MetaFilter posts tagged with elements

Cupcakes are mostly made of four elements

Deathalicious — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:54:53 -0800

There must be something about cupcakes and the periodic table of the elements. Not sure who did it first, but now it is ubiquitous. Then of course there is The Periodic Table of Cupcakes, which is a whole other matter. The periodic table as cupcake was mentioned previously, but the example given was hardly appetizing. A bit of googling suggests that SAACS (Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society) are behind a lot of this. Cupcakes can also teach you about DNA and RNA (crazy entertaining, have no idea how accurate). Note however, that a cupcake is not classified as a mineral. inspired by this photo via digg, but let's pretend I found it via FoodieFriday.

What do flaky scalps, skunks, and dead polo ponies have in common?

Wolfdog — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:49:28 -0800

Chemistry in its Element - a weekly podcast from the Royal Society of Chemistry offering an engagingly-narrated stroll through the periodic table, element by element.

Tom Lehrer has some work to do...

darkstar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:07:20 -0800

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been able to confirm the production of the superheavy element 114, ten years after a group in Russia, at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, first claimed to have made it. The search for 114 has long been a key part of the quest for nuclear science’s hoped-for Island of Stability.

(Experience is especially long at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley – not least because Glenn Seaborg discovered plutonium here early in 1941.)

The Periodic Table will continue to refer to the element by its IUPAC systematic element name, ununquadium, until agreement is made on a final "trivial" name for the element. Previously on MeFi: Element 112. Tom Lehrer's classic song, "The Elements".

Blending the Elements of Hip Hop

filthy light thief — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:54:59 -0800

Hip hop is made of four elements: Deejaying and turntablism, Emceeing (rapping and freestyling), Breaking (more previously), and Graffiti. And don't forget beatboxing (more), which blends turntablism and emceeing. But what if you can't make the wikka-wikka sounds with your mouth? You could learn from others, or you could dust off your flute with Nathan Lee, or bust out your sousaphone with Nat McIntosh (formerly with Youngblood Brass Band (interviewed on NPR), now with Dallas Brass).

Wu Xing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:04:56 -0800

Behind Chinese medicine, feng shui, acupuncture, diet, music and cosmology itself is the concept of Wu Xing. Created by Zou Yan in the third century BCE, it is a unifying idea of the universe, often called the "five elements". Although the term is generally translated as "five elements", this is incorrect. The word Wu does indeed mean "five". But there is no simple translation for Xing. Translations such as "five elements", "five agents", "five qualities", "five properties" "five states of change", "five courses", "five phases" and "five elementals", are all used.* Wu Xing in diagram format.

I know, it should be 'Armin Tamzarian'.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:39:52 -0800

Cute quiz: Name the Simpsons characters. Also: US states, countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America, periodic table of elements. More.

Poetic Table

Wolfdog — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:40:06 -0800

Grills made of you are worn by sellers of drugs / You are used in cars, and great for spark plugs. A periodic table of rather bad poetry about the elements. Via This compilation of periodic tables.

60 elements remain.

divabat — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:06:29 -0800

How many HTML elements can you name in five minutes?

Elementary, My Dear Watson

digaman — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:26:48 -0800

Theodore Gray's interactive periodic table isn't the only periodic table online -- another one was posted to MeFi last month -- but I think it's the most gorgeous, informative, and ambitious periodic table I've ever seen, featuring actual samples of most of the elements and their practical uses, a fascinating display of uranium isotopes, and explosive "sodium party" videos and more from Gray's many years of obsession with the elements.

He Likes Beer But Can Not Obtain Food

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:31:35 -0800

Periodic Table of Elements

You got your diburnium-osmium alloy in my fistium.

blahblahblah — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:23:28 -0800

Elementymology. An fascinating look at the origins of the names of 117 elements, which also includes the names of the elements in many languages and a discussion of the origin of chemical symbols. If the real elements bore you, you may be interested in the fictional elements and particles in Star Trek and the Legion of Super Heroes (as well as some real ones as used in comics, prev.).

It's elemental, my dear Tungsten

Terminal Verbosity — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:32:11 -0800

"Gold is one of the few elements you can find just lying on the ground. This one-ounce pure gold nugget was found in Alaska around 1890 by Hogamorth Marion, while on a trip to sell shoes to Eskimoes. Seriously."

An interactive periodical table.

Non-Friction or Frictional?

somnambulist — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:13:15 -0800

Why is Ice slippery? You would have thought this would be well defined in 2006. But scientists are still arguing about the key elements. Plus no clear definition of Ice IX...

New Elements: Uut and Uup

mcgraw — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 11:12:56 -0800

Time to replace your old Periodic Table. ...a joint American-Russian team has found two new elements—numbers 113 and 115 on the periodic table—hinting at an impending breakthrough in creating novel forms of matter that will test our understanding of atomic behavior.

Earth Scientist's Periodic Table.

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:32:30 -0800

Earth Scientist's Periodic Table.

The Mythical Quest

plep — Fri, 11 Jul 2003 06:25:46 -0800

The Mythical Quest , an old exhibition at the British Library. 'Throughout the world, tales have always been told of heroes and heroines embarking on perilous quests in search of lost loved ones, the secret of immortality, earthly paradise or simply great riches. Many of these stories have elements in common, such as clashes with monsters, battles with the elements, interventions by the gods and tests of moral character, mental cunning and physical strength. These tales have been expressed in songs, literature, art and dance for thousands of years, and are still being reinterpreted today in books, comic strips, interactive games and adventure films.'
More British Library exhibits here, from early Indian photography to the secret life of maps.
Examples of mythical quests :- Monkey: Journey to the West (another version here, not to mention the TV series); the Ramayana (and the Ramakian, the Thai version); Cupid and Psyche at the Classics Pages (subject of a previous thread); the Holy Grail (more at the Catholic Enyclopaedia); the journey of Alexander the Great; Pilgrim's Progress and John Bunyan; the world of Dante and a map of Hell.

There may be many more but they haven't been dis-coh-vahd

Zed_Lopez — Thu, 01 May 2003 00:26:27 -0800

There may be many more but they haven't been dis-coh-vahd As of 1959, the news of 102 elements had come to Harvard (a modern remake would have to cram in 13 more.) There's more than one way to look at them, like spiral, rotating, illustrated, sub-atomic, symmetric, or forward-looking. Been there? Done That? Get the t-shirt.

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 23 Oct 2002 09:05:21 -0800

Tom Lehrer Sings The Periodic Table. [Flash required]

vacapinta — Thu, 06 Jun 2002 22:44:43 -0800

The Periodic Table Table now has its own, newly updated website. This had made the rounds on various websites when it was a mere set of construction photos on a bandwidth -constrained site. This is now much better.

solistrato — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 13:51:15 -0800

An oldie but a goodie: The Visual Table of the Elements.

plinth — Mon, 08 May 2000 14:05:26 -0800

Leaping Lizards, Batman! It's...it's...PERIODIC!