Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the ElementsJohn Emsley's Nature's Building Bocks was published in paperback in 2003. In this readable, informative, and fascinating guide to the elements are entries on each of the 100-odd chemical elements, arranged alphabetically from actinium to zirconium. Each entry comprises an explanation of where the element's name comes from, followed by Body element (the role it plays in living things), Element of history (how and when it was discovered), Economic element (what it is used for), Environmental element (where it occurs, how much), Chemical element (facts, figures, and narrative), and Element of surprise (an amazing, little-known fact). Since publication of the first edition there have been a number of developments. Three new chemical elements have been named and validated: darmstadtium, roetgenium, and copernicium and the section on 'transfermium elements' has now been incorporated into the main part of the book. Economic uses of elements have grown, and some quite rare elements such as Scandium are now economically important, along with updates to elements such as gold due to new roles in industry. Fully revised and updated for 2010, this browsable compendium holds a wealth of useful information. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The elements AZ | 19 |
The Periodic Table | 634 |
The discovery of the elements in chronological order | 652 |
657 | |
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Common terms and phrases
absorbed abundant element acid alloy aluminium antimony argon arsenic atomic number atomic weight barium boiling point cadmium caesium calcium carbon cerium Chemical element Chemical element Data chemist chloride colour compounds contain copper Data file chemical decay density oxide discovered dysprosium Economic element electrons element Data file Element of history Element of surprises environment earth’s crust Environmental element erbium Essential element europium extracted file chemical symbol fluoride gold hafnium half-life heating helium holmium hydrogen iodine iron isotopes known isomers known isotopes lanthanoid lanthanum lead levels lithium lutetium magnesium manganese mass numbers melting point mercury metal million tonnes mineral molecules naturally occurring neutrons nickel nitrogen oxide oxygen percent periodic table phosphate phosphorus plants platinum plutonium potassium produced rare earth salts samarium selenium silicon silver sodium soils seawater atmosphere sulfide sulfur temperature thallium thorium titanium tonnes toxic tungsten uranium ytterbium yttrium zinc zirconium