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Chemistry
Reactions & Everyday Chemistry
What happens when substances meet, and why.
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What is the chemical formula for water?
The Elements Up Close
The periodic table is easier to remember once each element has a story attached to it. These ten all have one.
About this topic
Chemical symbols look arbitrary until you know where they came from. Several are shortened Latin names that survived when the English ones changed, which is why potassium is K and tungsten is W. Others record where an element was found, what colour it burned, or which Greek word the discoverer reached for. This quiz picks ten elements that stand out for a specific reason: the only metal that is liquid on a warm day, the one that melts at a higher temperature than any other, the one spotted in sunlight decades before anyone found it on Earth. None of them need a formula to appreciate.
Questions & answers
The Elements Up Close: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1Which element does the symbol K stand for?
- A Krypton
- B Calcium
- C Phosphorus
- D Potassium Correct
Answer: D. Potassium
Why: The symbol comes from kalium, the Latin name derived from the Arabic word for potash. Potassium metal is soft enough to cut with a knife and reacts so readily with air that it is kept under oil.
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2Which metal is liquid at ordinary room temperature?
- A Caesium
- B Rubidium
- C Mercury Correct
- D Gallium
Answer: C. Mercury
Why: Mercury melts at about minus 39 degrees Celsius, so it stays liquid across the whole normal range of temperatures. Gallium comes close at around 30 degrees, which is why a lump of it melts if you hold it in your hand.
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3Which metal has the highest melting point?
- A Osmium
- B Tungsten Correct
- C Titanium
- D Platinum
Answer: B. Tungsten
Why: Tungsten melts at roughly 3,400 degrees Celsius, which is why it was the standard filament in incandescent bulbs. Its symbol, W, comes from wolfram, the old German name for the ore it was pulled out of.
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4Which element takes its name from the Greek word for "hidden"?
- A Krypton Correct
- B Xenon
- C Argon
- D Neon
Answer: A. Krypton
Why: Krypton was found in 1898 in the residue left after liquefied air had boiled away, and the name records how well it had stayed out of sight. Its neighbours were named on the same principle: xenon means stranger, neon means new.
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5The Swedish village of Ytterby has given its name to how many chemical elements?
- A One
- B Two
- C Seven
- D Four Correct
Answer: D. Four
Why: Yttrium, ytterbium, terbium and erbium are all named after the same small quarry village near Stockholm. The mineral dug out there turned out to contain a whole cluster of rare earth elements that took chemists over a century to separate.
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6Which metal conducts electricity best?
- A Gold
- B Aluminium
- C Silver Correct
- D Copper
Answer: C. Silver
Why: Silver is the best electrical conductor of any element, with copper a close second. Wiring is made of copper anyway, because the small gain in conductivity is nowhere near worth the price difference.
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7Which element is added to steel to make it stainless?
- A Manganese
- B Chromium Correct
- C Nickel
- D Zinc
Answer: B. Chromium
Why: Steel needs at least about 10.5 percent chromium to count as stainless. The chromium forms an invisible oxide film on the surface that re-forms by itself whenever the metal is scratched.
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8What does an element's atomic number tell you?
- A The number of protons in its nucleus Correct
- B The number of neutrons in its nucleus
- C The combined number of protons and neutrons
- D The number of electron shells it has
Answer: A. The number of protons in its nucleus
Why: The proton count is what defines an element: change it and you have a different element entirely. Change the neutron count instead and you get an isotope, which behaves the same chemically but weighs a little more.
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9Which element was detected in the Sun before anyone found it on Earth?
- A Neon
- B Argon
- C Hydrogen
- D Helium Correct
Answer: D. Helium
Why: An unexplained yellow line appeared in the spectrum of sunlight during an eclipse in 1868, and the element behind it was named after Helios. It took another 27 years before helium was identified in a mineral sample on Earth.
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10Which is the heaviest element found on Earth in more than trace amounts?
- A Plutonium
- B Lead
- C Uranium Correct
- D Thorium
Answer: C. Uranium
Why: Uranium, element 92, is the heaviest that occurs naturally in usable quantities. Tiny amounts of heavier elements do form in uranium ores, but they exist in quantities measured in fractions of a gram.
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