• Question: whats your fav element and why

    Asked by anon-306573 on 16 Dec 2021. This question was also asked by anon-306576.
    • Photo: Dimitris Samaras

      Dimitris Samaras answered on 13 Dec 2021:

      Uranium but of course! It is the centrepiece of nuclear scientists and engineers’ work, it can help in clean energy production, and it can have numerous other applications besides nuclear power generation, due to its physical (e.g. high density) and chemical (affinity with a large number of chemical elements) properties.

    • Photo: Calum Cunningham

      Calum Cunningham answered on 13 Dec 2021:

      I really like Tungsten. It’s super dense and has the highest melting point of all the elements. It’s a very useful metal in some specific applications, but is still quite rare. And it’s symbol is W, short for ‘wolfram’ – a contender for coolest name surely!

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 13 Dec 2021:

      I’m currently listening to an old radio program from the BBC called “Elements” which explains the commercial aspects of each of the elements and so far my favourite has been Titanium. It’s found in a lot of places, is really strong and was traditionally really hard to smelt.

    • Photo: Luke Townsend

      Luke Townsend answered on 15 Dec 2021:

      I like the actinides, particularly uranium and neptunium. I’ve worked with both of them before and they have really interesting and cool environmental chemistry. They also make really nice colours when they’re in solution, see here: https://images.app.goo.gl/DX8M1qq4WDgFfSoE9 and https://images.app.goo.gl/qzoTGrcntPaR5TFr5

    • Photo: Rea Kozlowski

      Rea Kozlowski answered on 16 Dec 2021:

      Lead (Pb), in radiation protection it is one of the most used materials. It shields against alpha and beta, and reduces gamma rays. Of course other reactions occur so other shielding material is additionally needed.

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