ELEMENTS

by Evan J. Bodell

INTRODUCTION

This report is about elements and this poem is one of the things that can happen with the element oxygen!

Put a bottle in a room and watch it go kaboom. If you breathe too much you go boom boom boom boom.

SILICON

There is a lot of silicon on the surface of the Earth. The rocks with silicon and oxygen are called silicates. You're probably sitting in front of some silicon right now. It's in your computer! Silicon was named in 1817 by Thomas Thomson. Its in on on and of swiches. Silicon is the fourteenth (14) element.

HYDROGEN

A scientist named Louis Guyton de Morveau gave it a name in 1787. Because hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table it is very small and very light. In fact, it is the lightest of all the elements.

OXYGEN

Oxygen was named in 1777 by a chemist named Antoine Lavoisier. Did you know that if you breathe too much oxygen you could die? A french scientist named Jean Chaptal gave it a name in 1790. Nitrogen has no color, no smell, and no taste. Even though you can't see it, you and plants need it to grow and live. It's a good thing that there is more nitrogen in the air than any other elements.

HELIUM

HELIUM is the second (2) element in the periodic table. Helium doesn't have any color, it doesn't smell like anything, and it doesn't combine with any other elements. It is non-reactive.

SODIUM

Sodium is the eleventh (11) element in the periodic table. Sodium is a very light metal. It's even light enough to float on water! It is also very reactive. You probably know sodium best because it is in salt. The other element in salt is chlorine.

LITHIUM

Lithium is the third (3) element in the periodic table. A scientist named Jons Berzelius gave it a name in 1818. Lithium is actually a metal. It is the lightest of all metals on Earth. It even floats on the water like a cork.

BERYLLIUM

Beryllium is the fourth (4) element in the periodic table. It was named in 1798 by a chemist named Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin. Beryllium is metallic like magnesium (which is right below it on the periodic table). It is also very light and very hard. You can never find beryllium alone. It is always combined with other elements when found on Earth.

BORON

Boron is the fifth (5) element in the periodic table. If you look for boron in nature, you will never find it alone. Boron is only found combined with other elements. When you do find it... It will either be in a brown powder or a crystal.

CARBON

Carbon is the sixth (6) element in the periodic table. Carbon is everywhere. If you have ever seen a diamond, that's carbon. When you breathe out, it's carbon combined with oxygen. Carbon is the element which allows life to exist on Earth.