In addition, both potassium and rubidium yield almost the same hue when ignited, so researchers must use different methods to differentiate between these two 1st group elements.
[10] The most important use of yttrium is in making phosphors, such as the red ones used in television set cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays and in LEDs.
[11] Other uses include the production of electrodes, electrolytes, electronic filters, lasers and superconductors; various medical applications; and as traces in various materials to enhance their properties.
It is a soft, grey, ductile transition metal, which is often found in the pyrochlore mineral, the main commercial source for niobium, and columbite.
In 1864 and 1865, a series of scientific findings clarified that niobium and columbium were the same element (as distinguished from tantalum), and for a century both names were used interchangeably.
Mendeleev noted a gap in his periodic table and gave the undiscovered element the provisional name ekamanganese (Em).
The Russian scientist Karl Ernst Claus discovered the element in 1844 and named it after Ruthenia, the Latin word for Rus'.
It was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston in one such ore, and named for the rose color of one of its chlorine compounds, produced after it reacted with the powerful acid mixture aqua regia.
Palladium plays a key role in the technology used for fuel cells, which combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water.
The numerous applications and limited supply sources of palladium result in the metal attracting considerable investment interest.
Silver has long been valued as a precious metal, and it is used to make ornaments, jewelry, high-value tableware, utensils (hence the term silverware), and currency coins.
Like zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and like mercury it shows a low melting point compared to transition metals.
Cadmium and its congeners are not always considered transition metals, in that they do not have partly filled d or f electron shells in the elemental or common oxidation states.
It was used for a long time as a pigment and for corrosion resistant plating on steel while cadmium compounds were used to stabilize plastic.
This rare, very soft, malleable and easily fusible other metal is chemically similar to gallium and thallium, and shows the intermediate properties between these two.
Indium was discovered in 1863 and named for the indigo blue line in its spectrum that was the first indication of its existence in zinc ores, as a new and unknown element.
Radioactive indium-111 (in very small amounts on a chemical basis) is used in nuclear medicine tests, as a radiotracer to follow the movement of labeled proteins and white blood cells in the body.
Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4.
Pewter, which is an alloy of 85–90% tin with the remainder commonly consisting of copper, antimony and lead, was used for tableware from the Bronze Age until the 20th century.
Because of its low toxicity, tin-plated metal is also used for food packaging, giving the name to tin cans, which are made mostly of steel.
For some time China has been the largest producer of antimony and its compounds, with most production coming from the Xikuangshan Mine in Hunan.
Antimony compounds are prominent additives for chlorine and bromine containing fire retardants found in many commercial and domestic products.
A brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid which looks similar to tin, tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur.
The name is from Greek ἰοειδής ioeidēs, meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor.
Iodine's relatively high atomic number, low toxicity, and ease of attachment to organic compounds have made it a part of many X-ray contrast materials in modern medicine.
Iodine is found on Earth mainly as the highly water-soluble iodide I−, which concentrates it in oceans and brine pools.
Owing to the diverse functions of the remainder of the enzymes, molybdenum is a required element for life in higher organisms (eukaryotes), though not in all bacteria.
Tellurium has no biological role, although fungi can incorporate it in place of sulfur and selenium into amino acids such as tellurocysteine and telluromethionine.
Iodine is the heaviest essential element utilized widely by life in biological functions (only tungsten, employed in enzymes by a few species of bacteria, is heavier).
Iodine's rarity in many soils, due to initial low abundance as a crust-element, and also leaching of soluble iodide by rainwater, has led to many deficiency problems in land animals and inland human populations.