Periodic Table Flashcards
Name the six elements most commonly recognized as metalloids
B(5)
Si(14)
Ge(32) As(33)
Sb(51) Te(52)
Cobalt Name Origins
- meaning
- brief story
- famous historical use of cobalt
- longer story
Cobalt gets its name from the German word Kobold, meaning goblin.
Cobalt ore looks a lot like silver ore but gives black soot and poisonous gas instead of silver!
Cobalt had been used for centuries to color blue the special glass we use to look at an eclipse, and to make cobalt blue pigments, a very stable medium dark blue. German miners named it Kobold ore (Goblin ore) because of all of the mischief it caused when they tried to refine it. As mentioned above, ores containing cobalt looked a lot like silver. The miners would get really excited when they saw this. But, when they refined it, instead of getting beautiful, gleaming, expensive silver after smelting the ore, they were left with a pile of black powder (cobalt oxide). Rocks containing cobalt also tend to have arsenic in them too. Smelting of poisonous arsenic, as you may imagine, has much worse side-effects than just finding black powder in the place of silver.
Cobalt is a goblin. Mischevious, but very rewarding when treated right. It turns out that the comparison of cobalt to a goblin is pretty spot on. In both German and Nordic folktales, the basic gist is that Goblins will be very good to the people that they live with as long as they are treated well. When a goblin feels that he is not treated well, his retribution is swift and stinging.
Nickel Name Origins
- meaning
- where and when
From ‘Kupfer-nickel’, copper of Old Nick.
Named after ‘Nickel’ a mischievous sprite of German mythology (similar to Old Nick).
Nickel ore looks like copper ore but gave miners no copper. In medieval Germany, a red mineral was found in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) that resembled copper ore. However, when miners were unable to extract any copper from it, they blamed the sprite ‘Nickel’ for besetting the copper and called the ore Kupfernickel from the German Kupfer for copper. This ore is now known to be nickeline (aka niccolite), a nickel arsenide.
In 1751, Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt tried to extract copper from kupfernickel at a cobalt mine in the Swedish village of Los, and instead produced a white metal that he named after the spirit that had given its name to the mineral, nickel
Aluminium Name Origins
From Alum or Alumen
The ancient Greeks and Romans used alumen (alum, potassium aluminium sulfate, K2Al6(OH)12(SO4)4) in medicine as an astringent, and as a mordant in dyeing.
Alum was exported from ancient Greece and Italy.
What element shares its name with a formation in a cave?
Tin, Sn, from Latin Stannum or Stagnum meaning dripping Stalagmites, formed on the ground by drippings
Name these ‘R’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Rh
Re
Rhodium 45
Rhenium 75
Name these ‘R’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Rn
Ra
Radon 86
Radium 88
Name these ‘R’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Ru
Rf
Ruthenium 44
Rutherfordium 104
Name these ‘R’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Rb
Ru
Rh
Re
Rn
Ra
Rf
Rubidium 37
Ruthenium 44
Rhodium 45
Rhenium 75
Radon 86
Radium 88
Rutherfordium 104
Name these ‘R’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Rb
Ru
Rh
Rubidium 37
Ruthenium 44
Rhodium 45
Name these ‘R’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Re
Rn
Ra
Rf
Rhenium 75
Radon 86
Radium 88
Rutherfordium 104
Name these ‘T’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Tm
Tl
Thulium 69
Thallium 81
Name these ‘T’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Ta
Th
Tantalum 73
Thorium 90
Name these ‘T’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Ti
Tc
Te
Tb
Titanium 22
Technetium 43
Tellurium 52
Terbium 65
Name these ‘T’ elements and their atomic numbers:
Ti
Tc
Te
Tb
Tm
Ta
Tl
Th
Titanium 22
Technetium 43
Tellurium 52
Terbium 65
Thulium 69
Tantalum 73
Thallium 81
Thorium 90
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Rb
Rubidium 37
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Ru
Ruthenium 44
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Rh
Rhodium 45
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Re
Rhenium 75
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Rn
Radon 86
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Ra
Radium 88
Name this ‘R’ element and its atomic number:
Rf
Rutherfordium 104
Name this ‘T’ element and its atomic number:
Ti
Titanium 22
Name this ‘T’ element and its atomic number:
Tc
Technetium 43
