My Science School

               Magnesium is an important nutrient for humans. Our body absorbs magnesium through leafy vegetables such as cabbage and spinach.

              Not just in these vegetables, magnesium is found in all green plants. It is present in their leaves where it traps the Sun’s energy to prepare the plant’s food. In fact, magnesium is present in the cells of all organisms!

              The element is so essential for humans that more than 300 kinds of body processes cannot take place without it. It is plentiful on Earth too, as it is the 8th most abundant element. The element makes up 13 per cent of the Earth’s total mass, and it comes third, after sodium and chlorine, in its presence in sea water.

               Magnesium is generally found in compound forms. The element mostly combines with oxygen and calcium. Magnesium has a silvery white colour.

               After iron and aluminium, this is the most sought after metal in the world. It is used in alloys and materials that need to be light-weight and strong.

               The name of the metal derives from the name of a region in Greece called Magnesia, where the compounds of magnesium were found in plenty. Its atomic number is 12, and the symbol is Mg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              Many sodium compounds are common household items. For example, most of us will find our food tasteless without a substance called sodium chloride. Another sodium compound called sodium bicarbonate is an inevitable ingredient for baking. The former is none other than table salt, and the latter, baking soda.

             Sodium is the sixth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and is found in many minerals. It is highly reactive. It is a soft metal; you can easily cut it with a kitchen knife into pieces. The element appears silvery-white in colour.

              Sodium has been in use for a very long time, and its compounds have had great historical significance. The element has been used for treating patients and as a form of currency for thousands of years.

               Salt, a sodium compound, has been known to be part of human diet from prehistoric times. People in Ancient Egypt knew the use of a substance called natron which they used to mummify dead bodies. Natron dried out the internal organs, thus preserving it for a long time. This substance is a sodium compound found naturally on Earth. Atomic number of this element is 11, and the symbol is Na.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            You must have seen the name boards and advertising signboards on shops glowing in red and orange at night in cities. You must have observed such lights during parties and festivals too. What makes these lights glow in such fashion is a gas called neon.

            Neon is widely used in ornamental lighting because when electrical discharge passes through the gas, it produces a red glow. In 1902, Georges Claude, a French inventor and engineer, started producing neon lights commercially.

            Neon has no colour or smell. The element gets its name from the Greek word ‘neos’ meaning ‘new’. British chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers discovered neon in 1898. Neon is the fourth-most abundant element in the Universe, but not on Earth.

            Among elements, neon is a recluse. Like a stubborn child, it refuses to form compounds with other elements, or react to any other substance. This is one reason for its scarcity in the air, because natural compounds of neon would have prevented its escape from the Earth’s atmosphere.

           The amount of neon in the air is not so much. Since it is a rare element, it is fairly costly too. Producing liquid neon is about 55 times more expensive than producing liquid helium.

           Neon has an atomic number of ten. Its atomic symbol is Ne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Do you know what makes toothpaste manufacturers confidently declare that their product can help you prevent tooth-decay? There is an ingredient in toothpaste that keeps your teeth strong. Fluorine is the element that prevents dental cavities. And fluorine is present in toothpastes in the form of soluble fluoride.

            George Gore, an English chemist, is one among the many scientists, who tried to isolate fluorine. However, Gore’s experiment ended up in an explosion when the fluorine that he had produced reacted with hydrogen in his lab. Many years later, Ferdinand Frederic Henri Moissan, a French chemist, successfully isolated fluorine in 1886. And his discovery led him to win the Nobel Prize in 1906.

            It is very difficult to store fluorine because of its corrosive nature. Fluorine gas quickly attacks most metals, and is highly reactive. And for this reason, fluorine is usually found only in compounds. Due to its exploding tendency, fluorine is maintained in hydrofluoric acid. Atomic number of the element is 9, and the symbol is F.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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               When it comes to maintaining life on earth, there is no element as important as oxygen. Without this element, we would be dead in no time! Invisible and odourless, it quietly continues to sustain and nourish life in nature. No doubt, oxygen is synonymous with life.

               Oxygen makes up one fifth of the earth’s atmosphere. It comes third in terms of its abundance by mass in the entire Universe. The reason for its high concentration on the Earth’s atmosphere is the oxygen cycle in our planet. It is driven by photosynthesis of plants. The density level of oxygen becomes less, as altitude increases. Mountaineers find it difficult to breathe and have to slowly adjust to the decreasing oxygen levels as they climb higher. Astronauts carry their oxygen when they travel to outer space because there is no oxygen there.

               At the same time, too much oxygen is also not good. Do you know that humans cannot survive if the oxygen level goes beyond 25 per cent? The same applies when the level goes below 17 per cent as well. Its atomic number is eight, and the symbol is O.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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               A common element in the universe, nitrogen ranks seventh in abundance. Normally, nitrogen is found as an odourless, colourless gas.

               This element is found in all living things. About three per cent of the mass of the human body is this element. After oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, three vital constituent elements of the human body, nitrogen is the fourth abundant element in humans.

               Nitrogen is an important element when it comes to its industrial utility. In food storage facilities and to keep packaged foods fresh, nitrogen gas is used. The element has a major role in the making of certain electronic parts of many useful applications.

               Have you heard about laughing gas? It is in fact, a chemical compound of nitrogen, called nitrous oxide. The compound’s ability to relax and brighten up people is what gives it this name. In explosives such as dynamites, nitroglycerin is used. The demolition and construction industries have often great use of this element. Its atomic number is seven and the symbol is N.

 

 

 

 

 

Diamond is in fact, a type of carbon. Carbon is capable of forming many allotropes. Well-known forms include diamond and graphite.

               Diamond, the hardest substance that Man has ever known, is a solid form of carbon. Graphite is another form of it. It is widely used in the manufacture of batteries, and the brake systems of vehicles. Besides the two there are many other forms of carbon too, such as amorphous carbon, and buckminsterfullerene. A curious fact is, while diamond is the hardest material, graphite is one of the softest known materials in nature.

              The presence of carbon is essential to our planet because it is an element that sustains life on Earth. It is a key element to life.

              Carbon is the second most abundant element in the human body. The human body contains about 16 kilogrammes of carbon in diverse forms. Carbon comes fourth in abundance when the entire Universe is taken into account.

               Carbon boasts of more compounds than most of the other elements in nature-around 10 million compounds in all. Its life is cyclical, as it undergoes a never-ending process of circulating through air, oceans, rocks, plants, and animals.

               Carbon is an element which is used in most of the industries in the world. People across the globe use carbon in the form of coal, and crude oil. Black ink for printers and colours for painting are also produced from carbon.

               Atomic number of this element is 6, and the symbol is C.

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               Boron is one element that is found in every household. Whether you want to wash your clothes, or grow some garden plants in your backyard, boron is indispensable. The reason is that boron compounds are used in detergents, insecticides, and fertilizers. Boron is both a common chemical ingredient and an important nutrient for plants.

               Boron receives its name from the Arabic word, ‘buraq’. It means borax, a mineral from which boron is extracted. Boron has a very high melting point. This quality makes it a suitable ingredient of a host of materials such as Pyrex glass and ceramic glazes for tiles and kitchen equipment. Boron makes them resistant to heat.

               Boron’s household utilities do not end there. Its compounds are used in the manufacture of face powder, as its presence provides a smooth and silky texture and makes the skin look flawless.

               Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thenard were the scientists who first discovered boron in1808. Its atomic number is 5, and the symbol is B.      

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beryllium salts are sweet in taste. But they are very toxic too. The element beryllium was once known as ‘glucine’ due to its flavour, and was represented as GI. In Greek, glucine means sweetness.

               Beryllium has been in use for thousands of years. However, in the modern era, it was a scientist called Nicolas Louis Vauquelin who discovered the element for the first time in emeralds in 1798. Two scientists are credited for isolating the metal from beryl and emeralds. Friedrich Wohler and Antoine Bussy achieved the feat in 1828. And guess what? They did this independently of each other!

              Beryllium’s presence can be traced in more than 100 minerals. However, extracting the element from them is not an easy task.

              Adding beryllium to other metals makes them stronger. When copper is mixed with small amounts of beryllium, beryllium copper is produced. This metal is six times stronger than copper taken alone.

             Beryllium appears 4th in the periodic table. Its atomic symbol is Be.

               You may have seen little thumbnail sized or even smaller battery cells used in watches and other electronic gadgets. We often wonder how such tiny things can power machines. Lithium is the element that gives them power.

               Under standard conditions lithium is the lightest metal; and therefore, this element is ideal for small batteries which must be light and compact for their use in wrist-watches, pocket calculators, toys and even cardiac pacemakers. Due to its lightness, it is also very useful in aircraft manufacture.

               The speciality of lithium does not end there. It is also a very soft metal. It is so soft that with your kitchen knife you can cut it into pieces. The element is also so low in density that if you drop it in water, it floats!

               Scientists believe that the origin of lithium can be traced back to the Big Bang. Lithium must be one of the three elements thought to have come into existence during the Big Bang.

               Lithium is abundant in sea water. However, its presence in the soil is very minimal. Lithium is represented as Li, and has the atomic number three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

                During festivals or birthday parties, you may have seen balloons that float in the air. If you release their string from your hands, they will slowly rise up in the air and disappear. What makes them float in the air?

              It is the element Helium. Helium is one of the lightest gaseous elements in the periodic table. It is also one of the least dense elements. These qualities make helium an ideal element for lifting things such as weather balloons, or party balloons.

              There is something really curious about the discovery of this element. This is the only element which was discovered in space, before its presence was found on earth! It was first detected as an unknown yellow spectral line in sunlight during a solar eclipse in 1868 by Georges Rayet, Captain C. T. Haig, Norman R. Pogson, and Lieutenant John Herschel. It was subsequently confirmed by French astronomer Jules Janssen.

               If you have gone scuba diving, helium would have certainly helped you. Helium is used in specialized ‘breathing mixtures’ of gases for deep-sea diving because it is non-toxic, and can be easily compressed. Its atomic number is two and the symbol is He.

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               You must have seen the launching of rockets on television. Rockets shoot up straight into the sky, and disappear among the clouds in no time. They are so fast. The element used for the propulsion of rockets is hydrogen.

               Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. And it is a highly flammable element. When hydrogen comes in contact with oxygen, it produces violent reactions. The explosion generates sufficient energy to propel the rocket upward and break the gravitational pull of the Earth. Besides, the reaction produces an almost invisible flame too.

               Hydrogen is a colourless gas. And it is the only element which lacks any neutrons. Let us look at some other characteristics that make this element special!

               Hydrogen is the lightest of all elements. It is even lighter than air; and therefore, in its pure form it will easily escape from Earth’s gravity into space. Hence, hydrogen present on earth exists in chemical compounds such as water. When extreme pressure is applied to it, hydrogen turns into liquid form. Its atomic number is one and the symbol is H.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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               The periodic table as we know it today is not a work of a single individual. Many brilliant men have devoted their time and energy to its design and completion.

               In 1789, Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, published a table with 33 elements known at that time. However, the breakthrough came when two distinguished scientists, Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemistry professor, and Julius Lothar Meyer, a German chemist, independently published their periodic tables in 1869 and 1870 respectively. Mendeleev’s periodic table gained more popularity than Meyer’s, and gradually, his table was recognized and widely used by the scientific community world over.

               Mendeleev’s achievement has an interesting anecdote associated with it. It is said that the idea of periodic table occurred to him in a dream! He was dreaming about a card game of Patience. Horace Groves Deming is credited for the popular layout of the periodic table we have today.

               The periodic table lists and arranges elements in the order of their atomic number. There are rows and columns in it. The vertical column in the table is known as a group, while the horizontal row is called a period. These groups are assigned numbers, and some of these groups have accepted names. For example, elements of group 17 are known as halogens; and number 18 is the group of noble gases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               Philosophers in ancient times believed that everything in the universe was composed of extremely small and indivisible units called atoms. But their idea of an atom differed from what modern scientists understand of it today. In fact, elements, the basic building blocks of matter, are composed of tiny particles called atoms.

               And what are atoms made up of, in turn? Every atom has a nucleus. It is made up of protons and neutrons and is surrounded by the electron cloud.

               Protons possess positive electrical charge and electrons carry negative electrical charge. Neutrons have no electrical charge at all. An atom is usually neutral, as the number of protons and electrons in it is equal. John Dalton, a renowned English scientist, is known for introducing atomic theory into chemistry.

               Atoms of the same element are identical. For example, all atoms in oxygen are the same. Atoms of one element can combine with atoms of another element to form new substances. Such new substances are known as chemical compounds. A compound is atoms from diverse elements combined together. Water, sugar and salt are examples.

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               Every part of the human body is made up of elements at the most basic level. So is the case with everything else in the universe.

               If we observe the construction of a building, we will see the builder placing one brick over another to raise a wall. Elements to things are like bricks to a building. They are the fundamental building blocks of matter. We know of 118 kinds of elements today.

             What makes one kind of element different from another is the number of protons in its atomic nucleus. Hydrogen has only one proton in its nucleus; whereas, oxygen has 8. These numbers are known as the atomic numbers of these elements.

               An element is known by its atomic number and a symbol. The symbol is often an abbreviation of the Latin name of the element. While the symbol of hydrogen is H, the symbol of iron is ‘Fe’. This is because iron is ‘ferrum’ in Latin. Of the 118 elements that we know today, not all elements occur naturally on Earth. Ninety-four of them are natural, while many others can be created artificially.

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