12 Interesting Facts about Sulphur: Non Metal Atomic Element Number 16

1 Sulphur (spelled also sulfur), discovered by the Chinese around 1000AD, is the key ingredient in making gunpowder. Alchemists continued to refine the recipe as this powdery substance spread across the world, and since, gunpowder has became the most efficient form of weaponry, putting out of action the modest spear, bow and arrow.

2 Sulphur’s unsavoury properties goes further with the stinky smell of flatulence, bad breath, skunk scent, smelly feet, stink bombs and eggy volcanic gas vents. The compound hydrogen sulphide is particularly stinky when heated. Yet the much loved garlic (and onion) contains sulphur and is to blame for garlic breath.

3 This smelly gas if inhaled at above 300 particles per million in air, can be deadly, and indeed, caused over two hundred suicidal deaths in Japan in 2008 after the stricken souls created the lethal concoction from household chemicals. Entire apartments had to be evacuated.

Sulphur Crystals

4 Sulphur Facts

Atomic number: 16

Atomic weight: 32.066

State: yellow solid

Category: non-metal

Melting point: 115°C (239°F)

Boiling point:  445°C (833°F)

What is Brimstone?

5 Sulphur was known as brimstone – burning stone – in the early days due to its association with hell. Preachers were said to impart sermons of fire and brimstone to put the fear of God into parishioners. Brimstone is referred to repeatedly in the Bible, notably the raining of fire and brimstone to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

6 And yet sulphuric acid provides a life-giving ingredient in fertilizers and as a water cleansing agent for growing crops. Indeed, trace amounts is needed for biochemical actions in cells, as an antioxidant and is present in the vitamins biotin and thiamine. Sulphur compound is found in protein, including keratin, hair, feathers and skin. Burning them will produce an odorous smell. In fact, 0.25% of the body comprises sulphur.

Sulphuric Acid Facts

Sulphur Symbol

7 Due to the dangers of eating decaying meat, our noses have evolved to be extra sensitive to the smell of sulphur, as it is the smell of rotting flesh – a sensitivity of around one parts per trillion. That’s pretty sensitive because our lives depend upon our ability to steer clear of rotten meat.

8 Sulphur is added to the latex, found in rubber trees, to make durable, tough rubber for tyres. The process is known as vulcanisation and explains the unpleasant smell of burning tyres. And the man responsible for creating tough rubber? Charles Goodyear of Goodyear tyres.

9 Sulphur’s biggest use is in the production of sulphuric acid, used is in batteries, detergents, plastics, dissolving rocks to extract minerals and to make synthetic fibres. Sulphuric acid is dangerously corrosive and protective gear is needed during handling.

Hydrogen Sulphide

10 Hydrogen sulphide is more toxic than cyanide, as it can inhibit respiration. Yet incredibly, sulphuric acid – the same stuff that used in car batteries, is found in the stomach juices of sea squids.

11 Sulphur can be mined without actually mining. The Frasch process involves forcing the sulphur to the earth’s surface by forcing superheated water under high pressure into the rocks. Molten sulphur is allowed to cool in large containers.

12 Sulphur dioxide is widely used in the food industry as a preservative and antioxidant. Dried fruits and vegetables, as well as soft drinks contain minute amounts of sulphur dioxide, which has been known to trigger an asthma attack in sufferers if inhaled.

12 Interesting Facts about Phosphorus: Non Metal Atomic Element Number 15

1 Phosphorus, is found in two main types: red and white, plus two lesser-known varieties: violet (formed by burning red phosphorus) and black (by heating white phosphorus under high pressure). All have strikingly different properties, but the white phosphorus is the most dangerous of the four.

2 Hamburg in Germany was to be stung by phosphorus, three hundred years after the element was first isolated there in 1669 by alchemist Hennig Brand. In 1943 allies created one of the largest firestorms ever seen during Operation Gomorrah the dropping of burning phosphorous on the city. Over 40,000 civilians died.

How Urine Caused the Discovery of Phosphorus

3 On the subject of Hennig Brand, in his quest for the philosopher’s stone, a mythical substance believed to create gold from everyday metals, boiled large vats of urine. Once distilled, found it produced a florescent white substance. But he hadn’t created philosopher stone, but an elixir of ammonium sodium hydrogen phosphate. The phosphorus within the urine caused it to glow in the dark.

Red Phosphorus is used in
Safety Matches

4 Phosphorus Facts

Atomic number: 15

Atomic weight: 30.973762

State: black, red, white or violet solid

Category: non metal

Melting point: 44°C (111°F)

Boiling point: 536°C (280°F)

5 Contact with the air will cause phosphorus to spontaneously ignite, and for this reason, is named after the Greek word for 'light bearer' or the Morning Star, Venus.

6 The variety, red phosphorus, is used to coat the ends of safety matches to produce a flame when struck. But if swallowed in its pure form, white phosphorus will continue to burn, forming ‘smoking stools’ and diarrhoea. Little wonder potassium provides a key ingredient in napalm, a deadly incendiary device to cause huge fires. 

7 Phosphorus is also tagged ‘the devils element’ because of its toxicity. It is used in nerve gas to disrupt signals to the body’s vital organs, including the heart. If eaten, can cause death by managing the liver within hours.

Phosphorus Deficiency

Phosphorus Symbol

8 And yet, phosphates, (phosphorus bonded with oxygen atoms) are essential to life as it is needed in DNA, protoplasm and in forming a component of cells walls where it orchestrates numerous biochemical reactions. It is the sixth most abundant element in living things. The skeleton could not do without phosphorus as it is made from carbon phosphate. In fact, phosphorus accounts of almost 2lb of an adult’s body weight. Deficiency in phosphorus can cause anemia, bone pain, muscle weakness and eventually death.

9 Phosphate minerals are essential to plants. In fact, the three elements key to plant health is nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus which are added to fertilizer. Demand for synthetic phosphorous has reached record proportions due to the low levels of phosphorus in the soil from intensive agriculture.

10 Phosphate in the form of sodium tripolyphosphate (STTP) is added to water as a softener, detergent and as an anti-corrosive agent for washing machines. As it helps create suds for cleaning, was popular, but too STTP discharged in water supplies caused an overgrowth of algae in lakes, creating a swamp. For this reason, the use of STTP has been phased out.

Radioactive Phosphorus Therapy

11 Radioactive phosphorus, or phosphorus 32 is used in medical studies to locate sites of tumours or chemical changes in the body. Radioactive phosphorus therapy can be used to treat blood disorders. The bone marrow receives a dose of radiation from the isotope that inhibits the production of excess red blood cells, a condition known as polycythaemia rubra vera (or PCRV).

12 Other uses for phosphorus include the manufacture of steel, inclusion in chinaware (from bone ash), baking powder and calcium phosphate in soft drinks.

12 Interesting Facts about Silicon: Metalloid Atomic Element Number 14

1 You would not be reading this on your computer, laptop, tablet or phone if it weren’t for silicon, for this is the material from which the microchip is made. Silicon Valley is the nickname for a San Francisco Bay area which is home to a swathe of high-tech corporations that depend upon this element.

2 Silicon’s uses could not be more extreme. Silicon composite, known as flint provided the chisel from which to carve tools and weapons for early man. Several thousand years later, the base material is used to etch billions of transistors and conducting channels onto a tiny wafer of silicon to store vast amounts of information. The silicon chip.

Silicon Carbide Compound

3 Silicon Facts

Atomic number: 14

Atomic weight: 28.0855

State: bluish semi-metal

Category: metalloid

Melting point: 1,414°C (2,577 °F)

Boiling point: 3,265 °C (5,909 °F)

4 The earth’s crust’s second most abundant element is silicon (after oxygen) and is the eight most abundant element in the universe. Silicon is named after flint from where it is mostly found. The Latin name for flint is silicis.

5 Only in the later stages of a dying star is silicon produced, as oxygen is burned once all reserves of hydrogen, helium and carbon are exhausted.

6 Jöns Jakob Berzeluis, a Swedish chemist isolated silicon element for the first time in 1824 by heating potassium metal with potassium fluorosilicate.

7 Silicon dioxide is the chemical name for beach sand and the quartz crystal used in watches. Other natural compounds of silicon can be found in jasper, opal, amethyst and agate.

Common Uses of Silicon

8 Silica, soda ash and limestone compound is the substance we see through when looking out of a window: glass, or at ourselves when looking through the glass element of a mirror. Of course, these substances have to be heated to 1,700°C first.

Silicon Carbide and Silicon’s other Uses

Silicon Symbol

9 Silicone carbide’s hardness almost equals that of diamond and is used as industrial abrasives and polishing agents. But silicone’s uses can get rather mundane when one considers the heights it has achieved in the modern era. In the form of silicon dioxide, is used to make bricks, ceramics, feldspar and mica for the construction industry. Silicon is also used in the production of soaps, adhesives and bathroom sealants. Silicon tetrachloride is used by the military to produce smoke screens.

What is Asbestos and Mesothemiola?

10 And silicon can also get downright ugly, as it can take the form of a class of fibrous minerals that can emit ‘fibrils’ into the air if abraded or disturbed. This form of silicon is known as asbestos and can be found in any home built before 2000. Asbestos was useful for heat insulation, fire retardants and sound proofing, but workers inhaling silicon dust were in danger of developing silicosis, asbestosis or mesothemiola – inflammation or cancers of the lungs. Because of this, the use of asbestos has been phased out.

11 Incredibly, the very stuff used to make the microchip, glass and industrial substances provides the silicone filler for breast implants, introduced in the 1960s. This expanded to other cosmetic fillers. Much controversy now exists about the health risks if the filler leaks but silicone implants remains popular to this day.

12 Silicon is needed in trace amounts for bone health and to treat osteoporosis as it aids collagen synthesis with bone. It is also taken as a mineral supplement to improve hair, nail and skin health as well as support for the immune system.

12 Interesting Facts about Aluminium: Post Transition Metal Atomic Element Number 13

1 Aluminium (spelled also aluminium) is the most abundant metal to be found in the earth’s crust and is in fact earth’s third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon). This accounts for the fact that the average aluminium mine can produce 100,000 tonnes of aluminium a year.

2 Aluminium is rarely found in its pure state and has to be extracted from bauxite a brownish ore named after Les Baux in France where it was first discovered. The process of converting aluminium is known as the Bayer Process and is incredibly complex, requiring huge amounts of electricity for electrolytic reduction.

Aluminium in the Food Industry

3 Aluminium Facts

Atomic number: 13

Atomic weight: 26.981

State: silver-grey metal solid

Category: post-transition metal

Melting point: 660°C (1,220°F)

Boiling point: 2,513 °C (4,566 °F)

Recycling Aluminium Metal Uses

4 Aluminium is soft in its pure form but creates an extra strong alloy when combined with other metals such as zinc, copper, silicon, magnesium and manganese.

5 Recycling aluminium is extremely beneficial to the environment as this saves 95% of the amount of energy required to produce new aluminium from bauxite. A Coke can when recycled can be back on the shelves within 60 days.

6 Aluminium in theory can be recycled indefinitely over and over again, making aluminium mines a thing of the past.

7 Aluminium was so prized during the times of Emperor Napoleon III in the 1860s that he treated heads of state with fare served on aluminium. And the mere dukes had to settle for gold and silver instead.

Aluminium Oxide

Aluminium Symbol

8 When exposed to air, iron will eventually rust via oxidization. Pure aluminium also produces oxides in reaction to the air – aluminium oxide. But instead of rusting away, the oxide provides a tough transparent shell that protects the aluminium from corrosion.

9 Aluminium’s anti corrosive properties, strong alloys, exceptional lightness and good conductor of electricity means it is used in just about everything: ships, cars, trains, boats, construction, cutlery, surgical instruments, door handles, window frames, aircraft, rockets, furniture, plumbing, cables and more. Good job so much of it is present in the earth’s crust.

Who Discovered Aluminium?

10 Two hundred years ago, no one even knew aluminium existed as it was discovered in 1825 by Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oersted.

11 Aluminium is rarely found in its pure form in nature, as it is so reactive, even to the air. This is why aluminium can be found in over 270 mineral compounds.

12 Alum, an aluminium-potassium-sulfur compound was used by the Turks to produce Turkey red, a crimson dye for cloth. Alum was also sprinkled over wounds to aid healing. Today, alum is used as a blood coagulant, hair remover, antiseptic, dye and culinary agent.

12 Interesting Facts about Magnesium: Alkaline Earth Metal Atomic Element Number 12

1 Our sun could not manufacture magnesium, as its mass is too small. Only stars with over three times the mass of our sun or supernovae has sufficient heat and pressure to fuse helium and neon atoms to produce magnesium.

2 Magnesium is the fourth most abundant element of the earth’s mass after iron, oxygen and silicon. This might explain why magnesium is the third most abundant element found in seawater.

3 Humphry Davy was the first to extract a small amount of magnesium in its pure form in 1808 from magnesium oxide via a process of electrolysis (the administering of an electric current to drive a chemical reaction).

Magnesium Element

4 Magnesium Facts

Atomic number: 12

Atomic weight: 24.3050

State: solid

Category: grey-white alkaline earth metal

Melting point: 650°C (1,202°F)

Boiling point: 1,090°C (1,994°F)

What is Epsom Salts?

5 Magnesium sulphate, known also as Epsom Salts is named after Epsom Common in Southern England where in 1618, farmer Henry Wicker noticed a particular pool remained untouched by his cattle. On evaporating a water sample, extracted crystals of magnesium sulphate. This alkaline substance has since become a key ingredient in Milk of Magnesia (magnesium hydroxide), an antacid and laxative.

Health Uses of Magnesium

6 Magnesium has great healing properties and is often used to treat abrasions, cuts and wounds. Within an emollient or bath oil can help to alleviate rashes and other skin irritations.

7 Magnesium is the fourth most abundant trace element found in the body, as it is responsible for over three hundred biochemical processes and activates countless enzymes. Essential for bone formation, heart health, muscle tone and blood sugar regulation, magnesium deficiency can lead to muscle cramps, sleeping disorders, depression, lethargy and facial tics. Without magnesium, the muscles would be in a constant state of contraction. This can be remedied by a diet of nuts, soya and beans.

Magnesium Symbol

8 Chlorophyll would not exist without magnesium. It is magnesium’s metallic ion lying at its core that helps drive photosynthesis. Deficiency in this mineral can be seen when the leaves turn brown or discolored.

Magnesium Fascinating Facts

9 When added as an alloy to aluminum, magnesium creates a lightweight and strong metal for aircraft, car paneling and missiles. Being three times lighter than aluminum, magnesium alloy reduces pollution, as less fuel is needed. The metal can also be recycled.

10 Magnesium is highly flammable when powdered, granulated or shaved into fine pieces, producing a blinding white light. But when in a solid block is virtually impossible to ignite.

11 Magnesium is the flammable element used in photographic flashbulbs, flares, sparklers, fireworks and pyrotechnics.

12 Talcum powder is finely ground magnesium silicate, used in cosmetics and keeping skin fresh and dry. But talc has many other uses, namely papermaking, paint manufacture, ceramics, a food additive and for crayons.

12 Interesting Facts about Sodium: Alkali Metal Element Atomic Number 11

1 Sodium, the sixth most abundant element found in the earth’s crust, is rarely found in its pure form, but in numerous compounds. Sir Humphry Davy was the first to isolate the element in 1807.

2 Sodium in its many forms is invaluable to industries, such as caustic soda (detergents and drain cleaners), sodium chloride (de-icers), sodium hydroxide (soap making), sodium bicarbonate (raising agent for baking), sodium carbonate (commonly known as soda ash) for making glass. Sodium is also used as a coolant in nuclear reactor cores.

3 Bicarbonate of soda is believed to have the potential to save thousands of pounds on cleaning products in the home. Its neutralizing powers can eliminate odors, abrade with its grainy texture, being alkaline dissolves grime. A simple compound, yet most commercial household cleaners work in exactly the same way.

Sodium Chloride: Table Salt

4 Sodium Essential Facts

Atomic number: 11

Atomic weight: 22.989770

State: silver-white alkaline metallic solid

Category: alkali metal

Melting point: 98°C (208°F)

Boiling point: 883°C (1,621°F)

Is Sodium a Mineral or Metal?

5 Table salt actually contains a metal – a soft alkali metal in the form of sodium within sodium chloride. But salt itself is classed as an ionic salt, a crystalline mineral.

6 Salt is was valued as a taste enhancer in food that is was used like currency in the Roman times which is where the word ‘salary’ is derived, from the Latin word ‘sal, for salt. In fact, sodium’s chemical symbol Na, is from the Latin word natrium, meaning sodium.

7 The sea’s salty taste is due to sodium compounds being washed from rocks over billions of years. Sodium and chloride are two of the most common elements by weight that are dissolved in seawater.

8 Sodium is sometimes considered to be a mineral because it is found in numerous mineral compounds, namely sodalite, halite, cryolite, zeolite, borax, amphibole, soda niter and sodium chloride…table salt.

9 Being highly reactive, sodium is prone to oxidization from the air and spontaneous combustion when in contact with water. It has to be kept in oil or kerosene to retain stability.

Sodium Symbol

Health Benefits of Sodium

10 Although sodium is needed in the body and is found in table salt, is not to be eaten alone as it is highly reactive. The chloride makes the sodium available to the body as an essential electrolyte for nerve impulses, muscle contractions, fluid regulation and cell function. Sodium is given for dehydration due to overexertion, diarrhea or sunstroke.

11 But too much salt can cause water retention, high blood pressure, kidney disease and stroke. Recommended doses should remain below 0.5mg of salt per day.

12 Sodium is a staple ingredient for skin creams, hydrating and defending against free radicals that can damage skin cells through sun exposure or ageing. Sodium hydroxide is used for skin cleansing products, acne treatment or as a buffering agent to remove dead skin cells. It can also be found in some toothpastes.

12 Interesting Facts about Neon: Noble Gas Element Atomic Number 10

1 Neon is the noblest and therefore most inert and unreactive of all the noble gases, A snobby antisocial who refuses to form compounds, this fact comes as a surprise when fluorine, neon’s neighboring element with only one proton less, is the most reactive of all the elements and is hard to isolate from compounds.

2 Place concentrated neon gas into a vacuum glass and pass an electric current through it via a copper wire, and the gas will glow an orange-red plasma, no other color.

Neon Lighting

3 Neon Facts

Atomic number: 10

Atomic weight: 20.1797

State: gas

Category: noble gas

Melting point: -249°C (-415°F)

Boiling point: -246°C (-411°F)

4 Neon is the fifth most abundant element of the universe (after hydrogen, helium, oxygen and carbon) yet only trace amounts of it can be found in our atmosphere – one part per every 65,000 to be precise. This scarcity is attributed to neon’s reluctance to bond with other solids. Being two-thirds lighter than air, is easily lost to space.

About Neon Light

5 Sir William Ramsay and Morris W Travers (who also discovered krypton earlier) discovered neon in 1898 after liquefying air by cooling it and then removing nitrogen, oxygen and argon by boiling them off. By using spectroscopy (studying the light a substance emits when heated) they discovered this dazzling gas.

6 Neon is taken from the Greek word for ‘new’, as it was new at the time. However, this name would no longer be applicable as time went on and other elements were discovered.

Interesting Neon Facts

Neon Symbol

7 Only three degrees Celsius separate neon’s boiling point from its melting point, which is -249°C to -246°C. It has the narrowest liquid range of all the elements.

8 Neon is able to maintain very low temperatures for long periods and is therefore used as an effective coolant for refrigeration and cryogenics.

Neon Signs for Advertising

9 The first neon tube was created by George Claude, a French engineer in 1910. He failed to sell neon lighting for domestic use, as the reddish color was off-putting to homeowners. Little did he foresee the demand of neon signs for advertising. Las Vegas, London, New York, Paris and Blackpool have a lot to thank the invention of the neon tube to brighten up the streets.

10 The neon sign is sometimes a misnomer depending upon the color emitted, as neon itself can only produce one color: orange-red. Green, yellow and blue neon signs are not neon, but other fluorescent and noble gasses.

11 The TV era couldn’t do without neon, a gas that is injected into vacuum tubes in the pre flat screen television sets. Neon is also used in plasma tubes and helium-neon lasers, ideal for special effects and surgical procedures.

12 The earth’s crust belches neon into our atmosphere via fumaroles, vents in the earth’s crust near volcanoes and thermal springs. Because it is so rare on this planet, liquid neon is extremely expensive.

12 Interesting Facts about Fluorine: Halogen Gas Atomic Number 9

1 Fluorine is a Jekyll and Hyde element. If inhaled in its natural form to just one particle per one hundred in air, it can kill, yet in its more stable fluoride form is beneficial for teeth.

2 Fluorine is a smelly, yellowish gas, which can form compounds with just about any other element within the periodic table, including some of the noble gases. In fact, fluorine is so reactive, directing a stream of fluorine at any object will cause it to erupt into flames. This halogen is one of the most reactive, corrosive and dangerous of all the elements.

3 Many alchemists have died in the Middle Ages trying to isolate fluorine from other compounds, and were called the Fluorine Martyrs for their efforts. But French chemist Henri Moissan managed to do so in by low temperature electrolysis in 1886, earning him the Nobel Prize for chemistry.

Fluoride in Solid State

4 Fluorine Facts

Atomic number: 9

Atomic weight: 18.9984032

State: pale yellow gas

Category: halogen

Melting point: -220°C (-364°F)

Boiling point: -188°C (-307°F)

5 Fluorine is the lightest element of the halogens (a non metallic substance that produces acid when added to hydrogen). Due to fluorine’s highly corrosive effects on metals, is difficult to store.

6 Fluorocarbon in gas form puts carbon dioxide in the shade for its global warming effects. In fact, its greenhouse powers are up to 20,000 times that of the modest CO2.

7 Fluorocarbon, a compound containing fluoride was used in the form of dichlorodifluoromethane (CFCs) in fridges, air conditioning and aerosols, but were banned due to the damage it was causing the ozone layer. Even today, a fluorine-based substance called Freon is used to retain low temperatures.

Fluoride Toothpaste

Fluorine Symbol

8 Fluoride is introduced to water supplies in most cities to one part per million, after scientists noticed people living in areas with higher fluoride levels had fewer dental cavities. Of course, fluoride is added to toothpaste for the same reason. But care is needed to keep fluorine levels below 4mg per liter, as high doses can lead to skeletal fluorosis, deformities of the bones.

What is Teflon?

9 Undesirable words for any spelling test, tetrafluoroethylene – an alkene fluorocarbon discovered by Roy Plunkett in 1936, has been used to make polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), namely Teflon. This, the toughest of the fluorine compounds, is used in space flight as it is heat resistant. It is also used as a non-stick surface for cooking ware.

10 Fluorite, a type of fluoride known as ‘fluorspar’, is a calcium-fluorine compound. When added to metal ores will lower the alloy's boiling point, making smelting easier in heat furnaces.

Uranium Hexafluoride

11 Uranium hexafluoride, or hex for short, is used in the nuclear industry to distill pure uranium. Without the fluoride component, scientists could not extract the pure uranium for nuclear reactors. This makes fluoride invaluable in the nuclear industry.

What does Electronegative Mean?

12 Fluorine is the most electronegative element of the periodic table, explaining why fluorine is such as reactive substance. Of all the elements, the fluorine atom has the greatest ability to attract other electrons. Electronegativity is a measurement conceived by American chemist Linus Pauling.