Introduction To Elements Periodic Table: Fill & Download for Free

Naw. It is phosphorus that you saw.It's an old trick and the way phosphorus was discovered by https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hennig_Brand so you probably saw the movie as a part of the introduction to how the elements of the periodic table was discovered.Btw very few radioactive substances glow. You can't see the radiation with human eyes.

IntroductionThe other answers cover a lot of the elements that we consider “crazy” because they are so reactive, or deadly, or even rare, but I personally think the term crazy is relative. Personally, I think carbon is the craziest element. Take the diamond above for example. Diamonds are revered for their brilliance, purity and rarity, especially large ones such as above.Far less appreciated is that diamonds are the hardest of all known substances. This is why they are embedded in the drills of tunneling machines. The only way you can scratch a diamond is with another diamond or a laser, but diamonds can scratch other hard substances such as sapphires, rubies, and emeralds.Far more amazing than the hardness of a diamond is that diamonds are one of the only molecules you have perhaps ever seen, or will ever see, with your naked eye! Yes, diamonds are molecules.The repeating structure of a diamond is adamantane, shown above (adamant: refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind.) On its own adamantane is a highly stable molecule, but when bonded together, they form the very stable and hard diamond molecule.Part of the craziness of carbon is due to its bonding.It is capable of forming a maximum of four bonds, under standard conditions, which you think would limit its craziness, but because carbon creates very stable bonds with other carbons, each carbon added creates a huge growth in possible diversity. In fact, there is literally upteen billion types of molecules that are carbon based. Note the diversity of compounds for just two bonded carbons, but also the diversity of shapes.Compare this to the steroid precursor cholesterol, which has many carbons, and is changed by small amounts biologically, and in different ways, leading to thousands of hormones and steroids, estrogen and testosterone being two examples.Increasing the craziness of carbon even more is that carbon forms bonds readily, or somewhat readily, with the large majority of the other elements in the periodic table. For example it bonds with chlorine, oxygen, nitrogen, but also with iron, lead, zinc, and even palladium, platinum and gold, forming organometallic compounds.But this is just the introduction, there is so much more to cover. Diamonds are hard, and pretty, but seeing the diversity of carbon in our day-to-day life due to the diversity offered by carbon’s chemistry and bonding types, will clarify why I think carbon is the craziest element.NanotechnologyIn the picture above is a ball-and-stick model of another alotrope of carbon known as graphene, and it is its flat structure that allows a pencil to glide somewhat effortlessly across a piece of paper. As the pencil moves, thin layers of these graphite sheets are left behind.That is interesting, for sure, but even more intriguing would be to consider if we could mold carbon into a ball. Well, this is known as a Buckminster fullerene, also known as a “bucky-ball”.And it is named after the architect Buckminster who designed a building many would be familiar with, though it does not share quite the same structure of the outer lattice with fullerenes: The Epcot Center.And we can take another flight of fancy and imagine if we took a graphite sheet and rolled it up and stitched the ends together. The final product of such an effort is known as a carbon nanotube.When you coat a Surface with a layer of nanotubes, a material known as Vantablack can be made, which absorbs virtually all light which falls upon it and can create a material form of a silhouette, or even a three dimensional shadow if you like.Though they might not be considered quite “nanotechnology” plastics are made from carbon compounds. Polymerization involves linking together molecules containing carbon into long chains called polymers. For example, the gas ethylene is polymerized by a catalyst into the plastic we use everyday. The gif below sums up the process, but sulfuric acid is rarely used.Demonstrating the versatility of carbon is that it uses a compound as a catalyst whereby carbon is bonded to, not familiar elements like oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, or nitrogen like in biological chemicals, but to an atom of titanium forming an organometallic compound. The ethylene then is bound to the titanium and the ethylene is multiplied through bonding. (Note the titanium-carbon bond (Ti - C), or (Ti-CH2-).)Carbon in NatureYou would have to have lived under a rock to not know that all life is carbon based, but even if you did live under a rock, you would be carbon based! The carbon-carbon bond is the literal backbone (even invertebrates!) of life and is present in the sugars, starches, amino acids, and therefore proteins and enzymes, as well as it is the backbone of the “code of life”, RNA and DNA and its nucleic acids.That alone is interesting, and the existence of life is crazy when you think about it, but there is yet another crazy characteristic of carbon that shows up in life forms and it is known as chirality, which though chirality is found with compounds of other elements its examples are most ubiquitous in living systems. Making the previous examples of this crazy element seem to pale in comparison is not the inherent possibility of chirality, it is the almost unanimous selectivity for one specific form in living systems!ChiralityWhen carbon is bonded to four different atoms or groups, it no longer possesses a mirror plane of symmetry. A molecule lacking a mirror plane of symmetry is said to be chiral, or “handed”. This means that their exists a different molecule that is its mirror image. Just as your left hand is the mirror image is your right hand.Though your left and right hands are made of the same types of cells, and the same number of fingers, you can not perfectly overlap the two, just as you can not perfectly overlay your feet, revealing that they are in fact different. And this is why chiral compounds are described as those having non-superimposable images.Though it would seem that the statistical probability of each type of “hand” would be 50/50, here on Earth, biological systems have overwhelming chosen one hand. For example, nature predominately produces D-sugars, L-amino acids, and D-nucleic acids.As a result, the DNA helix turns in only one direction, when statistically, without any outside interference, both should be possible:This also has an effect on the proteins and enzymes of the body, which are many orders of magnitude more reactive with D-sugars, or L-amino acids, excluding the other “hand” virtually with 100% efficiency.The reactive site of an enzyme is essentially a receptor, just as is found in our noses for detecting odors. Revealing the handedness of our bodies systems, and its selection for specifically left OR right handed molecules is the case of carvone, which can be isolated in two pure forms of each hand. Each hand of carvone has a distinct smell, with one smelling of spearmint and the other of Black licorice.The hands of the molecule limonene also create the less distinct differences between the smells of lemons and oranges.ConclusionHonestly, I have only scratched the surface of the craziness that is the element carbon, but this answer should offer a good argument for my case. Carbon is not only the backbone of all life, it is the backbone of modern day and future technology. It is added to iron to form stronger steel, it is mixed with silicon to form silicon carbide used in brake pads (only four positions from diamond in terms of hardness), tar is used to pave roads, it is present in concrete and plastics, used for purification systems, used as control rods in nuclear reactors and still represents most of the energy supply we use to power the world and ourselves -food.There is a craziness to how much life depends on carbon, outwardly and inwardly. Though again I will state that the crazier thing than carbon is that life has preferred one hand over another when both hands should have equal statistical probabilities.(Silicon carbide - brake pads.)(For more on chirality, see: Jeremy Hughes's answer to What science concept makes your head spin?)Sources:Carbon - WikipediaChirality - WikipediaZiegler–Natta catalyst - WikipediaOrganic chemistry - Wikipedia

Hello, the following are the recommended books for IIT JAM Chemistry exam:Atomic and Molecular Structure and Theory of Gases by Peter W. AtkinsChemical Thermodynamics by Thomas Engel & Phillip ReidChemical and Phase Equilibria Principals of Chemical Equilibrium & Phase Rule by K.G. DenbighElectrochemistry An Introduction to Electrochemistry by Samuel GlasstoneChemical Kinetics by Keith J. LaidlerSolid State by Peter W. AtkinsAdsorption Introduction to Surface Chemistry & Catalysis by Gabor A. SomorjaiBasic Mathematical Concept Differential Equation & Matrices by Shanti NarayanPeriodic Table Concise Inorganic Chemistry by J. D. LeeChemical Bonding and Shapes of compounds by Meissler & TarrMain Group Elements (s and p blocks) Concise Inorganic Chemistry by J. D. LeeTransition Metal (d block) Concise Inorganic Chemistry by James E. HuheeyAnalytical Chemistry Quantitative Inorganic Analysis by A. I. VogelBioinorganic Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry by James E. HuheeyInstrumental Method of Analysis Instrumental method by Skoog, Holler & CrouchBasic Concepts in Organic Chemistry and Stereochemistry Stereochemistry Conformation and Mechanism by P.S. KalsiOrganic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, Warner, and WothersOrganic Chemistry by Carey & SundbergNatural Products Chemistry by I. L. FinarHeterocyclic Chemistry by I. L. FinarQualitative organic Analysis Introduction to Spectroscopy by Pavia, Lampman, Kriz, VyvyanAll the best for your preparations.