10 Elements Discovered or Isolated at the Royal Institution

1. Potassium (1807)

Humphry Davy isolated potassium from caustic potash using electrolysis in 1807, making this the first of 10 chemical elements that were discovered or isolated at the Ri

2. Sodium (1807)

Davy isolated sodium from molten sodium hydroxide

3, Barium (1808)

Davy isolated barium by electrolysis of molten barium salts

4. Calcium (1808)

Davy isolated calcium by electrolysis of a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide

5. Magnesium (1808)

Davy using electrolysis of a mixture of magnesia and mercury oxide

6. Strontium (1808)

Davy isolated strontium from a mixture of strontium chloride and mercuric acid

7.  Boron (1809)

Davy isolated boron in 1809, after first using electrolysis to produce a brown precipitate from a solution of borates in 1808

8, Chlorine (1810)

Chlorine was discovered in 1774, but it was believed to be a compound until Davy's experiments showed it was actually an element

9. Iodine (1811)

Iodine was discovered by the French chemist Bernard Courtois in 1811, but he lacked the resources to investigate the substance so gave samples of it to researchers. It was then named by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, who thought it to be either a compound of oxygen or an element. It was Davy who, a few days later, finally stated it was a new element, but this led to tensions around who identified it first.

10. Argon (1894)

Argon was discovered at the Ri in 1894 by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay

The Disappearing spoon

The Disappearing spoon and other true tales from the periodic table by Sam Kean is an award winning book of popular science, looking at the periodic table. It's not the first such book I have read and although I did not understand all of it by any means, I find the whole story fascinating. Sam Kean is a typically atheistic scientist and so he cannot see how it all points to God but it seemed to me that any with eyes to see it must be strengthened in their faith by considering the knowledge such books contain. The disappearing spoon, of course, is made of gallium. See here. In the original Godzilla the missile that kills the monster is tipped with cadmium, which is explained here too. As for why Gandhi hated iodine, another fact touted on the book's cover - see here to learn how Gandhi's influence means that to this day many Indians suffer iodine deficiencies. Fascinating book, well wortha read.

10 Eponymous Elements

1 curium (Cm, 96) — Pierre and Marie Curie
2 einsteinium (Es, 99) — Albert Einstein
3 mendelevium (Md, 101) — Dmitri Mendeleev
4 nobelium (No, 102) — Alfred Nobel
5 lawrencium (Lr, 103) — Ernest Lawrence
6 rutherfordium (Rf, 104) — Ernest Rutherford
7 seaborgium (Sg, 106) — Glenn T. Seaborg
8 bohrium (Bh, 107) — Niels Bohr
9 meitnerium (Mt, 109) — Lise Meitner
10 roentgenium (Rg, 111) — Wilhelm Roentgen

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