Solid
105 elements
Lithium
The lightest metal and least dense solid element. Crucial for rechargeable batte...
Beryllium
Extremely lightweight but very stiff. Used in the James Webb Space Telescopes mi...
Boron
Essential for plant growth and used in fiberglass. Boron nitride is harder than ...
Carbon
The basis of all known life. Forms more compounds than any other element, over 1...
Sodium
Highly reactive metal that explodes in water. Combined with chlorine it forms ta...
Magnesium
The eighth most abundant element in Earths crust. Burns with an intensely bright...
Aluminum
The most abundant metal in Earths crust. Was once more valuable than gold. Napol...
Silicon
The second most abundant element in Earths crust after oxygen. The foundation of...
Phosphorus
Discovered by a German alchemist searching for the philosophers stone, made from...
Sulfur
Known since antiquity as brimstone. The tenth most abundant element in the unive...
Potassium
Essential for heart function, muscle contraction, and nerve signals. Reacts viol...
Calcium
The fifth most abundant element in Earths crust. Forms the mineral portion of bo...
Scandium
Named after Scandinavia where it was discovered. Used in aerospace alloys with a...
Titanium
As strong as steel but 45% lighter. Highly resistant to corrosion, even against ...
Vanadium
Used to make steel alloys stronger and lighter. Vanadium redox flow batteries st...
Chromium
Gives stainless steel its corrosion resistance and rubies their red color. Chrom...
Manganese
Essential trace element for bone formation and metabolism. Used in steel product...
Iron
The most used metal on Earth and the core material of civilization. Makes up 35%...
Cobalt
Named after kobold, a German goblin blamed for poisoning miners. Essential for v...
Nickel
Makes stainless steel stainless along with chromium. Used in coins worldwide sin...
Copper
The first metal widely used by humans, beginning around 8000 BC. Excellent condu...
Zinc
Essential for immune function and over 100 enzyme reactions. Galvanized steel is...
Gallium
Melts at just 29.8C, it will melt in your hand. Used in semiconductors as galliu...
Germanium
A semiconductor used in early transistors before silicon became dominant. Still ...
Arsenic
Famous as a historical poison. Arsenic trioxide was called inheritance powder. C...
Selenium
Essential trace element important for thyroid function and antioxidant defense. ...
Rubidium
Discovered by its dark red spectral lines, the name means dark red. Extremely re...
Strontium
Named after the Scottish village of Strontian where it was discovered. Strontium...
Yttrium
Named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, the source of four element names. Us...
Zirconium
Highly resistant to corrosion and used in nuclear reactor fuel rods. Cubic zirco...
Niobium
Named after Niobe, daughter of Tantalus in Greek mythology. Superconducting at 9...
Molybdenum
Essential trace element involved in several important enzymes. Has the highest m...
Technetium
The first artificially produced element. All isotopes are radioactive, none are ...
Ruthenium
Named after Ruthenia, the Latin name for Russia. Used to make platinum harder fo...
Rhodium
The most expensive precious metal, often 10 times the price of gold. Used in cat...
Palladium
Named after the asteroid Pallas, discovered around the same time. Crucial for ca...
Silver
The best conductor of electricity and heat of all metals. Has the highest optica...
Cadmium
Highly toxic and a known carcinogen. Used in rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteri...
Indium
Named for its indigo blue spectral line. Indium tin oxide is the transparent con...
Tin
Used since the Bronze Age to make bronze with copper. Tin cans were invented in ...
Antimony
Used in ancient Egypt as kohl eye makeup. Flame retardant in plastics and textil...
Tellurium
Named after Tellus, the Latin word for Earth. One of the rarest elements in Eart...
Iodine
Essential for thyroid hormone production. Iodine deficiency causes goiter and is...
Cesium
The international definition of a second is based on the cesium-133 atom. Most r...
Barium
Barium sulfate is used in barium meals to image the digestive tract. Barium comp...
Lanthanum
The first of the lanthanide series. Used in camera and telescope lenses for high...
Cerium
The most abundant rare earth element. Used in catalytic converters to reduce emi...
Praseodymium
Used in magnets for hybrid car motors and wind turbine generators. Praseodymium ...
Neodymium
Neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent magnets ever made. Essential for w...
Gadolinium
Used as MRI contrast agent to highlight blood vessels and tumors. Has the highes...
Tungsten
Has the highest melting point of all elements at 3,422C. Used in incandescent li...
Platinum
One of the rarest and most valuable precious metals. Used in catalytic converter...
Gold
The most malleable metal. One ounce can be beaten into a sheet covering 28 squar...
Lead
One of the earliest metals smelted by humans. Dense, soft, and easy to work with...
Uranium
The heaviest naturally abundant element. Named after the planet Uranus. Enriched...
Plutonium
Named after the dwarf planet Pluto, following the uranium-neptunium-plutonium se...
Promethium
The only radioactive lanthanide with no stable isotopes. Barely half a kilogram ...
Samarium
Named after Vasily Samarsky-Bykhovets, the first element named for a person. Sam...
Europium
Named after Europe, just as americium would later honor the Americas. The most r...
Terbium
One of four elements named after Ytterby, a single quarry village in Sweden. Ter...
Dysprosium
From the Greek dysprositos, meaning hard to get at, because it took decades to i...
Holmium
Has the highest magnetic strength of any element, so it concentrates magnetic fi...
Erbium
Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers boost the light signals in the undersea cables tha...
Thulium
The rarest of the stable rare earths, named after Thule, the mythical farthest n...
Ytterbium
The fourth and final element named after the Swedish village of Ytterby. Ytterbi...
Lutetium
The last and hardest lanthanide, named after Lutetia, the Roman name for Paris, ...
Hafnium
Named after Hafnia, the Latin name of Copenhagen, and found exactly where Bohrs ...
Tantalum
Named after Tantalus of Greek myth, punished with water he could never drink, be...
Rhenium
The last stable element ever discovered, named after the Rhine river. Rhenium ke...
Osmium
The densest naturally occurring element, twice as dense as lead. Osmium tetroxid...
Iridium
The most corrosion resistant metal known: no acid attacks it. A thin worldwide l...
Thallium
Discovered by its bright green spectral line, from the Greek thallos, a green sh...
Bismuth
The active half of Pepto-Bismol, soothing stomachs as bismuth subsalicylate. Unu...
Polonium
Marie Curies first discovery, named after her homeland Poland, and the first ele...
Astatine
The rarest naturally occurring element on Earth. At any moment the entire planet...
Francium
The most unstable of the first 101 elements: no francium atom survives longer th...
Radium
The celebrated discovery of Marie and Pierre Curie, from tons of uranium ore, na...
Actinium
Glows an eerie pale blue in the dark as its radiation excites the surrounding ai...
Thorium
Named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Thorium oxide glowed white in gas la...
Protactinium
The name means parent of actinium, which it becomes through radioactive decay. O...
Neptunium
The first element beyond uranium ever created, named for the next planet out, fo...
Americium
Sits in nearly every home, invisibly: a speck of americium-241 in a smoke detect...
Curium
Named for Pierre and Marie Curie, honoring the study of radioactivity. So intens...
Berkelium
Named for Berkeley, California, home of the cyclotron that made it. Produced by ...
Californium
Named for California and the university that created it. One of the few elements...
Einsteinium
Discovered in the radioactive debris of the first hydrogen bomb test and named a...
Fermium
Also born in the Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb fireball of 1952, and named after Enrico...
Mendelevium
Named after Dmitri Mendeleev, creator of the periodic table, which predicted ele...
Nobelium
Named after Alfred Nobel, but the credit fight was messy: teams in Stockholm, Du...
Lawrencium
Named after Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, and the last of the acti...
Rutherfordium
First of the transactinides, named after Ernest Rutherford. Its discovery opened...
Dubnium
Named for Dubna, the Russian science city whose team co-discovered it, settling ...
Seaborgium
Named after Glenn Seaborg while he was still alive, breaking the tradition of po...
Bohrium
Named after Niels Bohr, architect of the atomic model. First made in Darmstadt, ...
Hassium
Named after Hassia, the Latin name for Hesse, the German state home of the Darms...
Meitnerium
Named after Lise Meitner, the physicist who explained nuclear fission and was fa...
Darmstadtium
Named after Darmstadt, Germany, the city whose GSI laboratory created it by smas...
Roentgenium
Named after Wilhelm Roentgen, discoverer of X-rays. Made in Darmstadt by fusing ...
Copernicium
Named after Nicolaus Copernicus, who moved Earth from the center of the universe...
Nihonium
The first element ever discovered in Asia, named after Nihon, Japan. Created in ...
Flerovium
Named for Georgy Flerov, founder of the Dubna laboratory that made it, jointly c...
Moscovium
Named for the Moscow region, home of the Dubna team that created it with America...
Livermorium
Named for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which partnered with Dubna...
Tennessine
Named after Tennessee, honoring the Oak Ridge and Vanderbilt scientists who help...
Oganesson
The heaviest element ever created, named after Yuri Oganessian, only the second ...