Toca Lab

Thanks for following us, it’s been a pleasure and hope you learned something fun about at the elements! Want to know more about what we do? Keep on following us over at tocaboca.com/blog.

The very last element is here!

Let us introduce phosphorus. Hennig Brand was the man who discovered this element in 1669, from urine! Actually, urine naturally contains large quantities of phosphates which makes it the perfect liquid to experiment with. He was also very secretive and didn’t tell the public about his method, instead he sold it to two other chemists. What a business man!

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus

This is roentgenium and was named after the physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen who discovered X-rays in 1895. Röntgen actually means X-rays in Swedish!
This element, on the other hand, is very radioactive and has only been produced i tiny amounts for research purpose only. It’s very unstable and can’t be trusted. Just look at that face…

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roentgenium

Introducing rutherfordium, named after the father of nuclear physics - Lord Ernest Rutherford.
This element is synthetic and a very radioactive metal, created by nuclear bombardment.

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherfordium

This is meitnerium and it’s a synthetic, radioactive metal which has only been produced in tiny amounts. It was produced in Germany and named after the physicist and mathematician, Lise Meitner. Probably the only woman saluted with a name in the Periodic Table?

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitnerium

Say hello to ununtrium, element 113! Unfortunately, this element’s discovery wasn’t accepted by the IUPAC board. (If you’ve followed us for awhile you probably know this board very well.)

The results simply didn’t meet the criteria for discovery due to lack of connections to known nuclides, and the absence of cross-bombardments.

From what we’ve learned so far, scientists seem to be very fond of cross-bombardments. It’s a science thing!

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ununtrium

This is ununseptium and it was produced in Russia as late as 2009. As the discovery of this element has not yet been verified by IUPAC, its place in the Periodic Table is still unofficial.
How did they find it then? By bombarding berkelium with over 7 trillion calcium-48 ions per second for 70 days, all accelerated to 10% of the speed of light! Wow, quite an experiment!

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ununseptium

This is mendelevium and it was produced in a lab in Berkley, California. It was named after the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev who invented the first periodic table in modern form.

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelevium

Cesium (or caesium) is the most electropositive of all natural elements which means it’s the most reactive of all metals. It’s so reactive that it will burst into flames in air and explode when in contact with water, i.e even humans!
When discovering cesium the mission was to find the magic ingredient that made mineral baths in Germany so healthful. The element was then discovered by analyzing light and observing a bright blue line in the spectrum, hence the name cesium.

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium

Have you ever heard of TNT? We’re sure you have. Here’s what’s actually explosive - nitrogen! All living things contain nitrogen as it’s required to build amino acids, which can be found in our DNA. Don’t worry, we won’t explode as it’s not the same kind of compounds. Phew!

Want to know more? Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen