When it comes to the elements, humans are pretty good at ensuring that nothing goes to waste. We’ve put nearly every element on the periodic table to work, whether it’s fueling chemical reactions within our bodies or propelling payloads to orbit.
We all know what some of the 118 elements are used for — we breathe oxygen, pour chlorine in our swimming pools and wrap gold around our fingers — but what about some of the more underrated members of the periodic table? Take, for example, yttrium, hafnium and samarium — did you even know they existed?
This interactive periodic table from Seattle-based designer Keith Enevoldsen puts the elements in the context of their uses, making for a far more relevant way to study chemistry. Along with the name and atomic number of each element, Enevoldsen added helpful graphics and a short explanation of how each element is put to ...
