NAME:______________________________________ PERIOD:________ DATE:____________________
NOVA: Hunting the Elements
1. There are _________ unique substances (elements) arranged on an amazing chart that reveals their
hidden secrets to anyone who knows how to read it.
2. All the gold ever mined would fit into a single cube about _______ feet on a side.
3. Three-quarters of the elements are ________________.
4. How an atom reacts chemically depends on how willing it is to share _________________ with others.
5. How much would a 60 pound block of gold be worth in dollars? $_________________________
6. List two things copper is used for:
a.
b.
7. When copper is combined with another element, __________, it makes bronze, the first manmade
metal alloy.
8. The number of ________________ determines what kind of element the atom is.
9. The number of protons is called the atomic ________________ and it’s the fundamental organizing
principle of every table of the elements.
10. Metals are shiny, malleable materials that conduct ____________________________.
11. Most people think of _________________ as white and chalky, but it’s actually a silver, shiny metal.
12. Fiesta® ware bowls, like this one from the 1930s, gets its orange color from _________________ , and
it’s actually dangerously radioactive.
13. The table organizes the elements by atomic number, that is, the number of protons in each atom, yet
the table’s creator – a 19th-centruy Russian chemistry professor, named Dmitri ___________________,
knew nothing about protons or atomic numbers.
14. The group that fits neatly onto the end of the table, the _____________ __________, are unwilling to
mix with the other elements, to react with them.
