Records of the Chemical Elements
Those are the elements with the most extreme properties. Only stable isotopes and such with extremely long half-lifes are accounted, because for many of the radioactive elements some of the properties aren't known.
Most abundant (Earth): | Oxygen | about 30 % of the mass |
Most abundant (universe): | Hydrogen | about 75 % of the mass of baryonic matter |
Rarest (Earth): | Xenon | about 0.00000009 % of the mass |
Rarest (universe): | Tantalum | about 0.00000002 % of the mass of baryonic matter |
Discovered first: | Sulfur | Prehistoric, sulfur occurs visibly on Earth's surface. |
Discovered last: | Rhenium | 1925 |
Lightest: | Hydrogen | 0.0899 kg/m³ at 0 °C |
Lightest solid: | Lithium | 534 kg/m³ at 0 °C |
Heaviest (densest): | Osmium | 22590 kg/m³ at 0 °C |
Lowest melting point: | Helium | -272.2 °C (0.95 K) at 2,5 MPa |
Lowest boiling point: | Helium | -269 °C (4.22 K) |
Highest melting point: | Carbon (diamond) | 3547 °C at 1013 hPa |
Highest boiling point: | Rhenium | 5596 °C at 1013 hPa |
Smallest atom: | Hydrogen | 50 picometers |
Largest atom: | Caesium | 520 picometers |
Most reactive: | Fluorine | Compounds known with all elements except He and Ne. |
Most noble: | Neon | No compounds known. |
Most noble metal: | Iridium | Stable in aqua regia. |
Brightest color: | Silver | Metallic white |
Darkest color: | Boron | Black |
Most ductile: | Gold | Minimal thickness by straining 0.00000003 meters (100 atom layers). |
Hardest: | Carbon (diamond) | Mohs hardness 10 |
Highest tensile strength: | Boron | 5,7 GPa |
Chemically most versatile: | Carbon | Basis of organic chemistry, can form long chains. |
Most compounds: | Hydrogen | Involved in nearly every organic and many inorganic compounds. |
Highest possible oxidation number: | Ruthenium, Osmium | 8, in RuO4 and OsO4 |
Lowest electronegativity: | Caesium | 0.86 |
Highest electronegativity: | Fluorine | 4.17 |
Most stable isotopes: | Tin | 10 (112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 124) |
Most allotropes: | Sulfur | ~ 30 |
Most intricate extraction of a pure element: | Lutetium | As its first extraction in 1905, 15000 crystallisations in series were needed. |
Most expensive: | Rhodium | Rhodium is the rarest metal on Earth and has many industrial applications. In 2008 the price for one gram was about 200 € (300 $). |
Most toxic in pure form: | Beryllium | Tiny amounts of inhalated beryllium dust damage the lung irreparably (berylliosis). |
Strongest bond between two atoms of the same kind: | Nitrogen | N2 needs 942 kJ/mol to be separated to 2 N |
Highest magnetic moment: | Holmium | 10.6 μB |
Highest Curie temperature: | Cobalt | Loses its ferromagneticity at 1121 °C |
Best electric conductivity at 20 °C: | Silver | 61.35 * 106 A/(V*m) |
Best thermal conductivity: | Silver | 429 W/(m*K) |
Worst thermal conductivity: | Xenon | 0.00569 W/(m*K) |
Highest first ionization energy: | Helium | 23.72 eV |
Lowest first ionization energy: | Caesium | 3.76 eV |
Most versatile catalysator: | Platinum | Platinum binds oxygen, hydrogen and some other gases and so increases their reactivity. |
Special isotopes | ||
Highest binding energy per nuclear particle: | Nickel 62 | 8.7945 MeV |
Lowest mass per nuclear particle: | Iron 56 | 0.9988 u |
Highest difference in binding energy of two neighboring stable isotopes: | Helium 3 and 4 | 2.6 respectively 7.0 MeV |
Lowest binding energy per nuclear particle: | Protium (1H) | 0 MeV, because it has only one nuclear particle. |
Lowest binding energy per nuclear particle, if more than one are present: | Deuterium (2H) | 1.1 MeV |
Reference isotope for atomic masses: | Carbon 12 | Atomic mass unit u = 1/12 of the mass of 12C |
Rarest natural isotope: | Tantalum 180m | 0.012 % of all natural tantalum is the very weak radioactive 180mTa, the only natural occuring nuclear isomer. |
Most abundant isotope (Earth): | Oxygen 16 | 99.76 % of the natural oxygen is 16O |
Most stable radioactive isotope: | Tellurium 128 | Measured half-life 7.2 * 1024 years |
Last stable isotope: | Lead 208 | Bismuth 209 is very weak radioactive, all beyond is weak to strong radioactive. |
Last stable isotope with odd neutron and proton number: | Nitrogen 14 | 7 of each. Only very few of these isotopes are stable, some few larger ones are very long-lived. |
Last stable isotope with the same neutron and proton number: | Calcium 40 | 20 of each. Beyond this, the number of neutrons is larger than the number of protons. |
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Page last changed on March 05. 2016
Hydrogen, Deuterium, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Chlorine, Argon, Potassium, Calcium, Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Gallium, Germanium, Arsenic, Selenium, Bromine, Krypton, Rubidium, Strontium, Yttrium, Zirconium, Niobium, Molybdenum, Technetium, Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Silver, Cadmium, Indium, Tin, Antimony, Tellurium, Iodine, Xenon, Caesium, Barium, Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, Hafnium, Tantalum, Tungsten, Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum, Gold, Mercury, Thallium, Lead, Bismuth, Polonium, Astatine, Radon, Francium, Radium, Actinium, Thorium, Protactinium, Uranium, Neptunium, Plutonium, Americium, Curium, Berkelium, Californium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Lawrencium, Rutherfordium || Lanthanoids, Actinoids || Home, All, Mosaic, Concentration game, Knowledge, Properties, Records, Archives, Islands of stability, Glowing gases
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