What's your favourite element of the periodic table(if you have one)?

[goldenpeach]

Hi!

Like the tittle say,this thread is to post your favourite element of the periodic table.

To start:

Mine is the Iridium,it's found only on a thin layer around the word which make scientist think that it has been brought by an asteroid(which would explain why there is only a layer around the earth).

Also,it's the densest know element of the periodic table(at the time of writing):1 cubic centimetre weight 22.65 grammes.

[xub313]

Hah! Mine's the opposite, aluminium, it's everywhere and has a very low density.

[astropapi1]

Hydrogen? I like it for no particular reason.

[dharak1]

I thought osmium was the most dense stable element? I like Lithium the most.

[WestAir]

Iron.

The most stable element in the Universe, baby!

[Holo]

Tungsten, it's like the most indestructible element.

[TicTacToe!]

Indium.

I have long forgotten why, I think I looked at it first and thought: "Yeah, sounds cool." Nobody ever seems to have heard of it.

[Nachtwind]

Silicium

Important for age dating methods and pretty abundant.

BTW: Iridium is not only found on a thin layer arround the world, that thin layer shows an unusual amount of Iridium (and chrome..) (i suppose you mean the KT-boundary. But thats an urban myth that iridium is _only_ found there.) Its a trace element found pretty much everywhere in the crust (with less than 1ppb though).

[Titan Space Agency]

Hmmmmm this is a tough one foir me, I might say niobium becuase it is used in rocket engines, or I might say carbon,hhmmmmmmm, I SAY ALL OF THEM ARE MY FAVORITE!!!! By the way goldenpeach and dharak1 osmium is the densest elament, golden your density mesurement is wrong iridium's density is 22.56 g/cm cubed and osmium's is 22.59 g/cm cubed. Osmium beats iridium by less than a thenth of a percent.

[czokletmuss]

Oxygen. It's just good to have it around

[Monkeh]

Carbon.

Bucky balls and graphine just too stronk!

[ReptilianGameplays]

Xenon.

'Cause space 'n stuff.

[EvilotionCR2]

Thalium,for no reason.

[nuclearpower13]

Cobalt. Its used to make super alloys for the construction of air craft, and jet turbines. Probaly wouldnt be a bad material to use for a interplantary spacecraft.

[lajoswinkler]

I really really like oxygen cause you know, for breathing and stuff... But that's kind of like saying Earth is you favorite planet. Of course it is but yeah.

Are we talking about the properties of the elemental matter or applications of the chemical element?

If the properties are more important, then consider that the vast majority of the elements are silvery-looking metals with variable hardness and reactivity. Most of them look really the same and quite boring. Then I'd have to say phosphorus? It might be the primitive part of my brain talking, but I like glowing stuff.

[SuperFastJellyfish]

I'd have to pick mercury. Liquid metal at room temperature? Pretty cool stuff.

[Nuke]

ununoctium of course!

[Drunken Hobo]

Gallium, because it's a liquid at body temperature (but isn't toxic - screw you, mercury). Either that or technetium, for being radioactive before it was cool. I think it's also the first synthetic element & has some interesting nuclear properties.

[WestAir]

Fun Fact:

Helium is the only known element that will NEVER turn into a solid, even at 0 Kelvin. The densest you can make it at atmospheric pressures, even at 0 kelvin, is a liquid.

[Scotius]

Titanium for me. It's just so useful in so many things, strong and corrosion-resistant. What's not to like?

[Kerbin Dallas Multipass]

Darmstadtium.

Because of the silly name.

Funfact: First they wanted to call it Wixhausium (Wix sounds like the german verb for masturbating)

[Titan Space Agency]

Fun Fact:

Helium is the only known element that will NEVER turn into a solid, even at 0 Kelvin. The densest you can make it at atmospheric pressures, even at 0 kelvin, is a liquid.

WRONG: I have emailed a chemist about solid helium and he said it is solid at 1 degree kelvin. NOTHING is not a solid at 0 degrees kelvin.

[SuperFastJellyfish]

WRONG: I have emailed a chemist about solid helium and he said it is solid at 1 degree kelvin. NOTHING is not a solid at 0 degrees kelvin.

He said at atmospheric pressure.

From the helium wiki - "Unlike any other element, helium will remain liquid down to absolute zero at normal pressures. This is a direct effect of quantum mechanics: specifically, the zero point energy of the system is too high to allow freezing. Solid helium requires a temperature of 1–1.5 K (about −272 °C or −457 °F) and about 25 bar (2.5 MPa) of pressure."

[lajoswinkler]

No, helium really doesn't have a solid phase under normal pressures. The energy contained at its zero point state (lowest possible energy of a system, can't flow around or be extracted because it's the lowest) is sufficient to keep it liquid.

You need to pressurize the container to at least 25 atmospheres and cool it down close to 1 kelvin to solidify it.

[Alavarien-46]

Molybdenum, because it's the 42th element.

Otherwise I kinda like lithium, for no particular reason.