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Date: 28.11.2007

As a student of Chemistry, I wish to share some interesting facts on the elements in the periodic table. Also, here I wish to cover only uncommon elements. By uncommon elements, I mean elements which people, who don't possess Chemistry back ground, may not be knowing.

Lithium(Li):
It is the smallest metal in the periodic table. Some of its ores are Lepidolite, Spodumene etc. Lithium Carbonate is used as an anti-tussive agent.

Germanium(Ge):
The atomic number of Germanium is 32. It is also known as Eka-Silicon. It is a metalloid and it is widely used as a semi-conductor. It was discovered by Winkler and it is named after his mother country, which is Germany.

Tungsten(W):
The atomic number of tungsten is 74. The element owes it's symbol to it's another name Wolfram, which in Swedish language means "Heavy Stone". Tungsten finds its applications in electrical filament lamps.

Chlorine(Cl):
The atomic number is 17. It is an important member of halogen family. In Greek, "Chlor" means "Green" and chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas. It is an effective disinfectant.

Polonium(Po):
The atomic number is 84. It is radioactive. It is named after the mother country of its discoverer Marie Curie. As we all know, the mother country of the first woman Nobel Laurete, Marie Curie, is Poland. Apart from Polonium, she is also the discoverer of another radioactive element Radium(Ra). The atomic number of radium is 88. Also, one of the trans-uranic elements is named after the spouse of Marie Curie, which is, Curium(Cm) of atomic number 96.

Gallium(Ga):
The atomic number is 31. Many people know that mercury is a liquid metal but mercury is not the sole liquid metal in the periodic table. Even Gallium is a liquid metal. There are totally five liquid elements in the periodic table. Of those five, Bromine(Br) is the only liquid non-metal.

Technitium(Tc):
The atomic number is 43. One thing peculiar to technitium is that it is the only radioactive element amongst d-block elements.

Tin(Sn):
The atomic number is 50. It owes its symbol to its Latin name "Stannum". There are two allotropic forms of tin, namely, white tin and grey tin. When one of the allotropic forms transforms into another, a crackling sound would be heard, which is referred to as "Tin Cry".

Cadmium(Cd):
The atomic number is 48. It is a heavy metal poison. The disease caused by cadmium poisoning is known as "Itai itai".

Indium(In):
The atomic number is 49. Like the people of Germany and Poland, we Indians cannot take pride that this element has been named after our India, since it owes its name only to the indigo coloured lines observed in its atomic spectrum.

(P. S.: Of all the alphabets of English, "J" is the only alphabet that doesn't occur in the periodic table)