Term | Definition |
Chromium | - used to plate metal parts
- resistant to corrosion
- added to iron and nickel to make stainless steel
- found in gemstones and paint pigments |
Iron | - least expensive metal
- used in many alloys
- obtained by burning iron compounds in blast furnace
- readily corrodes
- essential part of healthy diet |
Copper | - coinage metal
- added to tin to make bronze
- soft
- reddish color
- added to zinc to make brass
- second best conductor
- used to make electrical wiring
- used to make pennies until 1982 |
Silver | - coinage metal
- very ductile and malleable
- relatively soft
- added to 7.5% copper to make sterling silver
- best conductor
- used to make jewelry, silverware, and electrical equipment
- used in photography |
Gold | - coinage metal
- very dense
- very soft
- 24 karat = pure gold
- 18 karat = 75% gold
- gold + silver = yellow gold
- gold + nickel = white gold |
Aluminum | - third most abundant element in Earth's crust
- low density
- strong when alloyed
- used as structural material
- doesn't corrode in air because of layer of aluminum oxide |
Carbon | - major component in fossil fuels
- found in all living organisms
- forms very many compounds
- diamond and graphite = pure carbon |
Silicon | - second most abundant element in Earth's crust
- silicon dioxide makes sand
- silicon + oxygen = structural material for rocks
- silica makes glass |
Tin | - coats steel to make tin cans |
Lead | - used in plumbing
- used to make batteries |
Nitrogen | - 80% of Earth's atmosphere
- used to make fertilizers and ammonia |
Phosphorus | - phosphoric acid gives soft drinks their sour taste
- used to make fertilizer and detergent |
Oxygen | - must abundant element on Earth
- 23% of air
- 89% of water
- 46% of crustal rock
- forms oxides when combined with other elements
- required for respiration and combustion
- also exists as ozone (pollutant that attacks structural material) |
Sulfur | - found in nature as brimstone
- hydrogen sulfide used to make stink bombs (rotten egg smell)
- used to detect natural gas leaks |
Fluorine | - most reactive element
- used to make plastics |
Chlorine | - used as disinfectant in drinking water and swimming pools |
Helium | - used as coolant
- commercially most important noble gas |
Argon | - used to make light bulbs |
Neon | - used to make neon lights |
Hydrogen | - combines with oxygen to make water
- most abundant element in the universe |
copper, silver, and gold | coinage metals |
lanthanide metals | readily lose 3 e- to for 3+ ions. sof, silvery metals, less reactive then earth metals, still too reactive to be used in structural materials-primary use, make special steel alloys |
actinides | all isotopes of elements are radioactive. all elements after uranium are artificial elements |
thorium/uranium | only actinides that occur to any extent in nature |
noble gases | least reactive |
diatomic | all of the halogens exist in elemental form as __________ molecules |
iron sulfide | chemical name for rust |
silica | major component of glass |
s-block | alkali metals-most reactive; alkaline earth metals- almost as reactive as alkali metals. alkaline are not as reactive because of higher melting points and densities. reactivity increases down this family |