Elements on the Periodic Table



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Meet the New Elements

It’s official: Elements 114 and 116 do exist and belong on the periodic table


Just What Is Ytterbium Anyway?

The Last Page column (our funny page) in Smithsonian’s May issue is dedicated to people who missed the cut for Macarthur “Genius” Grants. An example:STAN LINDBERG -- EXPERIMENTAL CHEMISTForging new frontiers in chemistry as he seeks to be the first man to consume every single element of the periodi...


The Disappearing Spoon: True Tales from the Periodic Table

Most of the time we don't think about the periodic table. Individual elements are always important—gold, oxygen, aluminum—but we rarely consider the table as a whole. It just hangs on the wall where it will be consulted from time to time (or perhaps admired for its aesthetics, like the one that han...


Rare Earth Elements Not Rare, Just Playing Hard to Get

Given their name, rare earth elements, and the fact that China controls 96 percent of REE production, you might think the Chinese had won some geologic lottery. But these metallic substances—elements 57 to 71 on the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium—are not all that rare. It's been economic...



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