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A chemical element, often simply called an element, is a type of atom which has a specific number of protons in its atomic nucleus (i.e., a specific atomic number, or Z). [ 1 ] The definitive visualisation of all 118 elements is the periodic table of the elements , whose history along the principles of the periodic law was one of the founding ...
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest element and, at standard conditions, is a gas of diatomic molecules with the formula H 2, sometimes called dihydrogen, [11] hydrogen gas, molecular hydrogen, or simply hydrogen. It is colorless, odorless, [12] non-toxic, and highly combustible.
The periodic table and law are now a central and indispensable part of modern chemistry. The periodic table continues to evolve with the progress of science. In nature, only elements up to atomic number 94 exist; [a] to go further, it was necessary to synthesize new elements in the laboratory.
A number of other elements are named after classical words for various places. Ruthenium is from the Latin name for the region including Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. [29] Lutetium is named after Lutetia, the Latin name for Paris. Copper's name comes from an Old English word derived from the Latin name for the island of Cyprus. [30]
41 of the 118 known elements have names associated with, or specifically named for, places around the world or among astronomical objects. 32 of these have names tied to the places on Earth, and the other nine are named after to Solar System objects: helium for the Sun; tellurium for the Earth; selenium for the Moon; mercury (indirectly), uranium, neptunium and plutonium after their respective ...
The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol Z) of a chemical element is the charge number of its atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons , this is equal to the proton number ( n p ) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every atom of that element.
The properties of the elements are often summarized using the periodic table, which powerfully and elegantly organizes the elements by increasing atomic number into rows in which the columns share recurring ("periodic") physical and chemical properties. The table contains 118 confirmed elements as of 2021.
In the periodic table of the elements, each numbered row is a period. A period on the periodic table is a row of chemical elements. All elements in a row have the same number of electron shells. Each next element in a period has one more proton and is less metallic than its predecessor.