Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Palladium

Palladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas. Palladium,platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form...

Rhodium

Rhodium is a chemical element that is a rare, silvery-white, hard, and chemically inert transition metal and a member of the platinum group. It has the chemical symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is composed of only one naturally-occurring isotope, 103Rh. Naturally occurring rhodium is usually found as the free metal, alloyed with similar metals, and rarely as a chemical compound...

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Ruthenium

Ruthenium is a chemical element with symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of the platinum group, ruthenium is inert to most chemicals. The Baltic German scientist Karl Ernst Claus discovered the element in 1844 and named it after Ruthenia, the Latin word for Rus'....

Technetium

Technetium is the chemical element with atomic number 43 and symbol Tc. It is the lowest atomic number element without any stable isotopes; every form of it is radioactive. Nearly all technetium is produced synthetically, and only minute amounts are found in nature. Naturally occurring technetium occurs as a spontaneous fission product in uranium ore or by neutron capture in molybdenum ores....

Molybdenum

Molybdenum is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek Μόλυβδοςmolybdos, meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals have been known into prehistory, but the element was discovered (in the sense of differentiating it as a new entity from the mineral salts of other...

Friday, June 14, 2013

Niobium

Niobium, formerly columbium, is a chemical element with the symbol "Nb" (formerly Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a soft, grey, ductile transition metal, which is often found in the pyrochlore mineral, the main commercial source for niobium, and columbite. The name comes from Greek mythology: Niobe, daughter of Tantalus. Niobium has physical and chemical properties...

Zirconium

Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol "Zr", atomic number 40 and atomic mass of 91.224. The name of zirconium is taken from the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. It is a lustrous, grey-white, strong transition metal that resembles titanium. Zirconium is mainly used as a refractory and spacifier, although it is used in small amounts as an alloying agent...

Friday, May 31, 2013

Yttrium

Yttrium is a chemical element with symbol "Y" and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and it has often been classified as a "rare earth element". Yttrium is almost always found combined with the lanthanides in rare earth minerals and is never found in nature as a free element. Its only stable isotope, 89Y, is...

Strontium

Strontium is a chemical element with symbol "Sr" and atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. Strontium has physical and chemical properties similar to its two neighbors calcium and barium. It occurs naturally in the minerals celestine and strontianite....