CHEM: Periodic Table of Elements (Chukwu)

Which is the densest element? Which has the largest atoms? And why are some elements radioactive? From the little-known uses of gold in medicine to the development of the hydrogen bomb, this is a fresh new look at the Periodic Table.

This book deals with the rare earth elements (REE), which are a series of 17 transition metals: scandium, yttrium and the lanthanide series of elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium).

There are eight columns in the Periodic Table. The eighth column is comprised of the rare gases, so-called because they are the rarest elements on earth. They are also called the inert or noble gases because, like nobility, they do no work. They are colorless, odorless, invisible gases which do not react with anything, and were thought to be unimportant until the early 1960s.

Note: Part of a 15-volume set on individual elements.
Vol. 1. Hydrogen and the noble gases | Vol. 2. Sodium and potassium | Vol. 3. Calcium and magnesium | Vol. 4. Iron, chromium, and manganese | Vol. 5. Copper, silver, and gold | Vol. 6. Zinc, cadmium, and mercury | Vol. 7. Aluminum | Vol. 8. Carbon | Vol. 9. Silicon | Vol. 10. Lead and tin | Vol. 11. Nitrogen and phosphorus | Vol. 12. Oxygen | Vol. 13. Sulfur | Vol. 14. Chlorine, fluorine, bromine, and iodine | Vol. 15. Uranium and other radioactive elements.