Storistir Pillows

Stars like our sun make many elements, although not every known element has been detected in stars. All 118 elements including the man-made ones are listed in this design (in no particular order). Can you find your favorite element?

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Oxygen is in our air, rocks, sands, bodies, and waters. Oxygen levels below 88% in your blood can be dangerous, and levels below 80% can place vital organs in danger and warrant a trip to the hospital. Yikes!

Like to breathe, and don't like getting pinched? Try a little Element 8 Oxygen with the four-leaf green clover.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Dysprosium, element 66, is often used with Terbium (65) to make sensors, transducers, and actuators. It is one of the few elements that can be levitated by a strong magnetic field. Imagine floating on air!

Nihonium was discovered by a Japanese team, and was therefore named for Japan. There is an interesting history for why this element was named Nihonium rather than Nipponium.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Tantalus was the wicked king of Sipylus. He was also the father of Niobe. Tantalus had sons as well, one of whom he cut up to serve to the gods as a sick trick. He was punished by Zeus to experience eternal hunger and thirst with food and water always tempting him, just barely out of his reach. It is little wonder that an element named after Tantalus would be a conflict element. Tantalum works well in electronics and cell phones because it is dense, heat-resistant, and noncorrosive. It is also easy to mine, luring needed farmers to become miners and funding weapons for vicious wars and violence.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! The name Hafnium was derived from the old Latin name for Copenhagen, Hafnia, where the element was discovered. Hafnium is often found with Zirconium (40). Hafnium is very corrosion resistant, and can be alloyed with Iron (26), Niobium (41), Tantalum (73) and other transition metals. Hafnium is also chemically similar to Zirconium, which is in the periodic row right above. Hafnium and Zirconium are more chemically similar than any other pair of elements known.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Lutetia is an ancient Roman name for Paris, so Lutetium was named by one of its discoverers (Georges Urbain) to honour his native city. Lutetium is the most expensive, hardest and last of the Lanthanides (elements 57-71). Lutetium is used in cancer therapy and to date the age of meteorites.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Silicon, element 14, sits right below Carbon and is part of the Group 14 Carbon family. Silicon is very abundant on the earth's crust and silicon based life forms is theoretically possible under the right conditions. Wonder if we may one day define AGI or ASI as silicon life forms.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Tin, element 50, is one of the seven metals of antiquity. Tin is added to copper to make bronze and to copper, antimony, bismuth, and sometimes lead and/or silver to make pewter. Stannum is the ancient name for tin.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Cerium, element 58, is the most abundant of the rare earth metals. Cerium is used in CRT TV screens and electronics, in fluorescent lamps, in staining glass, and in self-cleaning ovens. Cerium is also used in ferro-rods and in car chase special effects to make sparks.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Barium compounds can be used in rat poison, and to obtain radiographs of stomachs and intestines. Patients are often given barium sulfate to obtain X-rays of the gastrointestinal tract to detect tumors, ulcers, and other abnormal conditions.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Tungsten, element 74, is found in wolframite and also "heavy stone" tungsten-containing mineral. The atomic weight of Tungsten is almost identical to Gold (79), so it's the most commonly used material for counterfeiting Gold. Tungsten is tough, dense and difficult to melt. It is very corrosion resistent, and has the highest melting point and tensile strength (in compounds) of any element.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Ruthenium, element 44, was named after Ruthenia, which at one time included Russia, Bellarus, Ukraine and other countries. There have been flames burning in Yanartas in Turkey for over 2500 years. The ruthenium present in the igneous rocks is surmised to be the catalyst for these flames.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Neodymium magnets are strong, and can "jump" together from a distance, making it a potential life threatening hazard if more than one are accidentally swallowed and nearby. Neodymium is used in motors, electrical vehicles, cell phones, etc. China is the largest producer of neodymium. Neodymium also has an interesting property whereby it changes color under incandescent versus fluorescent lighting.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Arsenic is a toxic element, yet it has been used in chicken and hog feed in the past to increase their weight and prevent infections. Seafood, rice, rice products, mushrooms, and poultry contain arsenic.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Nickel, element 28, is believed to be the second most abundant element in the earth's core, and is a fair conductor of heat and electricity. Nickel is used primarily to make corrosion-resistant alloys like stainless steel, although it has been used for coinage as well. The US nickel, however, contained more copper than nickel.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Mercury or hydrargyrum (Latin for "water silver") is a neurotoxin, and is a liquid at standard room temperature. Dental fillings, especially older "silver" fillings, contain about 50% mercury and can increase the risk of mercury poisoning. Symptoms of mercury poisoning can include headaches, muscle weakness, kidney damage, mood swings, breathing difficulties, hair loss, immune system impairment, etc.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Neptunium, element 93, was named after the planet Neptune. Neptune is also the name of the Roman god of the sea, analogous to the Greek god Poseidon. Neptunium can make dangerous fissile, but was not used for nuclear bomb purposes.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Germanium was derived from the Latin Germania--yes, meaning Germany. Germanium was used in semiconductors from about 1947 to 1960, when silicon replaced it. The primary reason for this transition was because silicon was much more abundant and cheaper, although there were other reasons as well.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Krypton, element 36, is a noble gas, which has been used to light up airport runways among other applications. Imagine a planet being named after an element, which was name after the Greek word kryptos meaning hidden. Lol!

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! The number 13 is deemed unlucky in some cultures, although not typically associated with elements--lol. Aluminium is the most common metal found on the earth's crust. It is also found in many minerals including precious stones like ruby, sapphire and topaz. Aluminium is a recyclable metal with uses in boats, trains, planes, appliances, rockets, engines, frames, power lines, soda canes, etc.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Osmium is derived from the Greek word for smell (a porportedly unpleasant one). Osmium is the densest of all elements. It is toxic in its tetroxide (4 oxygens) form and is used in fingerprint detection and to harden alloys (e.g., for fountain pen tips, needles, electrical contacts, etc.). Osmium is part of the platinum group of elements along with Ruthenium (44), Rhodium (45), Palladium (46), Iridium (77) and Platinum (78).

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! The seven metals of antiquity include lead, tin, mercury, iron, copper, silver and gold. There are thousand year old lead pipes that still work as well as they did milleniums ago. Lead or Plumbum (in Latin) is a heavy, durable metal, which can accumulate in soft tissues and bones, and cause neurotoxicity, nausea, headaches and cancer.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Vanadium, element 23, was named after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty, love, death and fertility, Vanadis. Vanadium steel alloys are tough and has been used in axles, crankshafts, tools and armor plating. Vanadium is an essential trace mineral for humans, and a small amount of it is needed for bone formation and cellular metabolism.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Thorium, element 90, was named after the Norse god of thunder, Thor. Thorium is slightly radioactive, and more abundant than tin or uranium on the earth's crust. China has built the first thorium nuclear reactor providing electricity to about 1000 households. Plans for making more thorium reactors in the future are in the works.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Dubnium, element 105, was named after Dubna in Russia. However, other names like Hahnium and Nielsbohrium were also in the running. The Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry decided on Dubnium after some haggling on the names of several man-made elements.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Berkelium, element 97, was named after the city Berkeley in California. Berkelium was first synthesized at the University of California, Berkeley, and was used primarily to create even heavier, radioactive elements.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Protactiniuim, element 91, was named because Actinium was a direct decay/descendent product. Atomic weight normally increases as the number of protons increases. However, Protactinium weighs less than Thorium (element 90), and is one of four pair reversals in the Periodic Table.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! 100 FM sounds like it should be a radio station, but element 100, Fm, was named after Enrico Fermi, who created the world's first nuclear reactor at an underground squash court in Chicago.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Element 6, Carbon, in the right places can be delicious! Carbon is the building block of life on earth as we know it (currently). Chocolates contain carbon; scats contain carbon; plants contain carbon; you and I contain carbon. The earth is constantly, dynamically cycling carbon. If we can get less of this element in our air, and more growing from the ground, life could be sweet!

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Yes, sulfur is swell, but its compounds can sure smell! Sulfur, element 16, is a vital element for humans and contributes to healthy cells, tendons, tissues, and ligaments. Sulfur is in our bones, skin and muscles, and helps protect our cells from damage. Plants high in sulfur include kale and broccoli, and unsurprisingly garlic and onion.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Meitnerium, element 109, was named in honor of Lise Meitner. Meitner was nominated for the Nobel prize in Chemistry and Physics almost 50 times, but was did not receive the prize because of her sex and religion.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Scientists were hoping to create an isotope of Flerovium within the theoretical island of stability with a half life of thousands of years. However, the making of this isotope has been illusive so far.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Moscovium, Element 115, is in the Pnictogen (Nitrogen) family, Group 15 of the Periodic Table. Moscovium is a radioactive, short-lived, man created element with no known uses.

The orbitals are swirling in Storistir to make holiday ornaments! Copernicium, element 112, was named after Copernicus, considered by some as the "father of modern astronomy." Shortly before his death in 1543, Copernicus published "On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres" regarding the idea of a heliocentric (Earth revolved around Sun) system, which was considered quite heretical back then.