Element 49 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is indium. Indium makes the touch screens in our electronic devices possible, and is also found in emergency sprinklers and Formula 1 cars. If you’re reading this on a phone or tablet with a touchscreen, the device you’re using contains indium in the form …
Element 48 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is cadmium. Cadmium’s main use is in batteries, and it has previously seen use in paints – however, its toxicity means that many countries are looking to remove it from consumer products. In 2009, over 80% of the world’s cadmium output was used in …
Sunscreen protects our skin from the sun, but there’s also evidence that some of the lotion’s ingredients may damage coral reefs. The latest edition of Periodic Graphics looks at the responsible compounds and efforts to combat the problem. Click through to the Chemical and Engineering News site to view the full graphic. https://www.compoundchem.com/2019/07/21/sunscreen-reefs/
Element 47 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is silver. Silver compounds are key for film photography, and this element also pops up in your clothing: conductive gloves and some antibacterial socks contain it. For those of us old enough to remember the days when phones with physical keys dominated, touch-screen phones …
Element 46 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is palladium. Another element that finds uses in the catalytic converters in our cars, palladium can also be used for hydrogen fuel storage and, more rarely, for making flutes. Like the previous element in our series, rhodium, palladium is used in the catalytic converters …
Element 45 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is rhodium. This rare, unreactive element finds uses in the catalytic converters in our cars and in electroplated white gold jewellery. Rhodium is one of a number of transition metals used in the catalytic converters found in diesel and petrol cars. These converters help …
In this study, tribological characteristics of diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DGM)/diethylene glycol dimethyl ether–diesel blend A (10 vol% DGM + 90 vol% diesel)/diesel were compared after being subjected to quill roller-ball friction and four-ball friction tests. The lubricity and antiwear property of blend A were worse than those of diesel, albeit considerably better than those …
Element 44 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is ruthenium. This element finds uses in electronics, fountain pens, and in some fingerprinting techniques. Ruthenium is added to alloys of platinum and palladium used in electrical contacts. These are used as switches in a wide array of electronic devices. ‘Iridium’ fountain pen nibs …
Element 43 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is technetium. The periodic table’s first artificially created element, its radioactivity allows it to be used in medical imaging. The artificial creation of element 43 was originally claimed by a group of German chemists in 1925. They named their newly discovered element masurium. However, …
Element 42 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is molybdenum. Found in steel and used in lubricants in some engines, it’s also found in enzymes in our bodies that help us process sulfites in various foods. Molybdenum is added to steel, widely used as a building material, to make it corrosion resistant. …
