Your Top 5 Elements from the Periodic Table of Elements?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay, let me head the obvious off at the pass, no need to vote for Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, those are givens :wink:

So, what are your Favorite 5 from the PToE? (Bonus if you actually possess them)

My top 5, in no particular order;

5; Mercury - liquid metal at room temperature, highly electrically conductive, just wish it wasn’t so toxic, I have a small vial of the stuff, and I’d love to play with it, but that whole absorbed through skin thing is a turn off…

4; Lead - I’m a recreational/target shooter, good old Pb is a given, I have a lot of fun with this element…

3; Uranium - I collect Vaseline Glass items, and Uranium Oxide is what gives them that cool green color and a bright green fluorescence under UV illumination, as long as you don’t eat food off it, or ingest the glass itself, VG is safe, yes it’s slightly radioactive, but it’s an Alpha emitter and most of the Alpha can’t even get out of the glass anyway

2; Helium - okay, I admit it, the kid in me has never gotten tired of the whole lighter than air thing, and making voices squeaky never gets old…

1; Silicon - how would I be posting this without our good friend, Silicon?

So, what’s your Fave Five?

2

Osmium - the densest element. I’d love to have a cube of it (if it didn’t release toxins just by sitting there).
Radon - a radioactive gas. What’s not to like?
Polonium - A strong alpha emitter, it’s probably the most toxic substance on earth.
Tungsten - Hard and refractory, it’s my namesake.
Gold - who doesn’t like Gold?

3

Iridium, Palladium, Platinum, Zero and Surprise.

4

Oxygen, because I like to breathe.

Neon, because it’s pretty when excited.

And thorium and thulium and thallium, because the Elements Song wouldn’t be as cool without them.

5

Interactive PeriodicTable.

I don’t have a top 5 but Gallium is cool for the way it melts in your hand.

6

Fluorine! It’s a killa!

Chromium, for auto bumpers and towing hitches.

Hydrogen, for making cool fireballs in mid-air. (Hydrogen soap-bubbles and a spark-igniter. whee!)

Carbon, for organic chemistry and the incredible number of molecules it can combine into. Polymers: nifty!

Sodium: dangerous, but fun to play with if you’re mighty careful. Also, table salt: yum.

7

I’m a big fan of oxygen.

8

I have had a bit of a warm spot for gadolinium since I was injected with it for a MRI scan.

9

There’s sulphur, californium and fermium, berkelium
And also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper,
Tungsten, tin and sodium.

Oops, got carried away.

10
  1. Silicon. Im a total gadget geek
  2. Tungsten. It makes the best darts
  3. Hydrogen. Can’t have lakes without it.
  4. Iron. If everything I owned made of steel was gone I’d be screwed.
  5. Copper. I happen to like having electricity.
11

I’m a sucker for density, so I’ll go with osmium, iridium, platinum, gold, and tungsten.

The only one I actually have a significant quantity of is tungsten. I have a 50x50 mm cylinder on my dresser. It’s almost 4 lbs. It makes you feel like something is wrong with gravity and momentum.

12

Tungsten. I need tungsten to live. Tungsten!
Gallium. Solid at room temperature. Melts at below skin temperature, 85.57 °F.
Argon. Dunno, cool lizard person name.
Ytterbium. Sounds cool. Unlike that sucka yttrium.
Cobalt. The name comes from a D&D monster (well that’s where most know it from). Inferring that etymology made me win pub trivia once, and then get the answer again when the host forgot he already used it.

I have a sizable stash of argon in every spot in my house where there is no solid object. Probably no ytterbium. I’ll get around to buying some gallium off Amazon one of these days.

13

Iridium, rhodium–you’ll understand in 10 or 15 years :wink:

carbon–kind of important for us carbon based life forms. Plus, graphene batteries

sodium–the best of the reactive metals, for many reasons

mercury–fun to play with

14

P: phosphorus
U: uranium
S: sulfur
S: sulfur because, sulfur!
Y: Yttrium

15

I’m not going to play as such but can I just say if you are the type of person who finds this thread at all interesting, you absolute have to read “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levi, at the earliest possible opportunity. It was once voted “The Best Science Book Ever” and I have no argument with that title.

And when you finish that one, start in on “Uncle Tungsten” by Oliver Sacks.

Both books are pure geek-porn to anyone with an interest in materials, elements and chemistry, besides being very entertaining and well written.

16

You might have picked vanadium, silver, iodine, and sodium instead.

17

Fluorine kicks ass.
Chromium produces some nice and colourful compounds.
Cobalt has a cool name.
*Copper * has a nice reddish-orange colour.
Phosphorus emits a cool glow.

Yeah, I like colours.

18

Just because I’m fundamentally lazy I’m going to go with antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen.

19

Doreen (Dn), Marzipan (Mz), Wax (Wx), Jazz (Jz) and Nothing (Ng)

According to the Periodic Table on the BBC’s “Look Around You!” website

20

Bismuth, because of this
Neon, because pretty lights
Copper and gold, because amongst all metals, they are pretty
Neodymium, because magnets