither
lead nor graphite, although he didnt identify it.Others speculated that it contained a new element but
it proved difficult to reduce it to a metal. It could be converted to an oxide which, when added to
water, formed an acid we now know as molybdic acid, H 2MoO4, but the metal itself remained elusive.
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1937
Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segr
The name is derived from the Greek 'tekhnetos' meaning artificial.
Scheele passed the problem over to Peter Jacob Hjelm. He ground molybdic acid and carbon together
in linseed oil to form a paste, heated this to red heat in and produced molybdenum metal. The new
element was announced in the autumn of 1781.
Technetium
43
[98]
Fact box
2157 oC, 3915 oF, 2430 K

4262 oC, 7704 oF, 4535 K
11
Group
Period
Block
7
5
d
Atomic number
43
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d55s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22396
History
[98]
Unknown
7440-26-8
45
Technetium long tantalised chemists because it could not be found. We now know that all its
isotopes are radioactive and any mineral deposits of the element had long disappeared from the
Earths crust. (The longest lived isotope has a half life of 4 million years.) Even so, some technetium
atoms are produced as uranium undergoes nuclear fission and there is about 1 milligram of
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
technetium in a tonne of uranium. Claims in the 1920s to have found this element, or at least to have
observed its spectrum, cannot be entirely discounted. Technetium was discovered by Emilio Segr in
1937 in Italy. He investigated molybdenum from California which had been exposed to high energy
radiation and he found technetium to be present and separated it. Today, this element is extracted
from spent nuclear fuel rods in tonne quantities.
Ruthenium
44
Discovery date
1808
Discovered by
Karl Karlovich Klaus
Origin of the name The name is derived from 'Ruthenia', the Latin name for Russia
Allotropes
101.07
Fact box
2333 oC, 4231 oF, 2606 K

4147 oC, 7497 oF, 4420 K
12.1
Group
Period
Block
8
5
d
Atomic number
44
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d75s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22390
History
101.07
101
Ru, 102Ru, 104Ru

7440-18-8
46
The Polish chemist Jedrzej Sniadecki was investigating platinum ores from South America
and, in May 1808, when he discovered a new metal which he called it vestium. However, when
French chemists tried to repeat his work they were unable to find it in the platinum ore they had.
When Sniadecki learned of this he believed he had been mistaken and withdrew his claim. Then, in
1825, Gottfried Osann of the University of Dorpat (now Tartu) on the Baltic, investigated some
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
platinum from the Ural mountains, and reported finding three new elements which he named
pluranium, polinium, and ruthenium. While the first two of these were never to be verified, the third
was genuine and in 1840 Karl Karlovich Klaus at the University of Kazan extracted, purified, and
confirmed it was a new metal. He kept Osanns name of ruthenium.
Rhodium
45
102.906
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1803
William Hyde Wollaston
The name is derived from the Greek 'rhodon', meaning rose coloured.
Fact box
1963 oC, 3565 oF, 2236 K

3695 oC, 6683 oF, 3968 K
12.4
Group
Period
Block
9
5
d
Atomic number
45
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d85s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22389
102.906
103
Rh
7440-16-6
History
Rhodium was discovered in 1803 by William Wollaston. He collaborated with Smithson
Tennant in a commercial venture, part of which was to produce pure platinum for sale. The first step
in the process was to dissolve ordinary platinum in aqua regia (nitric acid + hydrochloric acid). Not
all of it went into solution and it left behind a black residue. (Tennant investigated this residue and
from it he eventually isolated osmium and iridium.) Wollaston concentrated on the solution of
dissolved platinum which also contained palladium. He removed these metals by precipitation and
47
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
was left with a beautiful red solution from which he obtained rose red crystals. These were sodium
rhodium chloride, Na3RhCl6. From them he eventually produced a sample of the metal itself.
Palladium
46
106.42
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1803
William Hyde Wollaston
Palladium is named after the asteroid Pallas, in turn named after the
Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas.
Fact box
1554.8 oC, 2830.6 oF, 1828 K

2963 oC, 5365 oF, 3236 K
12.0
Group
Period
Block
10
5
d
Atomic number
46
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d10
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22380
106.42
106
Pd
7440-05-3
History
As early as 1700, miners in Brazil were aware of a metal they called ouro podre, worthless
gold, which is a native alloy of palladium and gold. However, it was not from this that palladium was
first extracted, but from platinum, and this was achieved in 1803 by William Wollaston. He noted that
when he dissolved ordinary platinum in aqua regia (nitric acid + hydrochloric acid) not all of it went
into solution. It left a residue from which he eventually extracted palladium. He did not announce his
discovery but put the new metal on sale as a new silver. Richard Chenevix purchased some,
investigated it, and declared it to be an alloy of mercury and platinum. In February 1805 Wollaston
revealed himself as its discoverer and gave a full and convincing account of the metal and its
properties.
48
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Silver
47
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
approx 3000BC
The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name, 'siolfur'.
107.868
Fact box
961.78 oC, 1763.2 oF, 1234.93

K
2162 oC, 3924 oF, 2435 K
10.5
Group
11
Melting point
Period
Block
5
d
Atomic number
47
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s1
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22394
107.868
107
Ag
7440-22-4
History
Slag heaps near ancient mine workings in Turkey and Greece prove that silver mining started
around 3000 BC. The metal was refined by cupellation, a process invented by the Chaldeans, who
lived in what is now southern Iraq. It consisted of heating the molten metal in a shallow cup over
which blew a strong draft of air. This oxidised the other metals, such as lead and copper, leaving only
silver unaffected. The rise of Athens was made possible partly through the exploitation of local silver
mines at Laurium. These operated from 600 BC and right through the Roman era. In Medieval times,
German mines became the main source of silver in Europe. Silver was also mined by the ancient
civilizations of Central and South America there being rich deposits in Peru, Bolivia and Mexico.
49
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Cadmium
48
112.414
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1817
Friedrich Stromeyer
The name is derived from the Latin 'cadmia', the name for the mineral
calmine.
Fact box
321.069 oC, 609.924 oF, 594.219

K
767 oC, 1413 oF, 1040 K
8.69
Group
12
Melting point
Period
Block
5
d
Atomic number
48
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s2
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22410
112.414
114
Cd
7440-43-9
History
In the early 1800s, the apothecaries of Hanover, Germany, made zinc oxide by heating a
naturally occurring form of zinc carbonate called cadmia. Sometimes the product was discoloured
instead of being pure white, and when Friedrich Stromeyer of Gttingen University looked into the
problem he traced the discoloration to a component he could not identify, and which he deduced must
be an unknown element. This he separated as its brown oxide and, by heating it with lampblack
(carbon), he produced a sample of a blue-grey metal which he named cadmium after the name for the
mineral. That was in 1817. Meanwhile two other Germans, Karl Meissner in Halle, and Karl Karsten
in Berlin, were working on the same problem and announced their discovery of cadmium the
following year.
Indium
49
50
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
114.818
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1863
Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymous Richter
The name comes from the Latin 'indicium', meaning violet or indigo.
Fact box
156.60 oC, 313.88 oF, 429.75 K

2027 oC, 3681 oF, 2300 K
7.31
Group
Period
Block
13
5
p
Atomic number
49
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s25p1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4514408
114.818
115
In
7440-74-6
History
Indium was discovered in 1863 by Ferdinand Reich at the Freiberg School of Mines in
Germany. Reich was investigating a sample of the mineral zinc blende (now known as sphalerite,
ZnS) which he believed might contain the recently discovered element thallium. From it he obtained
a yellow precipitate which he thought was thallium sulfide, but his atomic spectroscope showed lines
that were not those of thallium. However, because he was colour-blind he asked Hieronymous Richter
to look at the spectrum, and he noted a brilliant violet line, and this eventually gave rise to the name
indium, from the Latin word indicum meaning violet. Working together Reich and Richter isolated a
small sample of the new element and announced its discovery. Subsequently the two men fell out
when Reich learned that when Richter, on a visit to Paris, claimed he was the discover.
Tin
51
50
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
approx 2100BC
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'tin'
White Sn, Gray Sn, Rhombic Sn
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
118.710
Fact box
231.928 oC, 449.47 oF, 505.078

K
2586 oC, 4687 oF, 2859 K
7.287
Group
14
Melting point
Period
Block
5
p
Atomic number
50
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s25p2
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4509318
118.710
120
Sn
7440-31-5
History
Tin had a direct impact on human history mainly on account of bronze, although it could be
used in its own right, witness a tin ring and pilgrim bottle found in an Egyptian tomb of the
eighteenth dynasty (15801350 BC). The Chinese were mining tin around 700 BC in the province of
Yunnan. Pure tin has also been found at Machu Picchu, the mountain citadel of the Incas. When
copper was alloyed with around 5 per cent of tin it produced bronze, which not only melted at a lower
temperature, so making it easier to work, but produced a metal that was much harder, and ideal for
tools and weapons. The Bronze Age is now a recognised stage in the development of civilisation.
How bronze was discovered we do not know, but the peoples of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus
valley started using it around 3000 BC.
Antimony
51
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
52
approx 1600BC
The name derives from the Greek 'anti - monos', meaning not alone
White Sb, Yellow Sb, Black Sb
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
121.760
Fact box
630.628 oC, 1167.13 oF, 903.778

K
1587 oC, 2889 oF, 1860 K
6.68
Group
15
Melting point
Period
Block
5
p
Atomic number
51
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s25p3
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4510681
121.760
121
Sb
7440-36-0
History
Antimony and its compounds were known to the ancients and there is a 5,000-year old
antimony vase in the Louvre in Paris. Antimony sulfide (Sb 2S3) is mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus
of the 16th century BC. The black form of this pigment, which occurs naturally as the mineral stibnite,
was used as mascara and known as khol. The most famous user was the temptress Jezebel whose
exploits are recorded in the Bible. Another pigment known to the Chaldean civilization, which
flourished in what is now southern Iraq in the 6 th and 7th centuries BC, was yellow lead antimonite.
This was found in the glaze of ornamental bricks at Babylon and date from the time of
Nebuchadnezzar (604561 BC). Antimony became widely used in Medieval times, mainly to harden
lead for type, although some was taken medicinally as a laxative pill which could be reclaimed and
re-used!
Tellurium
52
127.60
53
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1783
Franz-Joseph Mller von Reichenstein
The name is derived from the Latin 'tellus', meaning Earth.
Fact box
449.51 oC, 841.12 oF, 722.66 K

988 oC, 1810 oF, 1261 K
6.232
Group
Period
Block
16
5
p
Atomic number
52
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s25p4
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4885717
127.60
130
Te
13494-80-9
History
Tellurium was discovered in 1783 by Franz Joseph Mller von Reichenstein at Sibiu,
Romania. He became intrigued by ore from a mine near Zalatna which had a metallic sheen and
which he suspected was native antimony or bismuth. (It was actually gold telluride, AuTe 2.)
Preliminary investigation showed neither antimony nor bismuth to be present. For three years Mller
researched the ore and proved it contained a new element. He published his findings in an obscure
journal and it went largely unnoticed. In 1796, he sent a sample to Martin Klaproth in Berlin who
confirmed him findings. Klaproth produced a pure sample and decided to call it tellurium. Rather
strangely, this was not the first sample of tellurium to pass through his hands. In 1789, he had been
sent some by a Hungarian scientist, Paul Kitaibel who had independently discovered it.
Iodine
53
54
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
126.904
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1811
Bernard Courtois
The name is derived from the Greek 'iodes' meaning violet.
I2
Fact box
113.7 oC, 236.7 oF, 386.9 K

184.4 oC, 363.9 oF, 457.6 K
4.933
Group
Period
Block
17
5
p
Atomic number
53
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Kr] 4d105s25p5
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4514549
126.904
127
I
7553-56-2
History
In the early 1800s, Bernard Courtois of Paris manufactured saltpetre (potassium nitrate,
KNO3) and used seaweed ash as his source of potassium. One day in 1811, he added sulfuric acid and
saw purple fumes which condensed to form crystals with a metallic lustre. Courtois guessed this was
a new element. He gave some to Charles-Bernard Desormes and to Nicolas Clment who carried out
a systematic investigation and confirmed that it was. In November 1813, they exhibited iodine at the
Imperial Institute in Paris. That it really was new was proved by Joseph Gay-Lussac and confirmed
by the Humphry Davy who was visiting Paris. Davy sent a report to the Royal Institution in London
where it was mistakenly assumed he was the discoverer, a belief that persisted for more than 50 years.
Xenon
54
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
55
1898
The name is derived from the Greek 'xenos' meaning stranger.
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
131.293
Fact box
Group
18
Period
Block
Atomic
number
State at 20C
54
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider
ID
[Kr] 4d105s25p6
Gas
22427
Melting
-111.75 oC, -169.15 oF, 161.4 K
point
Boiling
-108.099 oC, -162.578 oF, 165.051
point
K
Density (g
0.005366
-3
cm )
Relative
131.293
atomic mass
132
Key
Xe
isotopes
CAS
7440-63-3
number
History
Xenon was discovered in July 1898 by William Ramsay and Morris Travers at University
College London. They had already extracted neon, argon, and krypton from liquid air, and wondered
if it contained other gases. The wealthy industrialist Ludwig Mond gave them a new liquid-air
machine and they used it to extract more of the rare gas krypton. By repeatedly distilling this, they
eventually isolated a heavier gas, and when they examined this in a vacuum tube it gave a beautiful
blue glow. They realised it was yet another member of the inert group of gaseous elements as they
were then known because of their lack of chemical reactivity. They called the new gas xenon. It was
this gas which Neil Bartlett eventually showed was not inert by making a fluorine derivative in 1962.
So far more than 100 xenon compounds have been made.
Caesium
55
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
56
1860
Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen
The name comes from the Latin 'caesius', meaning sky blue, and
derived from its flame colour.
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
132.905
Fact box
28.5 oC, 83.3 oF, 301.7 K

671 oC, 1240 oF, 944 K
1.873
Group
Period
Block
1
6
s
Atomic number
55
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 6s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4510778
132.905
133
Cs
7440-46-2
History
Caesium was almost discovered by Carl Plattner in 1846 when he investigated the mineral
pollucite (caesium aluminium silicate). He could only account for 93% of the elements it contained,
but then ran out of material to analyse. (It was later realised that he mistook the caesium for sodium
and potassium.) Caesium was eventually discovered by Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen in 1860
at Heidelberg, Germany. They examined mineral water from Durkheim and observed lines in the
spectrum which they did not recognise, and that meant a new element was present. They produced
around 7 grams of caesium chloride from this source, but were unable to produce a sample of the new
metal itself. The credit for that goes to Carl Theodor Setterberg at the University of Bonn who
obtained it by the electrolysis of molten caesium cyanide, CsCN.
Barium
56
137.327
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1808
Humphry Davy
The name comes from the Greek 'barys', meaning heavy.
57
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
727 oC, 1341 oF, 1000 K

1845 oC, 3353 oF, 2118 K
3.62
Group
Period
Block
2
6
s
Atomic number
56
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 6s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4511436
137.327
138
Ba
7440-39-3
History
In the early 1600s, Vincenzo Casciarolo, of Bologna, Italy, found some unusual pebbles. If
they were heated to redness during the day, they would shine during the night. This was the mineral
barite (barium sulfate, BaSO4. When Bologna stone, as it became known, was investigated by Carl
Scheele in 1760s he realised it was the sulfate of an unknown element. Meanwhile a mineralogist, Dr
William Withering, had found another curiously heavy mineral in a lead mine in Cumberland which
clearly was not a lead ore. He named it witherite; it was later shown to be barium carbonate, BaCO 3.
Neither the sulfate nor the carbonate yielded up the metal itself using the conventional process of
smelting with carbon. However, Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution in London produced it by the
electrolysis of barium hydroxide in 1808.
Lanthanum
57
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
138.905
Fact box
1839
Carl Gustav Mosander
The name is derived from the Greek 'lanthanein', meaning to lie
hidden.
58
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
920 oC, 1688 oF, 1193 K

3464 oC, 6267 oF, 3737 K
6.15
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
d
Atomic number
57
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 5d16s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22369
138.905
139
La
7439-91-0
History
Lanthanum was discovered in January 1839 by Carl Gustav Mosander at the Karolinska
Institute, Stockholm. He extracted it from cerium which had been discovered in 1803. Mosander
noticed that while most of his sample of cerium oxide was insoluble, some was soluble and he
deduced that this was the oxide of a new element. News of his discovery spread, but Mosander was
strangely silent. That same year, Axel Erdmann, a student also at the Karolinska Institute, discovered
lanthanum in a new mineral from Lven island located in a Norwegian fjord. Finally, Mosander
explained his delay, saying that he had extracted a second element from cerium, and this he called
didymium. Although he didnt realise it, didymium too was a mixture, and in 1885 it was separated
into praseodymium and neodymium.
Cerium
58
140.116
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1803
Jns Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger
Cerium is named for the asteroid, Ceres, which in turn was named after
the Roman God of agriculture.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm-
59
799 oC, 1470 oF, 1072 K

3443 oC, 6229 oF, 3716 K
6.77
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Atomic number
58
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f15d16s2
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22411
140.116
140
Ce
7440-45-1
History
Cerium was first identified by the Jns Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger in the winter of
1803/4. Martin Klaproth independently discovered it around the same time. Although cerium is one
of the 14 lanthanoid (aka rare earth) elements it was discovered independently of them. There are
some minerals that are almost exclusively cerium salts such as cerite, which is cerium silicate. A lump
of this mineral had been found in 1751 by Axel Cronstedt at a mine in Vestmanland, Sweden. He sent
some to Carl Scheele to analyse it but he failed to realise it was new element. In 1803, Berzelius and
Hisinger examined it themselves and proved that it contained a new element. It was not until 1875
that William Hillebrand and Thomas Norton obtained a pure specimen of cerium itself, by passing an
electric current through the molten cerium chloride.
Praseodymium
59
140.908
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1885
Carl Auer von Welsbach
The name is derived from the Greek 'prasios didymos' meaning green
twin.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
59
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
60
931 oC, 1708 oF, 1204 K

3520 oC, 6368 oF, 3793 K
6.77
140.908
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
Solid
[Xe] 4f36s2
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22384
141
Pr
7440-10-0
History
Didymium was announced in 1841 by Carl Mosander. He separated if from cerium, along
with lanthanum. Didymium was accepted as an element for more than 40 years but it was really a
mixture of lanthanoid elements. Some chemists wondered whether didymium too might consist of
mor
e than one element, and their suspicions were confirmed when Bohuslav Brauner of Prague
in 1882 showed that its atomic spectrum was not that of a pure metal. The Austrian chemist, Carl
Auer von Welsbach took up the challenge and in June 1885 he succeeded in splitting didymium into
its two components, neodymium and praseodymium, which he obtained as their oxides. A pure
sample of praseodymium metal itself was first produced in 1931.
Neodymium
60
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1885
Carl Auer von Welsbach
The name is derived from the Greek 'neos didymos' meaning new
twin.
144.242
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
60
State at 20C
Solid
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
1016 oC, 1861 oF, 1289 K

3074 oC, 5565 oF, 3347 K
7.01
144.242
142
Nd
61
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
[Xe] 4f46s2
CAS number
22376
7440-00-8
History
Neodymium was discovered in Vienna in 1885 by Karl Auer. Its story began with the
discovery of cerium, from which Carl Gustav Mosander extracted didymium in 1839. This turned out
to be a mixture of lanthanoid elements, and in 1879, samarium was extracted from didymium,
followed a year later by gadolinium. In 1885, Auer obtained neodymium and praseodymium from
didymium, their existence revealed by atomic spectroscopy. Didymium had been studied by Bohuslav
Brauner at Prague in 1882 and was shown to vary according to the mineral from which it came. At
the time he made his discovery, Auer was a research student of the great German chemist, Robert
Bunsen who was the world expert on didymium, but he accepted Auer's discovery immediately,
whereas other chemists were to remain sceptical for several years. A sample of the pure metal was
first produced in 1925.
Promethium
61
Discovery
date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1945
Jacob .A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, and Charles D. Coryell
Promethium is named after Prometheus of Greek mythology who stole
fire from the Gods and gave it to humans.
[145]
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
61
State at 20C
Solid
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
1042 oC, 1908 oF, 1315 K

3000 oC, 5432 oF, 3273 K
7.26
[145]
145
Pm, 147Pm
62
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
[Xe] 4f56s2
CAS number
22386
7440-12-2
History
In 1902, Bohuslav Branner speculated that there should be an element in the periodic table
between neodymium and samarium. He was not to know that all its isotopes were radioactive and had
long disappeared. Attempts were made to discover it and several claims were made, but clearly all
were false. However, minute amounts of promethium do occur in uranium ores as a result of nuclear
fission, but in amounts of less than a microgram per million tonnes of ore. In 1939, the 60-inch
cyclotron at the University of California was used to make promethium, but it was not proven. Finally
element 61 was produced in 1945 by Jacob .A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, and Charles D.
Coryell at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They used ion-exchange chromatography to separate it from the
fission products of uranium fuel taken from a nuclear reactor.
Samarium
62
150.36
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1879
The name is derived from samarskite, the name of the mineral from
which it was first isolated.
Fact box
1072 oC, 1962 oF, 1345 K

1794 oC, 3261 oF, 2067 K
7.52
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
62
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f66s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22391
History
150.36
152
Sm
7440-19-9
63
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Samarium was one of the rare earths (aka lanthanoids) which perplexed and puzzled the
chemists of the 1800s. Its history began with the discovery of cerium in 1803. This was suspected of
harbouring other metals, and in 1839 Carl Mosander claimed to have obtained lanthanum and
didymium from it. While he was right about lanthanum, he was wrong about didymium. In 1879,
Paul-mile Lecoq de Boisbaudran extracted didymium from the mineral samarskite. He then made a
solution of didymium nitrate and added ammonium hydroxide. He observed that the precipitate which
formed came down in two stages. He concentrated his attention on the first precipitate and measured
its spectrum which revealed it to be a new element samarium. Samarium itself was eventually to yield
other rare-earths: gadolinium in 1886 and europium in 1901.
Europium
63
151.964
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1901
Eugne-Anatole Demaray
Europium is named after Europe
Fact box
822 oC, 1512 oF, 1095 K

1529 oC, 2784 oF, 1802 K
5.24
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
63
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f76s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22417
History
151.964
153
Eu
7440-53-1
64
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Europiums story is part of the complex history of the rare earths, aka lanthanoids. It began
with cerium which was discovered in 1803. In 1839 Carl Mosander separated two other elements
from it: lanthanum and one he called didymium which turned out to be a mixture of two rare earths,
praseodymium and neodymium, as revealed by Karl Auer in 1879. Even so, it still harboured another
rarer metal, samarium, separated by Paul-mile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, and even that was impure. In
1886 Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac extracted gadolinium, from it, but that was still not the end
of the story. In 1901, Eugne-Anatole Demaray carried out a painstaking sequence of crystallisations
of samarium magnesium nitrate, and separated yet another new element: europium.
Gadolinium
64
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1880
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac
Gadolinium was named in honour of Johan Gadolin.
157.25
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
64
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
1313 oC, 2395 oF, 1586 K

3273 oC, 5923 oF, 3546 K
7.90
Solid
[Xe] 4f75d16s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22418
157.25
158
Gd
7440-54-2
65
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Gadolinium was discovered in 1880 by Charles Galissard de Marignac at Geneva. He had
long suspected that the didymium reported by Carl Mosander was not a new element but a mixture.
His suspicions were confirmed when Marc Delafontaine and Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran at
Paris reported that its spectral lines varied according to the source from which it came. Indeed, in
1879 they had already separated samarium from some didymium which had been extracted from the
mineral samarskite, found in the Urals. In 1880, Marignac extracted yet another new rare earth from
didymium, as did Paul-mile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1886, and it was the latter who called it
gadolinium.
Terbium
65
158.925
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1843
Terbium was named after Ytterby, Sweden.
Fact box
1359 oC, 2478 oF, 1632 K

3230 oC, 5846 oF, 3503 K
8.23
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
65
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f96s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22397
History
158.925
159
Tb
7440-27-9
66
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Terbium was first isolated in 1843 by the Swedish chemist Carl Mosander at Stockholm. He
had already investigated cerium oxide and separated a new element from it, lanthanum, and now he
focussed his attention on yttrium, discovered in 1794, because he thought this too might harbour
another element. In fact Mosander was able to obtain two other metal oxides from it: terbium oxide
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1886
The name is derived from the Greek 'dysprositos', meaning hard to
get.
(yellow) and erbium oxide (rose pink) and these he announced in 1843. This was not the end of the
story, however, because later that century these too yielded other rare earth elements (aka
lanthanoids). Today these elements are easily separated by a process known as liquid-liquid
extraction.
Dysprosium
66
162.500
Fact box
1412 oC, 2574 oF, 1685 K

2567 oC, 4653 oF, 2840 K
8.55
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
66
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f106s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22355
History
162.500
164
Dy
7429-91-6
67
Dysprosium was discovered in 1886 by Paul-mile Lecoq de Boisbaudran at Paris. Its

discovery came as a result of research into yttrium oxide, first made in 1794, and from which other
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
rare earths (aka lanthanoids) were subsequently to be extracted, namely erbium in 1843, then
holmium in 1878, and finally dysprosium. De Boisbaudrans method had involved endless
precipitations carried out on the marble slab of his fireplace at home. Pure samples of dysprosium
were not available until Frank Spedding and co-workers at Iowa State University developed the
technique of ion-exchange chromatography around 1950. From then on it was possible to separate the
rare earth elements in a reliable and efficient manner, although that method of separation has now
been superseded by liquid-liquid exchange technology.
Holmium
67
164.930
Discovery
date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1878
Per Teodor Cleve at Uppsala, Sweden and independently by Marc
Delafontaine and Louis Soret in Geneva, Switzerland
The name is derived from the Latin name for Stockholm, 'Holmia'.
Fact box
1472 oC, 2682 oF, 1745 K

2700 oC, 4892 oF, 2973 K
8.80
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
67
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f116s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22424
History
164.930
165
Ho
7440-60-0
68
Holmium was discovered at Geneva in 1878 by Marc Delafontaine and Louis Soret, and
independently by Per Teodor Cleve at Uppsala, Sweden. Both teams were investigating yttrium,
which was contaminated with traces of other rare earths (aka lanthanoids) and had already yielded
erbium which was later to yield ytterbium. Cleve looked more closely at what remained after the
ytterbium had been removed, and realised it must contain yet other elements because he found that its
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
atomic weight depended on its source. He separated holmium from erbium in 1878. Delafontaine and
Soret also extracted it from the same source, having seen unexplained lines in the atomic spectrum.
We cannot be certain that either group had produced a pure sample of the new element because yet
another rare-earth, dysprosium, was to be extracted from holmium.
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1843
Erbium is named after Ytterby, Sweden,
Erbium
68
167.259
Fact box
1529 oC, 2784 oF, 1802 K

2868 oC, 5194 oF, 3141 K
9.07
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
68
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f126s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22416
167.259
166
Er
7440-52-0
History
In 1843, at Stockholm, Carl Mosander obtained two new metal oxides from yttrium, which
had been know since 1794. One of these was erbium oxide, which was pink. (The other was terbium
oxide, which was yellow.) While erbium was one of the first lanthanoid elements to be discovered,
the picture is clouded because early samples of this element must have contained other rare-earths.
We know this because In1878 Jean-Charles Galissard de Marignac, working at the University of
Geneva, extracted another element from erbium and called it ytterbium. (This too was impure and
scandium was extracted from it a year later.) A sample of pure erbium metal was not produced until
69
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
1934, when Wilhelm Klemm and Heinrich Bommer achieved it by heating purified erbium chloride
with potassium.
Thulium
69
Discovery date
1879
Discovered by
Per Teodor Cleve
Origin of the name The name comes from Thule, the ancient name for Scandinavia.
Allotropes
168.934
Fact box
1545 oC, 2813 oF, 1818 K

1950 oC, 3542 oF, 2223 K
9.32
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
69
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f136s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22400
History
168.934
169
Tm
7440-30-4
70
Thulium was first isolated in 1879 as its oxide by Per Teodor Cleve at the University of
Uppsala, Sweden. The discoveries of the many rare earth elements (aka lanthanoid) began with
yttrium in 1794. This was contaminated with these chemically similar elements. Indeed the early
chemists were unaware they were there. In 1843, erbium and terbium were extracted from yttrium,
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
and then, in 1874, Cleve looked more closely at erbium and realised that it must contain yet other
elements because he observed that its atomic weight varied slightly depending on the source from
which it came. He extracted thulium from it in 1879. In 1911, the American chemist Theodore
William Richards performed 15,000 recrystallisations of thulium bromate in order to obtain an
absolutley pure sample of the element and so determine exactly its atomic weight.
Ytterbium
70
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1878
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac
Ytterbium is named after Ytterby, Sweden.
173.054
Fact box
824 oC, 1515 oF, 1097 K

1196 oC, 2185 oF, 1469 K
6.90
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
70
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f146s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22428
173.054
172
Yb, 173Yb, 174Yb

7440-64-4
History
71
Ytterbium was isolated in 1878 by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac at the University of
Geneva. The story began with yttrium, discovered in 1794, which was contaminated with other rareearth elements (aka lanthanoids). In 1843, erbium and terbium were extracted from it, and then in
1878, de Marignac separated ytterbium from erbium. He heated erbium nitrate until it decomposed
and then extracted the residue with water and obtained two oxides: a red one which was erbium
oxide, and a white one which he knew must be a new element, and this he named ytterbium. Even
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
this was eventually shown to contain another rare earth, lutetium, in 1907. A tiny amount of ytterbium
metal was made in 1937 by heating ytterbium chloride and potassium together but was impure. Only
in 1953 was a pure sample obtained.
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1907
Georges Urbain in Paris, France and independently by Charles James in
New Hampshire, USA
The name derives from the Romans' name for Paris, 'Lutetia'.
Lutetium
71
174.967
Fact box
1663 oC, 3025 oF, 1936 K

3402 oC, 6156 oF, 3675 K
9.84
Group
Period
Block
Lanthanides
6
f
Atomic number
71
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d16s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22371
174.967
175
Lu
7439-94-3
History
The honour of discovering lutetium went to Georges Urbain at the Sorbonne in Paris, because
he was the first to report it. The story began with the discovery of yttrium in 1794 from which several
other elements the rare earths (aka lanthanoids) were to be separated, starting with erbium in 1843
and ending with lutetium in 1907. Other chemists, namely Karl Auer in Germany and Charles James
in the USA, were about to make the same discovery. Indeed James, who was at the University of New
Hampshire, was ahead of Urbain and had extracted quite a lot of the new metal, but he delayed
publishing his research. A sample of pure lutetium metal itself was not made until 1953.
72
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Hafnium
72
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1923
George Charles de Hevesy and Dirk Coster
The name is derived from the Latin name for Copenhagen, 'Hafnia'
178.49
Fact box
2233 oC, 4051 oF, 2506 K

4600 oC, 8312 oF, 4873 K
13.3
Group
Period
Block
4
6
d
Atomic number
72
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d26s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22422
178.49
177
Hf, 178Hf, 180Hf

7440-58-6
History
In 1911, Georges Urbain reported the discovery of the missing element below zirconium in
the periodic table, but he was wrong and the search continued. It was finally discovered by George
Charles de Hevesy and Dirk Coster at the University of Copenhagen in 1923. It was found in a
zirconium mineral, a Norwegian zircon, but it had proved very difficult to separate it from zirconium
and this explained why hafnium remained undiscovered for so long. Other zirconium minerals were
now examined by Hevesy, and some were found to contain as much as five per cent of hafnium. (It
meant the atomic weight of zirconium was wrong and hafnium-free material had to be produced in
order for this to be determined.) The first pure sample of hafnium itself was made in 1925 by
decomposing hafnium tetra-iodide over a hot tungsten wire.
Tantalum
73
73
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1802
Anders Gustav Ekeberg
The name is derived from the legendary Greek figure King Tantalus.
180.948
Fact box
3017 oC, 5463 oF, 3290 K

5455 oC, 9851 oF, 5728 K
16.4
Group
Period
Block
5
6
d
Atomic number
73
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d36s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22395
180.948
180
Ta, 181Ta
7440-25-7
History
Tantalum was reported as a new metal in 1802 by Anders Gustav Ekeberg at Uppsala
University, Sweden. However, when William Wollaston analysed the minerals from which it had been
extracted he declared it was identical to niobium which has been discovered the year previously. It
was as a result of their similarity that there was confusion regarding their identification. These two
elements often occur together and, being chemically very similar, were difficult to separate by the
methods available at the time of the discovery. It was not until 1846 that Heinrich Rose separated
tantalum and niobium and proved conclusively that they were different elements, and yet his sample
of tantalum was still somewhat impure, and it was not until 1903 that pure tantalum was produced by
Werner von Bolton.
Tungsten
74
74
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
183.84
Discovery date
Discovered by
1783
Juan and Fausto Elhuyar
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
The name is derived from the Swedish 'tung sten' meaning heavy
stone.
Fact box
3414 oC, 6177 oF, 3687 K

5555 oC, 10031 oF, 5828 K
19.3
Group
Period
Block
6
6
d
Atomic number
74
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d46s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22403
183.84
182
W, 184W, 186W
7440-33-7
History
More than 350 years ago, porcelain makers in China incorporated a unique peach colour into
their designs by means of a tungsten pigment that was not known in the West. Indeed it was not for
another century that chemists in Europe became aware of it. In 1779, Peter Woulfe examined a
mineral from Sweden and concluded it contained a new metal, but he did not separate it. Then in
1781, Wilhelm Scheele investigated it and succeeded in isolating an acidic white oxide and which he
rightly deduced was the oxide of a new metal. The credit for discovering tungsten goes to the
brothers, Juan and Fausto Elhuyar, who were interested in mineralogy and were based at the
Seminary at Vergara, in Spain, 1783 they produced the same acidic metal oxide and even reduced it to
tungsten metal by heating with carbon.
Rhenium
75
75
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1925
Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke and Otto Berg
The name is derived from the Latin name for the Rhine, 'Rhenus'.
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
186.207
Fact box
3185 oC, 5765 oF, 3458 K

5590 oC, 10094 oF, 5863 K
20.8
Group
Period
Block
7
6
d
Atomic number
75
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d56s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22388
186.207
187
Re
7440-15-5
History
The periodic table had two vacant slots below manganese and finding these missing
elements, technetium and rhenium, proved difficult. Rhenium was the lower one and indeed it was
the last stable, non-radioactive, naturally-occurring element to be discovered. In 1905, Masataka
Ogawa found it in the mineral thorianite from Sri Lanka. He realised from lines in its atomic
spectrum that it contained an unknown element. He wrongly thought it was the one directly below
manganese and so his claim was discounted at the time. However, a re-examination of Ogawas
original photographic spectra proved he had discovered rhenium. The isolation of rhenium was
finally achieved in May 1925 by Walter Noddack and Ida Tacke working in Berlin. They
concentrated it from the ore gadolinite in which it was an impurity.
Osmium
76
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
190.23
Fact box
1803
Smithson Tennant
The name is derived from the Greek word 'osme', meaning smell.
-
76
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
3033 oC, 5491 oF, 3306 K

5008 oC, 9046 oF, 5281 K
22.5872
Group
Period
Block
8
6
d
Atomic number
76
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d66s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22379
190.23
192
Os
7440-04-2
History
In 1803, Smithson Tennant added platinum to dilute aqua regia, which is a mixture of nitric
and hydrochloric acids, and observed that not all the metal went into solution. Earlier experimenters
had assumed that the residue was graphite, but he suspected it was something else, and he began to
investigate it. By a combination of acid and alkali treatments he eventually separated it into two new
metal elements, which he named iridium and osmium, naming the latter on account of the strong
odour it gave off. Its name is derived from osme the Greek word for smell. Although it was
recognised as a new metal, little use was made of it because it was rare and difficult to work with,
although it was extremely hard wearing and for several years it was used for pen nibs and
gramophone needles.
Iridium
77
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1803
Smithson Tennant
The name is derived from the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris.
-
192.217
77
Fact box
Group
Melting point
2446 oC, 4435 oF, 2719 K
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Boiling point
4428 oC, 8002 oF, 4701 K
Density (g cm- 22.5622
3
)
Atomic number 77
Relative
192.217
Discovery date Known to native South
Americans
atomic
mass before Columbus, and taken to
193
State at 20C
Solid around 1750Key isotopes
Ir
Europe
14
7
2
Electron
[Xe]
4f
5d
6s
CAS
number
7439-88-5
Discovered by
configuration
Origin
of the
The name is derived from the Spanish 'platina', meaning little silver.
ChemSpider
ID 22367
name
Allotropes
Period
Block
6
d
History
Iridium was discovered together with osmium in1803 by Smithson Tennant in London. When
crude platinum was dissolved in dilute aqua regia, which is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids,
it left behind a black residue thought to be graphite. Tennant thought otherwise, and by treating it
alternately with alkalis and acids he was able to separate it into two new elements. These he
announced at the Royal Institution in London, naming one iridium, because its salts were so colourful
and the other osmium because it had a curious odour (see osmium). Despite its seeming intractability,
a group of chemists, including the great Humphry Davy, demonstrated in 1813 that iridium would
indeed melt like other metals. To achieve this they exposed it to the powerful current generated by a
large array of batteries.
Platinum
78
195.084
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
10
6
d
Atomic number
78
State at 20C
Electron
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d96s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
1768.2 oC, 3214.8 oF, 2041.4 K

3825 oC, 6917 oF, 4098 K
21.5
195.084
195
Pt
7440-06-4
78
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
configuration
ChemSpider ID
22381
Chemistry
History
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
approx 3000BC
The name is the Anglo-Saxon word for the metal and the symbol comes
from the Latin aurum, gold.
Probably the oldest worked specimen of platinum is that from an ancient Egyptian casket of
the 7 century BC, unearthed at Thebes and dedicated to Queen Shapenapit. Otherwise this metal was
unknown in Europe and Asia for the next two millennia, although on the Pacific coast of South
America, there were people able to work platinum, as shown by burial goods dating back 2000 years.
In 1557 an Italian scholar, Julius Scaliger, wrote of a metal from Spanish Central America that could
not be made to melt and was no doubt platinum. Then, in 1735, Antonio Ulloa encountered this
curious metal, but as he returned to Europe his ship was captured by the Royal Navy and he ended up
in London. There, members of the Royal Society were most interested to hear about the new metal,
and by the 1750s, platinum was being reported and discussed throughout Europe.
th
Gold
79
196.967
Fact box
1064.18 oC, 1947.52 oF, 1337.33

K
2836 oC, 5137 oF, 3109 K
19.3
Group
11
Melting point
Period
Block
6
d
Atomic number
79
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d106s1
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22421
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
196.967
197
Au
7440-57-5
79
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Gold has been known since prehistoric times and was one of the first metals to be worked,
mainly because it was to be found as nuggets or as particles in the beds of streams. Such was the
demand that by 2000 BC the Egyptians began mining gold. The death mask of Tutankhamen, who
died in 1323 BC, contained 100 kg of the metal. The royal graves of ancient Ur (modern Iraq), which
flourished from 3800 to 2000 BC, also contained gold objects. The minting of gold coins began
around 640 BC in the Kingdom of Lydia (situated in what is now modern Turkey) using electrum, a
native alloy of gold and silver. The first pure gold coins were minted in the reign of King Croesus,
who ruled from 561547 BC.
Mercury
80
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
approx 1500BC
Mercury is named after the planet, Mercury.
200.592
Fact box
Group
12
Period
Block
Atomic number 80
State at 20C
Liquid
Melting
point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
-38.829 oC, -37.892 oF, 234.321

K
356.619 oC, 673.914 oF, 629.769
K
13.5336
200.592
202
Hg
80
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Electron
[Xe] 4f145d106s2
configuration
ChemSpider ID 22373
Chemistry

History
Cinnabar (aka vermilion, mercury sulfide, HgS), was used as a bright red pigment by the
Palaeolithic painters of 30,000 years ago to decorate caves in Spain and France. Cinnabar would yield
up its mercury simply on heating in a crucible, and the metal fascinated people because it was a liquid
that would dissolve gold. The ancients used in on a large scale to extract alluvial gold from the
sediment of rivers. The mercury dissolved the gold which could be reclaimed by distilling off the
mercury. The Almadn deposit in Spain provided Europe with its mercury. In the Americas, it was the
Spanish conquerors who exploited the large deposits of cinnabar at Huancavelica in order to extract
gold. In 1848 the miners of the Californian Gold Rush used mercury from the New Almaden Mines
of California. Athough highly toxic, mercury had many uses, as in thermometers, but these are now
strictly curtained.
Thallium
81
204.38
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1861
William Crookes
Thallium is derived from the Greek 'thallos', meaning a green twig.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
13
6
p
Atomic number
81
State at 20C
Electron
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d106s26p1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
304 oC, 579 oF, 577 K

1473 oC, 2683 oF, 1746 K
11.8
204.38
205
Tl
7440-28-0
81
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
configuration
ChemSpider ID
4514293
Chemistry
History
The discovery of thallium was controversial. William Crookes of the Royal College of
Science in London was the first to observe a green line in the spectrum of some impure sulfuric acid,
and realised that it meant a new element. He announced his discovery in March 1861 in Chemical
News. However, he did very little research into it. Meanwhile, in 1862, Claude-August Lamy of Lille,
France, began to research thallium more thoroughly and even cast a small ingot of the metal itself.
The French Academy now credited him its discovery. He sent the ingot to the London International
Exhibition of 1862, where it was acclaimed as a new metal and he was awarded a medal. Crookes
was furious and so the exhibition committee awarded him a medal as well.
Lead
82
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Ancient
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for the metal, 'lead'
207.2
Fact box
Group
14
Melting point
Period
Block
6
p
Atomic number
82
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d106s26p2
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
327.462 oC, 621.432 oF, 600.612

K
1749 oC, 3180 oF, 2022 K
11.3
207.2
208
Pb
7439-92-1
82
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
ChemSpider ID
4509317
Chemistry
History
Lead has been mined for more than 6,000 years, and the metal and its compounds have been
used throughout history. Small lead nuggets have been found in pre-Columbian Peru, Yucatan, and
Guatemala. The Greeks mined lead on a large scale from 650 onwards and not only knew how to
obtain the metal but how to covert this to white lead. Because of its superb covering power, this was
the basis of paints for more than 2000 years, until the middle of the last century. The Romans
employed lead on a large scale, mining it mainly in Spain and Britain, and using it also for water
pipes, coffins, pewter tableware, and to debase their silver coinage. While its mining declined in the
Dark Ages it reappeared in Medieval times and found new uses, such as pottery glazes, bullets, and
printing type. In the last century it was a fuel additive
Bismuth
83
208.980
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
approx 1500
The name come from the German 'Bisemutum' a corruption of 'Weisse
Masse' meaning white mass.
Fact box
Group
15
Melting point
Period
Block
6
p
Atomic number
83
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d106s26p3
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
271.406 oC, 520.531 oF, 544.556

K
1564 oC, 2847 oF, 1837 K
9.79
208.980
209
Bi
7440-69-9
83
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
ChemSpider ID
4514266
Chemistry
History
Bismuth was discovered by an unknown alchemist around 1400 AD. Later that century it was
alloyed with lead to make cast type for printers and decorated caskets were being crafted in the metal.
Bismuth was often confused with lead; it was likewise a heavy metal and melted at a relatively low
temperature making it easy to work. Georgius Agricola in the early 1500s speculated that it was a
distinctly different metal, as did Caspar Neuman in the early 1700s, but proof that it was so finally
came in 1753 thanks to the work of Claude-Franois Geoffre. Bismuth was used as an alloying metal
in the bronze of the Incas of South America around 1500 AD. Bismuth was not mined as ore but
appears to have occurred as the native metal.
Polonium
84
[209]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1898
Marie Curie
Polonium is named after Poland, the native country of Marie Curie, who
first isolated the element.
-Po, -Po
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
16
6
p
Atomic number
84
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
254 oC, 489 oF, 527 K

962 oC, 1764 oF, 1235 K
9.20
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d106s26p4
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4886482
[209]
209
210
Po, Po
7440-08-6
84
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Uranium ores contain minute traces of polonium at levels of parts per billion. Despite this, in
1898 Marie Curie and husband Pierre Curie extracted some from pitchblende (uranium oxide, U 3O8)
after months of painstaking work. The existence of this element had been forecast by the Mendeleev
who could see from his periodic table that there might well be the element that followed bismuth and
he predicted it would have an atomic weight of 212. The Curies had extracted the isotope polonium209 and which has a half-life of 103 years. Before the advent of nuclear reactors, the only source of
polonium was uranium ore but that did not prevent its being separated and used in anti-static devices.
These relied on the alpha particles that polonium emits to neutralise electric charge.
Astatine
85
[210]
Discovery date
Discovered by
1940
Dale R. Corson, Kenneth Ross MacKenzie, Emilio Segr
Origin of the name

Allotropes
The name comes from the Greek 'astatos', meaning unstable.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
17
6
p
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
300 oC, 572 oF, 573 K

350 oC, 662 oF, 623 K
Unknown
85
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Atomic number
85
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Xe] 4f145d106s26p5
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4573995
[210]
210
At, 211At
7440-68-8
History
In 1939, two groups came near to discovering this element in mineral samples. Horia Hulubei
and Yvette Cauchois analysed mineral samples using a high-resolution X-ray apparatus and thought
they had detected it. Meanwhile, Walter Minder observed the radioactivity of radium and said it
appeared have another element present. He undertook chemical tests which suggested it was like
iodine. Element 85 was convincingly produced for the first time at the University of California in
1940 by Dale R. Corson, K.R. Mackenzie, and Emilio Segr. Their astatine was made by bombarding
bismuth with alpha particles. Although they reported their discovery, they were unable to carry on
with their research due to World War II and the demands of the Manhattan project which diverted all
researchers of radioactive materials towards the making of nuclear weapons.
Radon
86
[222]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1900
Friedrich Ernst Dorn
The name is derived from radium, as it was first detected as an emission
from radium during radioactive decay.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
18
6
p
Atomic number
86
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
86
-71 oC, -96 oF, 202 K

-61.7 oC, -79.1 oF, 211.5 K
0.009074
[222]
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
Gas
[Xe] 4f145d106s26p6
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
23240
211
Rn, 220Rn, 222Rn

10043-92-2
History
In 1899, Ernest Rutherford and Robert B. Owens detected a radioactive gas being released by
thorium. That same year, Pierre and Marie Curie detected a radioactive gas emanating from radium.
In1900, Friedrich Ernst Dorn at Halle, Germany, noted that a gas was accumulating inside ampoules
of radium. They were observing radon. That from radium was the longer-lived isotope radon-222
which has a half-life 3.8 days, and was the same isotope which the Curies has observed. The radon
that Rutherford detected was radon-220 with a half-life of 56 seconds. In 1900, Rutherford devoted
himself to investigating the new gas and showed that it was possible to condense it to a liquid. In
1908, William Ramsay and Robert Whytlaw-Gray at University College, London, collected enough
radon to determine its properties and reported that it was the heaviest gas known.
Francium
87
[223]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1939
Marguerite Perey
Francium is named after France.
-
87
Fact box
Group
Period
1
7
Melting point
Boiling point
21 oC, 70 oF, 294 K

650 oC, 1202 oF, 923 K
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Block
Atomic number
87
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 7s1
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4886484
Unknown
[223]
223
Fr
7440-73-5
History
Mendeleev said there should be an element like caesium waiting to be discovered.
Consequently, there were claims, denials, and counterclaims by scientists who said they had found it.
During the 1920s and 30s, these claims were made on the basis of unexplained radioactivity in
minerals, or new lines in their X-ray spectra, but all eventually turned out not to be evidence of
element 87. Francium was finally discovered in 1939 by Marguerite Perey at the Curie Institute in
Paris. She had purified a sample of actinium free of all its known radioactive impurities and yet its
radioactivity still indicated another element was present, and which she rightly deduced was the
missing element 87. Others challenged her results too, and it was not until after World War II that she
was accepted as the rightful discoverer in 1946.
Radium
88
[226]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1898
Pierre and Marie Curie
The name is derived from the Latin 'radius', meaning ray.
-
88
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
696 oC, 1285 oF, 969 K
1500 oC, 2732 oF, 1773 K
5
Group
Period
Block
2
7
s
Atomic number
88
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 7s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
4886483
[226]
226
Ra
7440-14-4
History
Radium was discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. They managed to extract 1
mg of radium from ten tonnes of the uranium ore pitchblende (uranium oxide, U 3O8), a considerable
feat, given the chemically methods of separation available to them. They identified that it was a new
element because its atomic spectrum revealed new lines. Their samples glowed with a faint blue light
in the dark, caused by the intense radioactivity exciting the surrounding air.
Actinium
89
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
[227]
1899
Andrew Debierne
The name is derived from the Greek 'actinos', meaning a ray.
-
89
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
1050 oC, 1922 oF, 1323 K
3200 oC, 5792 oF, 3473 K
10
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
d
Atomic number
89
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 6d17s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22404
[227]
227
Ac
7440-34-8
History
This element was discovered in 1899 by Andr Debierne at Paris. He extracted it
from the uranium ore pitchblende (uranium oxide, U 3O8) in which it occurs in trace amounts.
In 1902, Friedrich Otto Giesel independently extracted it from the same mineral and,
unaware it was already known, gave it the named emanium. Actinium extracted from
uranium ores is the isotope actinium-227 which has half-life of 21.7 years. It occurs naturally
as one of the sequence of isotopes that originate with the radioactive decay of uranium-235.
A tonne of pitchblende contains around 150 mg of actinium. The metal itself was isolated by
Marie Curie and Andr Debierne in 1911, by means of the electrolysis of radium chloride. At
Debiernes suggestion, they used a mercury cathode in which the liberated radium dissolved.
This was then heated to distil off the mercury leaving the radium behind.
Thorium
90
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
90
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1829
Jns Jacob Berzelius
Thorium is named after Thor, the Scandinavian god of war.
232.038
Fact box
1750 oC, 3182 oF, 2023 K
4785 oC, 8645 oF, 5058 K
11.7
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
90
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 6d27s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22399
232.038
230
Th, 232Th
7440-29-1
History
In 1829, Jns Jakob Berzelius of the Royal Karolinska Institute, Stockholm extracted thorium
from a rock specimen sent to him by an amateur mineralogist who had discovered it near Brevig and
realised that it had not previously been reported. The mineral turned out to be thorium silicate, and it
is now known as thorite. Berzelius even produced a sample of metallic thorium by heating thorium
fluoride with potassium, and confirmed it as a new metal. The radioactivity of thorium was first
demonstrated in 1898 by Gerhard Schmidt and confirmed by Marie Curie. Thorium, like uranium,
survives on Earth because it has isotopes with long half-lives, such as the predominant one, thorium232, whose half life is 14 billion years.
91
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
Chemistry
1913
Kasimir Fajans and Otto Ghring
The name is derived from the Greek 'protos', meaning first, as a prefix to
the element actinium, which is produced through the radioactive decay of
proactinium.
Allotropes
Protactinium
91
231.036
Fact box
1572 oC, 2862 oF, 1845 K
4000 oC, 7232 oF, 4273 K
15.4
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
91
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f26d17s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22387
History
231.036
231
Pa
7440-13-3
92
Mendeleev said there should be an element between thorium and uranium, but it evaded
detection. Then, in 1900, William Crookes separated an intensely radioactive material from uranium,
but did not identify it. In 1913, Kasimir Fajans and Otto Ghring showed that this new element
decayed by beta-emission and it existed only fleetingly. We now know it is a member of the sequence
of elements through which uranium decays. It was the isotope protactinium-234, which has a half-life
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
of 6 hours 42 minutes. A longer-lived isotope was separated from the uranium ore pitchblende
(uranium oxide, U3O8) in 1918 by Lise Meitner at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute in Berlin. This was the
longer-lived isotope protactinium-231, also coming from uranium, and its half-life is 32,500 years. In
1934, Aristid von Grosse reduced protactinium oxide to protactinium metal by decomposing
its iodide (PaF5) on a heated filament.
Uranium
92
238.029
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1789
Martin Heinrich Klaproth
Uranium was named after the planet Uranus.
Fact box
1135 oC, 2075 oF, 1408 K
4131 oC, 7468 oF, 4404 K
19.1
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
92
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f36d17s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22425
History
238.029
234
U, 235U, 238U
7440-61-1
93
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
In the Middle Ages, the mineral pitchblende (uranium oxide, U 3O8) sometimes turned up in
silver mines, and in 1789 Martin Heinrich Klaproth of Berlin investigated it. He dissolved it in nitric
acid and precipitated a yellow compound when the solution was neutralised. He realised it was the
oxide of a new element and tried to produce the metal itself by heating the precipitate with charcoal,
but failed. It fell to Eugne Peligot in Paris to isolate the first sample of uranium metal which he did
in 1841, by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium. The discovery that uranium was
radioactive came only in 1896 when Henri Becquerel in Paris left a sample of uranium on top of an
unexposed photographic plate. It caused this to become cloudy and he deduced that uranium was
giving off invisible rays. Radioactivity had been discovered.
Neptunium
93
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1940
Edwin McMillan and Philip Abelson
Neptunium was named after the planet Neptune.
[237]
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
93
State at 20C
Solid
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
644 oC, 1191 oF, 917 K

3902 oC, 7056 oF, 4175 K
20.2
[237]
237
Np
94
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
[Rn] 5f46d17s2
CAS number
22375
7439-99-8
History
In early 1934, Enrico Fermi in Italy tried to produce elements 93 and 94 by bombarding
uranium with neutrons, and claimed success. Ida Tacke-Noddack questioned Fermis claim, pointing
out he had failed to do a complete analysis, and all that he had found were fission products of
uranium. (Fermi had in fact discovered nuclear fission but not realised it.) In 1938, Horia Hulubei and
Yvette Cauchois claimed to have discovered element 93, but the claim was also criticised on the
grounds that element 93 did not occur naturally. Neptunium was first made in 1940 by Edwin
McMillan and Philip Abelson at Berkeley, California. It came from a uranium target that had been
bombarded with slow neutrons and which then emitted unusual beta-rays indicating a new isotope.
Abelson proved there was indeed a new element present
Plutonium
94
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1940
Glenn Seaborg and colleagues
Plutonium, is named after the then planet Pluto, following from the two
previous elements uranium and neptunium.
[244]
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
94
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
95
640 oC, 1184 oF, 913 K

3228 oC, 5842 oF, 3501 K
19.7
[244]
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
238
Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu

7440-07-5
Solid
[Rn] 5f67s2
Key isotopes
CAS number
22382
History
Plutonium was first made in December 1940 at Berkeley, California, by Glenn Seaborg,
Arthur Wahl, Joseph Kennedy, and Edwin McMillan. They produced it by bombarding uranium-238
with deuterium nuclei (alpha particles). This first produced neptunium-238 with a half-life of two
days, and this decayed by beta emission to form element 94 (plutonium). Within a couple of months
element 94 had been conclusively identified and its basic chemistry shown to be like that of uranium.
To begin with, the amounts of plutonium produced were invisible to the eye, but by August 1942
there was enough to see and weigh, albeit only 3 millionths of a gram. However, by 1945 the
Americans had several kilograms, and enough plutonium to make three atomic bombs, one of which
exploded over Nagasaki in August 1945.
Americium
95
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1944
Americium is named for America where it was first made.
[243]
96
Fact box
Group
Period
Actinides
7
Melting point
Boiling point
1176 oC, 2149 oF, 1449 K

2011 oC, 3652 oF, 2284 K
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Block
Atomic number
95
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f77s2
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22405
12
[243]
241
Am, 243Am
7440-35-9
History
This element was in fact discovered after curium, the element which follows it in the periodic
table. However, it did once exist on Earth having been produced for millions of years in natural
nuclear reactors in Oklo, Gabon. These ceased to function a billion years ago, and as the longest lived
isotope is americium-247, with a half-life of 7370 years, none has survived to the present day.
Americium was first made late in 1944 at the University of Chicago by a team which included Glenn
Seaborg, Ralph James, Leon Morgan, and Albert Ghiorso. The americium was produced by
bombarding plutonium with neutrons in a nuclear reactor. This produced isotope americium-241,
which has a half-life of this is 432 years.
Curium
96
[247]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1944
Curium is named in honour of Pierre and Marie Curie.
97
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
1345 oC, 2453 oF, 1618 K
Unknown
13.51
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
96
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f76d17s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22415
[247]
243
Cm, 248Cm
7440-51-9
History
Curium was first made by the team of Glenn Seaborg, Ralph James, and Albert Ghiorso in
1944, using the cyclotron at Berkeley, California. They bombarded a piece of the newly discovered
element plutonium (isotope 239) with alpha-particles. This was then sent to the Metallurgical
Laboratory at the University of Chicago where a tiny sample of curium was eventually separated and
identified. However, news of the new element was not disclosed until after the end of World War II.
Most unusually, it was first revealed by Seaborg when he appeared as the guest scientist on a radio
show for children on 11 November 1945. It was officially announced the following week.
Berkelium
97
[247]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Fact box
1949
Stanley Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn Seaborg
Berkelium was named after the town Berkeley, California, where it was
first made.
98
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
986 oC, 1807 oF, 1259 K

Unknown
14.78
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
97
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f97s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22409
[247]
247
Bk, 249Bk
7440-40-6
History
Berkelium was first produced in December 1949, at the University of California at Berkeley,
and was made by Stanley Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn Seaborg. They took americium-241,
which had first been made in 1944, and bombarded it with helium nuclei (alpha particles) for several
hours in the 60-inch cyclotron. The americium itself had been produced by bombarding plutonium
with neutrons. The Berkeley team dissolved the target in acid and used ion exchange to separate the
new elements that had been created. This was the isotope berkelium-243 which has a half-life of
about 5 hours. It took a further nine years before enough berkelium had been made to see with the
naked eye, and even this was only a few micrograms. The first chemical compound, berkelium
dioxide, BkO2, was made in 1962
Californium
98
[251]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Fact box
1950
Stanley Thompson, Kenneth Street, Jr., Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn
Seaborg
Californium is named for the university and state of California, where
the element was first made.
99
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
900 oC, 1652 oF, 1173 K

Unknown
15.1
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
98
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f107s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22433
[251]
249
Cf, 252Cf
7440-71-3
History
Californium was first made in 1950 at Berkeley, California, by a team consisting of Stanley
Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr., Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn Seaborg. They made it by firing helium
nuclei (alpha particles) at curium-242. The process yielded the isotope californium-245 which has a
half-life of 44 minutes. Curium is intensely radioactive and it had taken the team three years to collect
the few milligrams needed for the experiment, and even so only a few micrograms of this were used.
Their endeavours produced around 5,000 atoms of californium, but there was enough to show it
really was a new elemen
Einsteinium
99
[252]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1952
Albert Ghiorso and colleagues
Einsteinium is named after the renowned physicist Albert Einstein.
100
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
860 oC, 1580 oF, 1133 K
Unknown
Unknown
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
99
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f117s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22356
[252]
252
Es
7429-92-7
History
Einsteinium was discovered in the debris of the first thermonuclear explosion which took
place on a Pacific atoll, on 1 November 1952. Fall-out material, gathered from a neighbouring atoll,
was sent to Berkeley, California, for analysis. There it was examined by Gregory Choppin, Stanley
Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Bernard Harvey. Within a month they had discovered and identified
200 atoms of a new element, einsteinium, but it was not revealed until 1955. The einsteinium had
formed when some uranium atoms had captured several neutrons and gone through a series of capture
and decay steps resulting in einsteinium-253, which has a half-life of 20.5 days. By 1961, enough
einsteinium had been collected to be visible to the naked eye, and weighed, although it amounted to
mere 10 millionths of a gram.
Fermium
100
[257]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1953
Fermium is named after the nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi.
101
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Fact box
1527 oC, 2781 oF, 1800 K
Unknown
Unknown
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
100
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f127s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22434
[257]
257
Fm
7440-72-4
History
Fermium was discovered in 1953 in the debris of the first thermonuclear explosion which
took place on a Pacific atoll on 1 November 1952. In this a uranium-238 bomb was used to provide
the heat necessary to trigger a thermonuclear explosion. The uranium-238 had been exposed to such a
flux of neutrons that some of its atoms had captured several of them, thereby forming elements of
atomic numbers 93 to 100, and among the last of these was an isotope of element 100, fermium-255.
News of its discovery was kept secret until 1955. Meanwhile a group at the Nobel Institute in
Stockholm had independently made a few atoms of fermium by bombarding uranium-238 with
oxygen nuclei and obtained fermium-250, which has a half-life of 30 minutes.
Mendelevium
101
[258]
102
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1955
Mendelevium is named for Dmitri Mendeleyev who produced one of
the first periodic tables.
Fact box
827 oC, 1521 oF, 1100 K
Unknown
Unknown
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
101
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f137s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
22385
[258]
258
Md, 260Md
7440-11-1
History
Seventeen atoms of mendelevium were made in 1955 by Albert Ghiorso, Bernard Harvey,
Gregory Chopin, Stanley Thompson, and Glenn Seaborg. They were produced during an all-night
experiment using the cyclotron at Berkeley, California. In this, a sample of einsteinium-253 was
bombarded with alpha-particles (helium nuclei) and mendelevium-256 was detected. This had a halflife of around 78 minutes. Further experiments yielded several thousand atoms of mendelevium, and
today it is possible to produce millions of them. The longest lived isotope is mendelevium-260 which
has a half-life of 28 days.
Nobelium
102
[259]
103
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Chemistry
1963
Georgy Flerov and colleagues and at Dubna, near Moscow, Russia, and
independently by Albert Ghiorso and colleagues at Berkeley, California,
USA
Nobelium is named for Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel prize.
Fact box
827 oC, 1521 oF, 1100 K
Unknown
Unknown
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
102
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f147s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
23207
[259]
259
No
10028-14-5
History
This elements history is one of controversy. In 1956, a team led by Georgy Flerov at the
Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow, synthesised element 102 by bombarding plutonium with oxygen
and got atoms of element 102, isotope-252. However, they did not report their success. In 1957, the
Nobel Institute of Physics in Stockholm announced isotope-253 which had been made by bombarding
curium with carbon. Then in 1958, Albert Ghiorso at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL)
claimed isotope-254, also made by bombarding curium with carbon. These claims were challenged by
the Russians. In 1962-63, the Russian Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, based at Dubna,
synthesised isotopes 252 to 256. Ghiorso still insisted his group were the first to discover element
102, and so began years of recrimination, finally ending in the International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemists deciding in favour of the Russians being the discoverers
Lawrencium
103
104
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
[262]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1965
USA
Lawrencium is named after Ernest O. Lawrence the inventor of the
cyclotron.
Fact box
1627 oC, 2961 oF, 1900 K
Unknown
Unknown
Group
Period
Block
Actinides
7
f
Atomic number
103
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f147s27p
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
28934
[262]
262
Lr
22537-19-5
History
This element had a controversial history of discovery. In 1958, the Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory (LBL) bombarded curium with nitrogen and appeared to get element 103, isotope-257. In
1960, they bombarded californium with boron hoping to get isotope-259 but the results were
inconclusive. In 1961, they bombarded curium with boron and claimed isotope-257. In 1965, the
Soviet Unions Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) successfully bombarded americium with
oxygen and got isotope-256. They also checked the LBLs work, and claimed it was inaccurate. The
LBL then said their product must have been isotope-258. The International Unions of Pure and
Applied Chemistry awarded discovery to the LBL.
Rutherfordium
104
105
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
[267]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1964
USA
Rutherfordium is named in honour of New Zealand Chemist Ernest
Rutherford, one of the first to explain the structure of atoms.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
4
7
d
Atomic number
104
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d27s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
11201447
[267]
265
Rf
53850-36-5
History
In 1964, a team led by Georgy Flerov at the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
(JINR) in Dubna, bombarded plutonium with neon and produced element 104, isotope 259. They
confirmed their findings in 1966. In 1969, a team led by Albert Ghiorso at the Californian Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) made three successful attempts to produce element 104: by bombarding
curium with oxygen to get isotope-260, californium with carbon to get isotope-257, and californium
with carbon to get isotope-258. A dispute over priority of discovery followed and eventually, in 1992,
the International Unions of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) concluded that both the Russian
and American researchers had been justified in making their claims. IUPAC decided element 104
would be called rutherfordium.
Dubnium
105
106
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
[268]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1968-1970
Scientists at both Berkeley, California, USA, and Dubna, near
Moscow, Russia
Dubnium is named for the Russian town Dubna.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
5
7
d
Atomic number
105
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d37s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[268]
268
Db
53850-35-4
History
In 1968, a team led by Georgy Flerov at the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
(JINR) bombarded americium with neon and made an isotope of element 105. In 1970, a team led by
Albert Ghiorso at the American Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) bombarded californium with
neon and obtained isotope 261. They disputed the claim of the JINR people. The two groups gave it
different names. The Russians called it neilsbohrium, while the Americans called it hahnium, both
being derived from the names of prominent nuclear scientists. Eventually, the International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) decided it should be called dubnium.
Seaborgium
106
107
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
[269]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1974
Seaborgium is named for Glenn T. Seaborg, who was instrumental in
producing several transuranium elements.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
6
7
d
Atomic number
106
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d47s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[269]
271
Sg
54038-81-2
History
In 1970, a team led by Albert Ghiorso at the Californian Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (LBNL) bombarded californium with oxygen and was successful in producing element
106, isotope 263. In 1974, a team led by Georgy Flerov and Yuri Oganessian at the Russian Joint
Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) bombarded lead with chromium and obtained isotopes 259 and
260. In September 1974, a team led by Ghiorso at LBNL produced isotope 263, with a half-life of 0.8
seconds, by bombarding californium with oxygen. Several atoms of seaborgium have since been
made by this method which produces one seaborgium atom per hour.
Bohrium
108
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
107
[270]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1981
Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Mnzenberg and colleagues
Bohrium is named for the Danish atomic physicist Niels Bohr
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
7
7
d
Atomic number
107
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d57s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[270]
272
Bh
54037-14-8
History
In 1975 a team led by Yuri Oganessian at the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
(JINR) in Dubna, bombarded bismuth with chromium and produced element 107, isotope-261. They
published the results of their successful run in 1976 and submitted a discovery claim. In 1981, a team
led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Mnzenberg at the German nuclear research institute the
Geselleschaft fr Schwerionenforschung (GSI) bombarded bismuth with chromium and they
succeeded in making a single atom of isotope 262. Now followed a period of negotiation to establish
who discovered elements 107 first and thereby had the right to name it. The International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) said that the GSI should be awarded the discovery because
they had the more credible submission, but that the JINR were probably the first to make it.
109
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Hassium
108
[269]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1984
Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Mnzenberg
The name is derived from the German state of Hesse where Hassium
was first made.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
8
7
d
Atomic number
108
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d67s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[269]
270
Hs
54037-57-9
History
There are 15 known isotopes of hassium with mass numbers 263 to 277, with isotope-276
having the longest half-life of 1.1 hour. The first attempt to synthesize element 108 took place in 1978
at Russias Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, where a team headed by Yuri
Oganessian and Vladimir Utyonkov bombarded radium with calcium and got isotope 270. In 1983,
they obtained other isotopes: by bombarding bismuth with manganese they got isotope 263, by
bombarding californium with neon they got isotope 270, and by bombarding lead with iron they got
isotope 264. In 1984, at Germanys Gesellschaft fr Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, a
team headed by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Mnzenberg bombarded lead with iron and
synthesised isotope 265. Their data which was considered more reliable than that from JINR and so
they were allowed to name the element which they did, basing it on Hesse, the state in which the GSI
is located
110
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
Meitnerium
109
[278]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the name
Allotropes
1982
Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Mnzenberg and colleagues
Meitnerium is named for the Austrian physicist Lise Meitner.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
9
7
d
Atomic number
109
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d77s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
History
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[278]
276
Mt
54038-01-6
111
There are 7 isotopes of meitnerium with mass numbers in the range 266 to 279. The longest
lived is isotope 278 with a half-life of 8 seconds. Meitnerium was first made in 1982 at the German
nuclear research facility, the Gesellschaft fr Schwerionenforschung (GSI), by a group headed by
Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Mnzenberg. They bombarded a target of bismuth with accelerated
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
iron ions. After a week, a single atom of element 109, isotope 266, was detected. This underwent
radioactive decay after 5 milliseconds
Darmstadtium
110
[281]
Discovery date
Discovered by
1994
Sigurd Hofmann, Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Mnzenberg
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
Darmstadtium is named after Darmstadt, Germany, where the element

was first produced.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
10
7
d
Atomic number
110
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d97s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
History
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[281]
281
Ds
54083-77-1
112
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
There are 15 known isotopes of darmstadtium, isotopes 267-281, and the heaviest is the
longest-lived, with a half-life of 4 minutes. There were several attempts to make element 110 at the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) at Dubna in Russia, and at the German Geselleschaft fr
Schwerionenforschung (GSI) at Darmstadt, but all were unsuccessful. Then Albert Ghiorso and his
team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), California, obtained isotope 267 by
bombarding bismuth with cobalt, but they could not confirm their findings . In 1994, a team headed
by Yuri Oganessian and Vladimir Utyonkov at the JINR made isotope-273 by bombarding plutonium
with sulfur. The same year, a team headed by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Munzenberg at the GSI
bombarded lead with nickel and synthesised isotope 269. The latter groups evidence was deemed
more reliable and confirmed by others around the world, so they were allowed to name element 110.
Roentgenium
111
[280]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
1994
Sigurd Hofmann and colleagues
The name roentgenium (Rg) was proposed by the GSI team in honour of
the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen, and was accepted as a
permanent name on November 1, 2004
Allotropes
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
11
7
d
Atomic number
111
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[280]
280
Rg
54386-24-2
113
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
There are seven known isotopes of the element: 272, 274 and 278-282. The longest lived is
isotope 281 which has a half-life of 22.8 seconds. In 1986, physicists at the Russian Joint Institute for
Nuclear Research (JINR), bombarded bismuth with nickel hoping to make element 111, but they
failed to detect any atoms of element 111. In 1994, a team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfred
Munzenberg at the German Geselleschaft fr Schwerionenforschung (GSI), were successful when
they bombarded bismuth with nickel and they obtained few atoms of isotope 272. It had a half-life of
1.5 milliseconds
Copernicium
112
[285]
Discovery date
Discovered by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1996
Sigurd Hofmann and colleagues
Copernicium is named for the Renaissance scientist Nicolaus
Copernicus
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
12
7
d
Atomic number
112
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g cm3
)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
History
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[285]
285
Cn
54084-26-3
114
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
The first atoms of element 112 were announced by Sigurd Hofmann and produced at the
Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) at Darmstadt, Germany, in 1996. Isotope-277 had been
produced by bombarding lead for two weeks with zinc travelling at 30,000 km per second. Isotope277 had a half-life of 0.24 milliseconds. Since then, other isotopes of copernicium have been made.
Isotope-285 was observed as part of the decay sequence of flerovium (element 114) produced at the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) at Dubna, Russia, as was isotope-284 which was observed
as part of the decay sequence of livermorium (element 116).
Ununtrium
113
[286]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of
the name
Allotropes
The synthesis of Ununtrium has been reported independently by two

groups in 2003 and 2004, however IUPAC has concluded that these
results do not meet the criteria for discovery. This entry will be
updated when more information is available.
This is a temporary name produced by IUPAC.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
13
7
p
Atomic number
113
State at 20C
Electron
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s27p1
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[286]
284
Uut
54084-70-7
115
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
History
-
Flerovium
114
[289]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
1999
Scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia
and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA.
Named after the Russian physicist Georgy Flerov who founded the Joint
Institute for Nuclear Research where the element was discovered.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
14
7
p
Atomic number
114
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s27p2
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[289]
289
Fl
54085-16-4
116
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
There are four known isotopes of flerovium with mass numbers 286-289. The longest-lived is
289 and it has a half-life of 2.6 seconds. Nuclear theory suggests that isotope 298, with 184 neutrons,
should be much more stable but that has yet to be made. Despite several attempts to make element
114, it was only in 1998 that a team led by Yuri Oganessian and Vladimir Utyonkov at the Joint
Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Russia produced it by bombarding plutonium with calcium.
It needed 5 billion billion (5 x 10 18) atoms of calcium to be fired at the target to produce a single atom
of flerovium, in an experiment lasting 40 days. A few more two atoms were produced the following
year
Ununpentium
115
[289]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of
the name
Allotropes
The synthesis of Ununpentium was reported in 2004, however IUPAC

has concluded that these results do not meet the criteria for discovery.
This entry will be updated when more information is available.
This is a temporary name produced by IUPAC
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
15
7
p
Atomic number
115
State at 20C
Solid
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[289]
288
Uup
117
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Chemistry
[Rn] 5f146d107s27p3
CAS number
54085-64-2
History
-
Livermorium
116
[293]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of the
name
Allotropes
2000
Scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia
and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA.
Named after the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
16
7
p
Atomic number
116
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s27p4
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[293]
293
Lv
54100-71-9
118
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
Four isotopes of this element have been produced and they have mass numbers 290-293. The
longest-lived is 293 with a half-life of 61 milliseconds. There were several attempts to make element
116 but all were unsuccessful until 2000 when researchers at the Joint International Nuclear Research
(JINR) in Russia, led by Yuri Oganessian, Vladimir Utyonkov, and Kenton Moody observed it.
Because the discovery was made using essential target material supplied by the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL) in the USA, it was decided to name it after that facility. In1999, the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California had announced the discovery of element 116
but then it was discovered that evidence had simply been concocted by one of their scientists, and so
the claim had to be withdrawn.
Ununseptium
117
[294]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of
the name
Allotropes
The synthesis of Ununseptium has been independently reported by two

groups in 2010 and 2014. The claims for its discovery will be considered
by the IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party and this entry will be
updated when more information is available.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
17
7
p
Atomic number
117
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s27p5
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[294]
292
Uus
87658-56-8
119
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
-
Ununoctium
118
[294]
Discovery
date
Discovered
by
Origin of
the name
Allotropes
Ununoctium was detected in 2002 and 2006. IUPAC has concluded

that these results do not meet the criteria for discovery. This entry will
be updated when more information is available.
Fact box
Group
Period
Block
18
7
p
Atomic number
118
State at 20C
Electron
configuration
ChemSpider ID
Solid
[Rn] 5f146d107s27p6
Melting point
Boiling point
Density (g
cm-3)
Relative
atomic mass
Key isotopes
CAS number
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
[294]
294
Uuo
54144-19-3
120
PERIODIC ELEMENTS
Chemistry
History
-
121

Spu Book

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Spu Book

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PERIODIC ELEMENTS

Melting point Unknown

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

1287 oC, 2349 oF, 1560 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

2077 oC, 3771 oF, 2350 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Sublimes at 3825 oC, 6917 oF, 4098

-210.0 oC, -346.0 oF, 63.2 K

-195.795 oC, -320.431 oF, 77.355

-218.79 oC, -361.82 oF, 54.36 K

Melting point -219.67 oC, -363.41 oF, 53.48 K

-188.11 oC, -306.6 oF, 85.04 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Melting point 660.323 oC, 1220.581 oF,

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

1541 oC, 2806 oF, 1814 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

1670 oC, 3038 oF, 1943 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

1538 oC, 2800 oF, 1811 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

1495 oC, 2723 oF, 1768 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Melting point 1455 oC, 2651 oF, 1728 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Melting point 1084.62 oC, 1984.32 oF, 1357.77

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Identified as an element in 1746, but known to the Greeks and

Melting point 419.527 oC, 787.149 oF, 692.677

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Melting point 29.7646 oC, 85.5763 oF,

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Sr, 87Sr, 88Sr

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Zr, 92Zr, 94Zr

Origin of the name

2477 oC, 4491 oF, 2750 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

2622 oC, 4752 oF, 2895 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Mo, 96Mo, 98Mo

2157 oC, 3915 oF, 2430 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

2333 oC, 4231 oF, 2606 K

ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Ru, 102Ru, 104Ru