Other Metals, Used Structurally / Mechanically

• 7. Al = Aluminum
  • widely used: pop cans, door and window frames, Aluminum Foil
• 8. Fe = Iron
  • also widely used: car bodies, engine blocks and frames, skillets, pipes, nails
• 9. Cu = Copper
  • coils (outside of pennies)
  • roofing
  • electrical wiring
    • (Statues are more likely to be bronze, a copper alloy, rather than relatively pure copper)
• 10. Zn = Zinc
  • galvanized iron (pipes, sheet metal, door panels of cars
    • galvanize: a thin layer of an active metal like Zinc can prevent corrosion of a metal like iron. The zinc is sacrificial-- that is, it is expected to corrode.
  • coins; inside of pennies
  • the metal that is consumed in ordinary batteries is zinc
• 11. Ni = Nickel
  • 5 cent piece (not really pure Nickel)
• 12. Cr = Chromium
  • Chrome plated truck bumpers
  • Almost always plated over a coting of Nickel
• 13 Co = Cobalt (marginal)
  • cobalt tipped drills (I'm not so sure-- this is probably a Nickel/Cobalt alloy that doesn't quite qualify as nearly pure cobalt.)
  • cobalt in magnets (Typically 65% Cobalt and 35% Samarium. Again probabaly doesn't quite qualify but lets us mention another element.)

Other Solids, Mainly Electrical

• 14. Si = Silicon
  • At the heart of all electronic chips from telephones to computers-- buried inside, but nearly pure Si
    • (Don't confuse with Silicones, which are chemical compounds containing Silicon.)
• Ge = Germanium (marginal; I'm not counting it on my list)
  • In a few electronic devices, especially very older power transistors, were made from germanium instead of silicon; you are unlikely to really encounter one today.
• 15. Li = Lithium
  • lithium batteries
• 16. Cd = Cadmium
  • recharable NiCad batteries contain both Nickel and Cadmium metal electrodes
• 17. Pb = Lead
  • automobile batteries
• 18. Ta = Tantalum
  • used as a metal foil in electrical capacitors; found in every cell phone.
  • Tantalum mining in the Congo is a serious problem now. (See NY Times magazine, Sunday September 2 I belive.)
• 19. Hg = Mercury
  • mercury batteries-- probably no longer available.
  • Also found in thermometers and barometers, but the use of mercury has been phased out. Metallic mercury and mercury compounds pose a serious health hazard.
  • Still the key element in fluorescent lamps.
  • Also mercury vapor lamps, newly installed downtown.
• 20. W = Tungsten
  • the filament in all incandescent lamps >LI> The symbol goes to the German name, Wolfram
• 21. I = Iodine
  • small amounts added to light bulbs (changes them to tungsten halide lamps)
  • link to tungsten halide lamp story...
• 22. Na = Sodium
  • sodium vapor lamps-- those bright orange lights
• 23 Mg = Magnesium
  • A light weight metal sometimes used in manufacture; probably won't encounter anything made from Mg strolling the streets of Bowling Green.
  • Some automobile rims are labeled "Mag Rims"
  • Many water heaters contain a rod of Mg to act as a sacrifical anode and you might find replacements at the hardware store
• 24 Sn = Tin
  • a soft, generally inert metal, once widely used to coat steel to prevent corrosion (tin cans)
  • I can still recall buying gum wrapped in Tin foil (commonly used but largely replaced by aluminum foil.)
  • Sheetmetal craftmen often make "tin ware" from tin coated steel sheets. (I didn't see any at this year's fair.)
  • The hardware store sells solder for plumbing that's 90%+ Tin; used as a low melting metal.)

Gases (can't "see" them, but they count)

• 25. O =Oxygen
  • every festival has an ambulance and they certainly have a cylinder of oxygen
  • you'll occasionally see a person with respirator or heart problems traveling with a small oxygen cylinder
  • there's a welding shop at Clough Street and the railroad tracks; it carries oxygen cylinders usef for welding.
• 26. He = Helium
  • what's a festival without balloons/ (Available regularly at Ben Franklin store)
• 27. Ar = Argon
  • almost every light bulb and insulated double pane window is filled with argon
• 28. Ne = Neon
  • used to fill the neon signs (red tubular lamps) in restrurant and bar windows
• 29, 30 X= = Xenon, Kr =Krypton
  • also used in signs (colors are different from Neon)
  • the gas used to fill most photographic flash lamps
  • Don't confuse with Xenia, the Princess warrior of Superman's nemesis of Kryponite
• 31. Cl = Chlorine (ok, this is a stretch)
  • water is chlorinated to prevent growth of germs.
  • if it gets warm you can smell the chlorine gas coming off it. ( By then it's mixed with air, so it's never close to pure.)
  • you can treat drinking water (or swimming pools) with chlorine gas, but most pools are chlorinated by adding chlorine chemical compounds rather than the elemental form, Cl₂.

• we won't count the O₂ and N₂ in air-- it's a mixture
• some stores contain small cans of nitrogen gas for storing wine
  • once a bottle is open the wine wil slowly react with oxygen in air
  • displacing the air with nitrogen can stop oxidation in the bottle

Beyond the 32 above?

• A few commonly cited examples that don't qualify
  1. lead- pencil leads (see Carbon)
  2. sodium, potassium, calcium in food, road salt, etc. (The element is there, but within chemical compounds)
  3. steel (Need to claim as the element Iron. Steel is an Iron alloy, mostly iron with low levels of carbon. Stainless steels also have chromium and nickel.)