For each of the following categories, you will write down the Name of the element, the symbol, the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons, one fact about it, and why you chose it.
There are more than 1 answer to many of these- the point is to get you looking at the periodic table and getting information from it.
Use http://www.ptable.com or http://periodic.lanl.gov/default.htm
Most common
Name: Hydrogen
Symbol: H
Fact: Atomic Weight: 1.00794 this makes hydrogen the lightest element. I choose it because it is the very first element of the periodic table, because hydrogen gas is extremely flammable, and because in compounds hydrogen can take a negative or a positive charge.
Most dangerous
Name: Plutonium
Symbol: Pu
Fact: A radioactive metallic element like chemically to uranium that is formed as the isotope (two or more of the same elements that contain the same number of protons but not neutrons) 239 by decay of neptunium. I choose it because it is very reactive, plutonium is highly toxic in nature and it affects the human body when inhaled, and because it is a man made chemical element.
Most interesting
Name: Fluorine
Symbol: F
Fact: Metals, glass, ceramics, carbon, and water will burn with a bright flame of fluorine.
I choose it because it is possible that fluorine can substitute for hydrogen in organic reactions, because it is used to produce many chemicals, including numerous hightemperature plastics, and because it has been known to form compounds with rare gases, including xenon, radon, and krypton.
Most boring
Name: Zinc
Symbol: Zn
Fact: It is a fair electrical conductor. Zinc burns in air at high red heat, evolving white clouds of zinc oxide. I choose this because Zinc is used to form numerous compounds,
including brass, bronze, nickel silver, soft solder, German silver, spring brass, and aluminum solder, because it is used to make die castings for use in the electrical, automotive, and hardware industries, and because if fresh zinc oxide is inhaled it can cause a disorder referred to as zinc chills or oxide shakes.
Most valuable
Name: Carbon
Symbol: C
Fact: Carbon can take the form of one of the hardest substances, which would be diamond or one of the softest, which would be graphite. I choose this because pure carbon exists in nature and has been known since early time, because pure carbon is considered non-toxic, and because it is the fourth most abundant element in the universe.
The tastiest
Name: Sodium
Symbol: Na
Fact : Sodium is an abundant element that is essential for human nutrition and important for many chemical processes. I choose this because sodium makes up about 2.6% of the
Earth's crust, because it is commonly uses for medicine, and because it is frequently use for agriculture.
The smelliest
Name: Sulfur
Symbol: S
Fact: Sulfur is a pale yellow non-metallic element occurring widely in nature. I choose it because it is used in gunpowder, fireworks, and batteries.
The strangest
Name: Xenon
Symbol: Xe
Fact: A colorless, odorless, highly unreactive gaseous element found in minute quantities in the atmosphere. I choose this because it’s a colorless, odorless, highly unreactive gaseous element found in minute quantities in the atmosphere, because xenon is classified as an element in the 'Noble Gases', and because one of the uses of xenon is photographic flashes.
The one named after the most interesting person.
Name: Einsteinium
Symbol: Es
Fact: Combining 15 neutrons with uranium-238 produced Einsteinium. I choose this because now it is usually produced in a laboratory by irradiating plutonium and other elements, because it’s man-made, and because it’s named after Einstein.
Your call- you pick an element that you like for any reason
Name: Radium
Symbol: Ra
Fact: Found in USA, Canada, New Mexico, Australia and Africa. I choose this because it is frequently used to treat cancer, because Radium was isolated into its pure metal, and because it’s a rare, brilliant white, luminescent, highly radioactive metallic element found in very small amounts in uranium ores.