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Periodic Table Elements by Clue #1

Can you name these elements of the Periodic Table based on a short clue?
Answer must correspond to yellow box
Quiz by WolfCam
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Last updated: December 12, 2019
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First submittedDecember 8, 2017
Times taken47,279
Average score70.8%
Rating4.51
4:00
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Hint
Answer
First element in the Periodic Table
Hydrogen
Used in thermometers
Mercury
Outer layer of U.S. pennies
Copper
Found in milk
Calcium
Most common in the atmosphere
Nitrogen
Smells like rotten eggs
Sulfur
Named for the Greek word for sun
Helium
Has the symbol Zn
Zinc
Diamonds are made of it
Carbon
Malleable, ductile, and valuable
Gold
Nutrient found in bananas
Potassium
Used in a once-popular type of
advertising sign
Neon
Hint
Answer
Extremely poisonous metalloid
Arsenic
Pipes made of this are being replaced
Lead
Argentina is named for it
Silver
Comes between uranium and plutonium
Neptunium
Along with chlorine, it makes salt
Sodium
Also the name of a California "Valley"
Silicon
Most common element in the human body
Oxygen
Bronze is made from copper and this
Tin
Element starting with "X"
Xenon
Named for Germany
Germanium
Has an atomic number of 12
Magnesium
It was painted on watch hands to
make them glow, formerly
Radium
82 Comments
+6
Level 69
Dec 23, 2017
Fun one!
+40
Level 66
Dec 23, 2017
I guess death isn't an element.
+3
Level 75
Dec 26, 2017
Nor simi.
+7
Level 90
Apr 16, 2018
Nor Napa :(
+2
Level 32
Apr 18, 2018
Mort either D:
+3
Level 90
Jul 7, 2018
Can I type in San Fernando for death?
+2
Level 84
Apr 18, 2020
And Californium doesn't work either :/
+18
Level 75
Dec 28, 2017
I think the question in this quiz is referring to total mass but is hydrogen more abundant in the human body in terms of number of atoms? I assume that the large majority of the oxygen atoms are due to the high water content and each water molecule will have twice that number of hydrogen atoms...
+3
Level 87
Jan 20, 2018
Mass is a better measure imo, but maybe it could be specified, yes.
+1
Level 43
Jun 6, 2022
I'd recommend accepting both.
+11
Level 85
Apr 16, 2018
Most common to me would be a count, not by mass unless its specified in the question. "Because of water content, the human body contains more oxygen by mass than any other element, but more hydrogen by atom-fraction than any element." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body
+10
Level 57
Apr 16, 2018
I believe the best answer would be in mols, in which case te current answer is correct
+1
Level 90
Jul 7, 2018
Someone who knows what he's talking about.
+4
Level 96
Aug 17, 2018
Not really. Mols is just a numeric value; that's like saying it's easier to count in hundreds.
+11
Level 70
Sep 26, 2018
@Jpcol, moles is the same thing as number of atoms (actually the number of atoms divided by 6.02 x 10^23). In moles the current answer is wrong. @someone, did you just assume that @jp knew what he/she was talking about just because they sounded like they did? If anyone wanted to know they could look it up.
+5
Level 72
Apr 18, 2020
I think someone was referring to himself when he said someone know what he's talking about ;)
+1
Level 72
Jul 24, 2023
Wrong twice, then.
+12
Level 73
Dec 29, 2017
Comes between uranium and plutonium.........face palm. Good question though.
+10
Level 83
Apr 16, 2018
Yea I'd never made that link between those elements and the planets, seems so obvious too.
+39
Level 90
Apr 16, 2018
Wait, wasn't plutonium demoted to a dwarf element? ;)
+2
Level 82
Feb 7, 2022
Too soon! (she says, 4 years later...)
+2
Level 83
Mar 26, 2018
"Once popular type of sign"?? I see those everywhere. Wasn't aware that they were in decline?
+8
Level 74
Apr 16, 2018
They are slowly being replaced by cheaper LED lights.
+2
Level 40
Apr 16, 2018
You should accept H for Hydrogen, C for Coal and so, because I’m finnish and i dont know what all these are in english
+12
Level 43
Apr 16, 2018
Use Google Translate. If one letter was allowed, then people could just type every letter and get the answer.
+16
Level 57
Apr 16, 2018
Sorry, coal is not an element.
+5
Level 56
Apr 18, 2020
I'm also struggling with the English names, but that may be the point: to learn and memorize something.
+4
Level 59
Sep 17, 2021
coal??
+16
Level 91
Apr 16, 2018
There are lots of elements found in milk.
+6
Level 66
Apr 16, 2018
Yeah, I was going to post something similar for a number of questions--lots of valuable metals and poisonous metalloids, etc.--but I got all of the suspect questions right on the first guess, and their overall guess rates are high, so I suppose the questions are fine.
+4
Level 81
Apr 17, 2018
There are lots of poisonous metalloid elements, too, aren't there? Maybe most of the ones I was thinking of aren't technically metalloid... or maybe they're not "extremely" poisonous.
+1
Level 70
Sep 26, 2018
Antimony is also a poisonous metalloid.
+6
Level 65
Apr 18, 2018
Yes, but calcium is the one that most people identify with milk.
+4
Level 83
Feb 8, 2022
Sure. But "most people identify with" is not at all the same as "found in."

I don't think the question is in-salvageable, but I do think it should probably be reworded; possibly along the lines of what you suggest.

+2
Level 37
Feb 8, 2022
87% are able to get it regardless. If it ain't broke.....
+3
Level 71
Sep 21, 2021
Also there are more nutrients in bananas than just potassium- magnesium and manganese most notably if we're talking about elements.
+2
Level 41
Apr 16, 2018
Fun quiz! Make more of these kind!

100% in 2:36

+1
Level 69
Apr 16, 2018
Great quiz! Tried to put Pb in for lead but it didn't take it. Still a lot of fun!
+5
Level 63
Apr 16, 2018
Got None
+1
Level 72
Jan 3, 2019
With sign, I thought of something flat made out of metal. If it was phrased differently I would have gotten it.

And for the watch hand I tried uranium and plutonium, but radium didnt come to the surface. The rest I got though. Nice quiz (though some are slightly to simple, like germany germanium. Even if you didnt know you could guess it. Like moscovium. you could have done darmstadtium as a city. Or scandium, less obvious than some other ones)

+1
Level 79
Feb 27, 2020
I got Radium as a complete guess first try somehow.
+5
Level 70
Apr 18, 2020
Great quiz! Might you consider making a different clue for the atomic number question? Its just not so much fun as the others. would love to see more quizzes like this.
+3
Level 86
Apr 18, 2020
Polonium is often classified as a metalloid, and by mass it is several orders of magnitude more poisonous than arsenic.
+1
Level 65
Sep 25, 2022
Yeah, I found that question confusing. There's gotta be a more specific way to state that
+2
Level 71
Apr 18, 2020
Allowing a few more latin names, might make this quiz more international?
+10
Level 55
Apr 18, 2020
Sulfur is pretty much odorless. It's hydrogen sulfide H2S that smells like rotten eggs.
+1
Level 75
Apr 18, 2020
^
+1
Level 75
Apr 18, 2020
100% yipeee
+2
Level 80
Apr 18, 2020
Platinum & paladium are malleable, ductile & way more expensive than gold.
+1
Level 79
Feb 7, 2022
Palladium is marginally more valuable per ounce. Gold is about twice as valuable as platinum.
+4
Level 34
Apr 20, 2020
Oxygen is not the most common element in the human body, and you can’t change my mind. You could say that oxygen accounts for more mass in a human body than any other element, but no way is it the most common. Hydrogen is more common by far
+1
Level 65
May 12, 2020
Funny how the creator's name is Wolfcam (close to wolfram).
+5
Level 57
Nov 18, 2020
"Comes between uranium and plutonium"

Uranium's needy ex-girlfriend?

+1
Level 46
Nov 27, 2020
Yessss 100%!
+1
Level 71
Dec 2, 2020
Very nice quiz!
+1
Level 82
Feb 5, 2021
As far as I know, mercury thermometers are not in use anymore, and are mostly replaced by gallium ones. Just sayin'...
+2
Level 39
Feb 27, 2021
I'm surprised Neptunium was so low. Isn't it obvious based on the order of planets (or dwarf planets)?
+1
Level 79
Jul 4, 2021
Named after the sun....mmm...Ahh...."Solarium"...d'Oh
+1
Level 66
Oct 24, 2021
Strontium-aluminate is used by Rolex, as is titrium (an isotope of hydrogen). I thought phosphorous is still used as well, but can't find much info.
+1
Level 28
Jan 4, 2022
Bruh, its so hard
+1
Level 91
Feb 7, 2022
Not really. I managed to get 20 of these.
+3
Level 78
May 30, 2022
The diamond question is the hardest, at least on the Mohs scale.
+1
Level 70
Feb 7, 2022
I was ready to finish with 2 minutes remaining and then I got stuck on radium
+5
Level 72
Feb 7, 2022
I like this quiz, but a lot of the clues are vague enough to cause confusion, and could be worded more clearly, IMO.

"Used in Thermometers" could be nearly anything. Optical thermometers use silicon, thermocouples use any two metals, liquid thermometers can use virtually any liquid. I recommend "Used to make the first practical thermometers" to hint at the expected answer.

"Found in milk" - the best answer for this ought to be hydrogen, since that's the element with the largest number of atoms in milk. To hint at what you are going for, maybe try "Nutrient advertised by dairy corporations to be found in their products."

"Smells like rotten eggs" - pretty easy to figure out what you were thinking after the previous hints, but this element actually doesn't smell like anything unless it forms compounds with other elements.

"Malleable ductile and valuable" is too open ended. Nearly any precious metal works to answer this, so I'd recommend "Malleable ductile valuable and yellow."

+5
Level 72
Feb 7, 2022
"Nutrient found in bananas" is likewise open ended. Could you think of something more specific?

"Used in a once-popular type of advertising sign" is pretty easy to guess, but could also be sodium, tungsten, or several other things. Maybe say "Noble gas once used in popular advertising sings."

"Extremely poisonous metalloid" isn't even quite right. Polonium is the obvious answer, with an LD50 of 18 ng/kg. The answer marked as correct is 1 million times less poisonous than that. For reference, boron is about 50 less lethal than the answer given. Maybe hint "Metalloid used in commercial rat poison."

"Pipes made of this are being replaced" is another vague one. Replaced why? Copper pipes are being replaced for economic reasons. Maybe hint "Pipes made of this are being replaced in Flint, Michigan" or similar.

"Along with chlorine, it makes salt" - maybe

Along with chlorine, it makes table salt." To a chemist, any metal with chlorine makes salt.

+3
Level 72
Feb 7, 2022
"Most common element in the human body" is wrong. The correct answer is hydrogen. Maybe you meant "Element that comprises the most weight in the human body?"
+1
Level 77
Feb 8, 2022
Considering the high rates of correct answers, most people get the meaning of most questions. You're way overthinking it.

Time to go out and touch grass.

+1
Level 72
Feb 10, 2022
It's just more satisfying if you don't have to fumble around guessing what the person who wrote the quiz was thinking. If the QM and author don't want to implement any of these suggestions, that's fine.
+2
Level 72
Jul 24, 2023
I agree with you, taking the questions individually, and had the same reaction.

The quiz is a little more fun if you consider it a little like a matching puzzle where you are finding the best answers (not necessary "correct") and not reusing them. Then it becomes a little more clear what's being asked for, since you can only answer "copper" (another element known for its value, ductility and malleability) for pennies, leaving gold to answer for malleability and value.

The quiz is structured with purposefully terse "hints" at "guesses" rather than "definitive answers to clear questions", it's just the style of the quiz. I do think "Most common element in the human body" should be rephrased as "Greatest proportion of human body" since "common" unambiguously refers to frequency, i.e., a count, and you don't need to say you're looking for an element, since that's the quiz.

+1
Level 61
Feb 7, 2022
100%!!! Super rare for me haha.
+1
Level 54
Feb 7, 2022
Got all but one, Arsenic.
+1
Level 60
Feb 7, 2022
For the watch one, I had to try Rolexium
+1
Level 43
Feb 10, 2022
Silver isn't named after Argentina

It's symbol comes from the Latin word Argentum which means silver or silvery

There is no relation to Argentina as far as I can see

Good quiz though 9/10

+2
Level 72
Feb 11, 2022
Europeans first become aware of Argentina when it was visited by John Cabot (who was Venetian). His son Sebastian Cabot started colonizing it not long after. Argento is Venetian for silver, and the -ina ending is diminutive, so Argentina in Venetian is like "Silver-ette". The Cabots had close ties to both England and Spain, and a home in Seville, which is why Cabot's North American expedition yielded colonies for England and Cabot's South American expedition yielded colonies for Spain (those were two of the richest European nations at the time. Italy didn't exist, and Venice was a small kingdom, not a large empire looking to conquer the world.).
+1
Level 72
Feb 11, 2022
Also, in Spanish, Rio de la Plata means River of Silver. Incidentally, it's the same origin in naming as Argentina, just in Spanish rather than Venetian.
+1
Level ∞
Jul 13, 2023
Argentina is named for silver, not the other way around.
+2
Level 67
Jan 26, 2024
You literally just said Argentum and Argentina in the same comment and didn't notice the relation???
+2
Level 59
Feb 11, 2022
Platinum is also malleable, ductile, and valuable.
+1
Level ∞
Jul 13, 2023
And yet gold is more malleable, more ductile, and more valuable.
+1
Level 76
Jul 24, 2023
Thallium is also extremely poisonous metalloid with a long history of use in murders and assassinations.
+1
Level 44
Jul 24, 2023
Can you accept the element symbols too? (e.g. K for potassium, etc.)
+1
Level 42
Apr 13, 2024
Seriously?!?! 28% for radium?