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THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Elements in their native forms, presented such that the visitor can hold them up close and observe them through the magnifying glass. This exhibit was procured with support from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. An interesting fact about each element was etched on the wooden box that contained it.
Here are the elements that were displayed as a part of this exhibit -
Lithium
Lithium is so light it can float on water, but it won’t because when it touches water it explodes!
Carbon
Carbon atoms can realign to become either a Diamond (hardest material) or the ultra-soft graphite. Both of them are essentially the same element!
Magnesium
Magnesium helps in making DNA stable and also helps in repairing DNA damage. Without it your DNA will stop making copies of itself!
Aluminium
Rubies are actually aluminum oxide crystals with a few atoms of aluminum replaced by a few chromium atoms, giving rubies their characteristic color
Silicon
A type of algae called diatoms make transparent cell walls made of Silicon. And since Silicon is a major part of glass these algae live in glass houses!
Phosphorous
This element's name means 'Light bringer' as it was seen to glow in the dark and it was first discovered by purifying urine collected from school boys!
Sulphur
This yellow non-metal has been known by humans for thousands of years. Sulphur Compounds are the reason behind onions making you cry, the smell of garlic, and the distinct smell of rotten eggs.
Chlorine
The Earth's oceans has so much chlorine that if it were suddenly released as a gas it would weigh 5 times more than our present atmosphere!
Potassium
Both Potassium and Sodium exist as solids at room temperature. When the two are combined to form an alloy, the resulting alloy is liquid at room temperature!
Calcium
The human body cannot directly absorb the Calcium present in milk but needs Vitamin D to do that, which you get by standing in sunlight. So drink milk in the sun for calcium!
Titanium
This is a metal but has a unique ability to bond to bone without causing issues in the body! Which makes it excellent for use as implants.
Vanadium
Swedish scientist Nils Gabriel Sefström wanted to name the element after the letter V as no element had a name which started with V. So he named it after Norse Goddess Vanadís (Freyja) who was known for her beauty as all compounds of Vanadium were beautiful.
Chromium
This element's name refers to the different colours of its compounds which can be yellow, orange, green, purple, and black!
Manganese
Scientists think that Manganese discovered in the iron ore used by the Spartans is the reason as to why their steel weapons were superior to those of their enemies and why they won so many battles.
Iron
Crysomallon squamiferum is a sea snail that incorporates iron sulfide into the outer layer of the shell hence is the only known animal to naturally have iron plated armor!
Cobalt
German miners had such a tough time trying to mine certain ores that they blamed pesky spirits called Kobolds (which you'd find in Dungeons & Dragons). Eventually when this element was discovered the name stuck!
Nickel
The U.S. five-cent coin is called a Nickel but is actually a hybrid of nickel and copper, and in one coffee shop in Canada the cashier used to give it back all the time that he named his band 'Nickelback'
Copper
The outside of the huge doors of the Amun-Ra Temple at Karnak in ancient Egypt, the roof of the 9-story tall Loha Maha Paya temple in Sri Lanka and The Statue of Liberty are all completely made of copper!
Zinc
Zinc was recognized as a metal in its own right in India by 1374, 400 years before it was officially 'discovered' in Europe!
Gallium
Gallium is a solid metal at around 25°C but starts dissolving at 29.7°C which means it will dissolve in your hand because of your body temperature!
Germanium
Germanium was the first element named after a country and is one of the few elements that expands when it freezes.
Arsenic
Arsenic was once used as green pigment, and when Napoleon asked for that particular coloured wallpaper when he was in exile he didn’t realise it would lead to his death because of Arsenic poisoning!
Selenium
A single brazil nut provides enough selenium to meet the daily requirement for a human adult and will have that amount even if the soil it grows in does not have selenium!
Bromine
This liquid element has such a bad smell that its name means 'Stinky' in Greek and the only reason people made it was to make a dye known as 'Tyrian Purple' which was so expensive that only royalty could afford it.
Strontium
Strontium causes paint to glow in the dark and is responsible for the brilliant red colours in fireworks!
Yttrium
When astronauts brought back rocks from the moon they were discovered to contain Yttrium which is named after a tiny town on a Swedish island!
Zirconium
Zircon is a zirconium silicate mineral which comes in blue, yellow, green, brown, orange, red or purple varieties and resembles a diamond!
Niobium
Niobium is nearly always found together with Tantalum in nature. It is named for the Greek goddess of tears, Niobe, who was the daughter of king Tantalus, due to the element's similarities to Tantalum (named for the king).
Molybdenum
Wires made with molybdenum are highly sought after as very interestingly the tensile strength of molybdenum increases as the diameter of the sample decreases.
Silver
Silver is the most reflective element, reflecting 95% of the visible light spectrum. In fact its scientific name derives from the Sanskrit word 'Argunas' which means 'Shining'
Cadmium
Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet were prominent users of a variety of reds, oranges and yellow cadmium-pigmented paints. But these over time become grey cadmium sulfate which turns yellow flowers grey!
Indium
Indium is a lustrous metal which gets its name from the deep blue spectral line it emits and is not named after India!
Antimony
This brittle bluish semi-metal was used by ancient Egyptians as eyeliner which they called 'kohl'!
Tellurium
This element is named after 'tellus' which means Earth, but is extremely rare on Earth but abundant in space!
Iodine
This blue-black element is named after the violet colored vapours it sublimates into at 180 degrees celsius!
Barium
Barium was used in ancient folklore because the stones would glow after exposure to light and even today it plays a key role in radiology as it helps internal organs show up on X-ray.
Tantalum
This hard blue-gray element is so strong that it resists strong acids which can even dissolve gold!
Tungsten
The element's name derives from a German term which means "wolf's foam" which refers to the large amounts of tin consumed by the mineral during its extraction like how a wolf devours sheep!
Rhenium
This metal was predicted by Mendeleev when he made his version of the periodic table and was the last non-radioactive element to be discovered!
Platinum
Platinum has a high melting point of 1,769 °C which is referenced by Julius Caesar in 1557 who said that it was a metal "no fire nor any Spanish artifice has yet been able to liquefy."
Gold
Gold is the most malleable metal as one ounce of gold can be beaten into a sheet that is 300 square feet so thin it can be transparent!
Mercury
Mercury was once used by people who made hats for tanning leather. Eventually the mercury poisoned them which caused insanity and orange coloured hair. This is what is known as the Mad Hatter's disease.
Lead
The Romans called this element 'Plumbum' and used it to make pipes to bring water in to the city. Therefore the people who worked those became known as Plumbers.
Bismuth
This pink hued metal grows in very geometric crystal formation and is naturally diamagnetic. It is used in making permanent magnets, cosmetics and solders.
Lanthanum
Lanthanum is used to make infrared absorbing glass, night vision goggles and high-end camera and telescope lenses.
Europium
Named after the continent this element is used for making fluorescent safety markers on Euro banknotes as they glow red under UV light!
Ytterbium
Ytterbium is used in fiber optics and gets its name from Ytterby, a Swedish village which is also the origin for erbium, terbium and yttrium!
Tin
Ancient craftsmen couldn't work with tin because it was so soft so they mixed it with copper and formed bronze which brought about such a revolution that an entire age is named after it.
Sodium
Do you know why old street lights produce yellow light? They use vapours of Sodium!
About the Contributors
N.S. Vidhyadhiraja is a physicist, focusing on condensed matter theory. He is a professor at the theoretical sciences unit, and the Dean, fellowships and extensions at JNCASR. He has held visiting positions at Motorola India, University of Cincinnati, Birck nanotechnology centre, Purdue University and the Louisiana State University, where he is also an adjunct faculty member at the physics department.
His research is focused on the development and application of quantum many body methods to understand strongly correlated electron systems. He has investigated metal-insulator transitions, heavy fermion physics and Anderson localisation employing frameworks such as dynamical mean field theory and quantum cluster theories using methods based on diagrammatic perturbation theory, quantum Monte Carlo, and renormalization group approach. He has a keen interest in teaching and outreach activities.
Divya Chalapathi is a PhD student working in the Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. She is pursuing her research in the field of Raman spectroscopy and its applications in diagnostics. She received her Integrated M.Sc degree in Physical Sciences from University of Hyderabad, in 2015. She attempts to use art and simple innovative ideas to make science interesting for school students, through various outreach activities.
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research is a multidisciplinary research institute situated in Jakkur. Their mandate is to pursue and promote world-class research and training at the frontiers of Science and Engineering covering broad areas ranging from Materials to Genetics.
