Chemistry Guides
Explore the periodic table through fascinating stories, element facts, and chemistry insights.
Most Abundant Elements in Earth's Crust
See which elements make up Earth's crust, why oxygen and silicon dominate, and why abundant metals are usually locked inside minerals.
→Chemical Elements in Homer's Odyssey
Explore the chemical elements that appear in Homer's Odyssey, from sulfur fumigation to bronze weapons and the gold of the gods.
→Elements Named After Countries and Places
Explore which chemical elements take their names from countries, cities, continents, and other geographic locations.
→Elements Named After People: Scientists and Other Namesakes
Meet the scientists and other people behind 16 element names, including direct honors and names inherited through minerals or a laboratory.
→Radioactive Elements: Half-Lives, Activity, and Uses
Compare radioactive isotopes by half-life and activity, from naturally occurring radon and radium to synthetic superheavy elements.
→The Heaviest and Lightest Elements
Compare the extremes of the periodic table: from hydrogen at 1.008 u to oganesson at 294 u, and the densest to least dense elements.
→Elements in the Human Body
Discover the elements found in the human body, from the four that account for about 96% of body mass to essential and beneficial trace elements.
→Noble Gases: Properties and Uses
Learn about the noble gases, Group 18 elements with full outer electron shells, from helium's unique properties to xenon's surprising compounds.
→Colors of the Elements: Flame Tests and Color-Named Elements
A guide to color in chemistry: the flame test colors used to identify metal ions, the emission-spectra science behind them, and the elements named after colors, from chlorine and chromium to the spectral-line names cesium, rubidium, and thallium.
→Elements Named After Mythology
Explore the chemical elements named after Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, from Titanium to Plutonium and Mercury.
→Chemical Reactions in Everyday Life
Discover the chemistry behind cooking, rusting, breathing, and other reactions that happen all around us every day.
→Elements Named After Planets
Which chemical elements are named after planets? Uranium, Neptunium, and Plutonium follow the outer planets, plus Mercury, Tellurium (Earth), and the asteroid-named Cerium and Palladium.
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