Elemental Trivia 'I'h~sd l - q u i z provides an intrrcsting exercise in rrcnlllno scme mure or less uncommon derrriptive chrmirtrs. Choose thesbmbol ufoneuf ther~,llowingclementss~n~ch,eirher in the f r r c o r o m h i n ~ dstate, best sntisfieieach clue: H , He, Li,('. Na. Mg. I', li. Sr, Fc.(.'o, Cu, (;a, Kr, Ho,Hh. I'd.Ag.Te. Xe.C*, C'e, 0 s . 1'0. A qymhol mny he u-rd more than once or not a t all 1. The cation in copperas 2. The alkali metal cation whose radius is closest to that of NHf 3. A olatinum metal analaeue of KEofNO9)s .. . 4. One iorm of this element isa s ~ ~ p r r f l u i d 5. T h e mtmn of red vitriol 6 . I.uwrsr ho~lingof all known ~ u b s t a n r r s 7. The largest component of German silver 8. The ionization energy of this rare gas is close to that of molecular oxygen 9. This element expands on freezing 10. An alkali metal that does not form a solid bicarbonate 11. The metal cation of Mohr's salt 12. One of its oxides "is the most important c o m p o u n d in the eyes of the analytical chemist" 13. "Diagonally related" to magnesium 14. Metalloid hawng a simple cubic unit cell structure 15. A rare earth nitrato compound used as a redox primary standard 16. Mast abundant in the universe 17. Constituent of the largest number of known compounds 18. Forms an insoluble fluorescent alkali metal "triple acetate"used in the analysis of this metal 19. First isolated by Hennig Brand on igniting evaporated urine with sand 20. Quantitatively precipitated as the yellow dimethylglyoximate in dilute HCI 21. In addition to &+Ilium,this metal also melts a t about 30' C 22. The cation of malachite and azurite 23. Has 93% of the lifting power of hydrogen in air 24. One of its allotropes is the hardest element
Answers 1) Fe, 2) Rh, 3) Rh,4) He, 5) Co, 6) He, I ) Cu, 8) Xe, 9) Ga, 10) Li, 11) Fe, 12) 0s. 13) Li, 14) Po, 15) Ce, 16) H, 17) H, 18) Na, 19) P , 20) Pd, 21) Cs, 22) Cu, 23) He, 24) C. Present address: 10411 Forest Ave., Fairfax, VA 22030.
H. I. Feinstein George Meson University Fairfax. V A 22030
Volume 59
Number 9
September 1982
763
