Periodic Table: elements and their real-world applications

This resource contains all of the Periodic Table of Elements, but what is really fantastic is that it includes their real world applications.

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Knowing that, for example, Iridium is used to develop cancer treatment, hypodermic needles, helicopter spark plugs and fountain pen nibs brings the element alive with meaning.

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An excellent resource for Science teachers. Thanks to Greg Garner for passing this link on.

5 thoughts on “Periodic Table: elements and their real-world applications

  1. I was disappointed that thallium wasn’t also listed as an effective depilatory for the treatment of head lice before WW I in France. It was used on children, even!

    For the unchemical, the thallium (rat poison) would-be poisoners of the 1940s were mainly caught when their victims’ hair fell out.

    I think I need to do my own weird facts about elements set. Things like tellurium breath: you handle the stuff and you stink of rancid garlic for months, or how Boyle extracted phosphorus from an unexpected source.

    Mercury for hatters and gold seekers, the scandal when Le Coq named gallium after himself–the list goes on.

    I’m a bit busy: anybody out there want to collaborate?

  2. Knowing the real world application would have done wonders for me as I was memorizing the periodic table in chemistry. I constantly wondered how this was applicable to real life.

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