Wikijunior:The Elements/Elements

This page has a list of all of the elements. You might also want to check out the Periodic Table page for more info.

Well-known Elements edit

There's a good chance you've heard of these.

Well-known Metals edit

Well-known Non-metals edit

All Elements edit

Metals edit

Alkali Metals edit

These are silver-colored, soft, low-density metals that are highly chemically reactive. They are never found in pure form in nature, tarnish easily, and have low melting points and densities. They react readily with the halogens and with water.

Alkaline Earth Metals edit

These are silver colored, soft, low-density metals that react with the halogens (but not as readily as the alkali metals do), and with water (except Beryllium).

Rare Earth Metals edit

The more modern name for these is "inner transition metals". They are highly chemically reactive metals. They catch fire in air very easily, and react with water (which liberates hydrogen from the water). They have higher melting and boiling points than the alkaline earth metals. On the periodic table, these elements are usually kept separate and put right at the bottom, in two rows. This is because the periodic table world be too long, and it wouldn't be able to fit on a piece of paper, if they were put into their proper places.

Transition Metals edit

These are the metals in the middle of the periodic table. Some people exclude zinc, cadmium, and mercury from being transition metals (those are the three in the rightmost column of this part of the table), because the rest of the transition metals have more chemical properties in common with each other than they do with those three. Still, the transition metals have less in common than most other groups of elements in the table do.

Other Metals edit

Metalloids edit

These have properties of both metals and non-metals.

Non-metals edit

Noble Gases edit

At ordinary temperatures and pressures, these are all odorless, colorless gases that are relatively difficult to involve in chemical reactions.

Halogens edit

The halogens are highly chemically reactive, so that in sufficient quantities they can be harmful or lethal to living things. Several of them are used as disinfectants.

Other Non-metals edit

Newly discovered elements edit

Some elements were discovered recently, or are too radioactive for scientists to know which type of element they are. Because of this, their place in the periodic table is only temporary and might change if scientists learn more about them.