• Question: what is your favourite element on the periodic table

    Asked by anon-247474 to Jennifer, Martha, Dan, Ben, Baptiste on 9 Mar 2020. This question was also asked by anon-248031.
    • Photo: Jennifer Carroll

      Jennifer Carroll answered on 9 Mar 2020:

      My favourite element is probably Uranium or Plutonium.

      You hear a lot about these because of their use in nuclear weapons, but as a result of that work we have the industry I work in today! Nuclear power. Atoms for peace!

      Did you know that 1kg of uranium has the same amount of energy as 20,000kg coal.
      It’s mad to think how much CO2 is released burning coal for electricity production vs. zero CO2 released during nuclear fission.

      What is your favourite element?

    • Photo: Ben Rowsell

      Ben Rowsell answered on 11 Mar 2020:

      I’d have to say iron as that’s what I am currently studying in my PhD. It effects our lives in so many ways. It plays a key role in a lot of our biological systems such as haemoglobin that carries oxygen in our blood. It’s used in steel and lots of other engineering. It’s also the key catalyst in the haber process which is used to make ammonia which is then used to fertilise all of our land. It’s so common but has so many uses.

    • Photo: Baptiste Ravina

      Baptiste Ravina answered on 11 Mar 2020:

      I might say sodium, but Na… Boron is not that exciting, and jokes about Aluminium are recycled – all the good ones Argon.

      In all seriousness: Tungsten.

      Tungsten has 74 protons and about 108 neutrons (depending on the isotope). That’s a lot! But what’s more amazing (to me, as a particle physicist), is that, with each of these protons and neutrons containing 3 quarks (we call them “up” and “down”) each, that’s a grand total of (74+108)x3=546 quarks right there. So why do I find it cool? Because tungsten and its 546 quarks has about the same mass as the top quark (my favourite one) alone!

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