Wikijunior:The Elements/Elements

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

Contents

[edit] Well-known Elements

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

[edit] Well-known Metals

[edit] Well-known Non-metals

[edit] All Elements

[edit] Metals

[edit] Alkali Metals

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 reacts readily with the halogens and with water.

[edit] Alkaline Earth Metals

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).

[edit] Rare Earth Metals

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.

[edit] Transition Metals

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.

[edit] Other Metals

[edit] Metalloids

These have properties of both metals and non-metals.

[edit] Non-metals

[edit] Noble Gases

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

[edit] Halogens

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.

[edit] Other Non-metals