Facts You Should Know: The Periodic Table Quiz

Question: Which element got its name from the water it makes when burned?

Answer: Hydrogen was first called “inflammable air” before chemist Antoine Lavoisier renamed it “water-former” (hydro + gen).

Question: Uranium was named after which of the following?

Answer: Uranium was discovered in 1789, shortly after the planet Uranus was discovered. Neptunium and plutonium are also named for celestial bodies in our solar system.

Question: Which of these metals is liquid at room temperature?

Answer: Mercury, often called “quicksilver,” remains a liquid until cooled to about −40 °F. Bromine is the only other element that is liquid at room temperature.

Question: Which element is most abundant in both Earth’s crust and the human body?

Answer: Oxygen constitutes nearly half of Earth’s crust and two-thirds of a human body’s mass.

Question: Diamonds are made of which element?

Answer: Contrary to popular belief, diamonds are not made from coal, although both contain carbon.

Question: Which element found in red blood cells helps carry oxygen?

Answer: The iron in hemoglobin forms a reversible bond with oxygen; they latch together in the lungs and then split at the oxygen’s destination.

Question: Which of these famous poisons appears in the periodic table?

Answer: Arsenic has been dubbed the “king of poisons” thanks to its odorless and tasteless qualities.

Question: Which element’s name and symbol (Cu) comes from the Latin name for Cyprus, where ancient Romans mined it?

Answer: The Romans called the element aes Cyprium (“metal of Cyprus”), which was shortened to cyprium and then corrupted to cuprum, eventually becoming copper.

Question: Elements, such as helium and neon, that tend to not undergo chemical reactions are called what?

Answer: Just as a nobleman might avoid commoners, so too do noble gases resist interacting with other elements.

Question: Which element was discovered on the Sun before it was found on Earth?

Answer: Using a spectroscope in 1868, scientists first detected helium on the Sun (from helios, the Greek word for “sun”) during an eclipse. Fourteen years later, helium was found on Earth.

Question: Ancient Romans used which element to make plumbing?

Answer: Because it is highly durable and resistant to corrosion, lead (chemical symbol Pb from the Latin plumbum) was used by the Romans to make water pipes as well as coins and cooking utensils. By the time of Augustus Caesar, lead poisoning had become an issue in Rome.

Question: Which of these letters does not appear in the periodic table, either as a symbol or in an element name?

Answer: The letter x can be found in xenon, z in zinc, and k in krypton (among other places). The letter q appears only in the extended periodic table in the name unbiquadium, a placeholder term for the as yet undiscovered element that will have the atomic number 124.

Question: Frequently used in flares, which element burns so intensely that it can cause temporary blindness and cannot be extinguished with water?

Answer: Magnesium has been used in flash photography, pyrotechnics, and incendiary bombs. When introduced to a magnesium fire, water is converted to a hydrogen gas, further fueling the flame.

Question: Used by the Indigenous people of South America for metalcraft, which element comes from the Spanish word for “silver”?

Answer: Spaniards who arrived in South America found deposits of the metal in Colombia’s Río Pinto and called it platina del Pinto (“silver of the Pinto”).

Question: Eighteenth-century chemists determined that air was made up of “fire air” and “foul air.” Which element was nicknamed “foul air”?

Answer: Oxygen, being necessary for combustion, was called “fire air.” In a given sample of air, once the oxygen was removed, the remaining gas was almost entirely nitrogen, which makes up about 80 percent of the atmosphere. Its unpleasant smell earned it the name “foul air.”