Element Families, Metals & Minerals

39 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which element is the best conductor of electricity of all metals?
- A. Copper
- B. Aluminum
- C. Gold
- D. Silver
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Silver
Did you know? Silver edges out copper and gold as the best electrical conductor.
2.What is the general name for the block of groups 3 to 12, full of colorful compounds?
- A. Transition metals
- B. Noble gases
- C. Metalloids
- D. Alkali metals
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Transition metals
Did you know? Transition metals form colorful ions, like blue copper and violet manganese.
3.Which softest-known mineral defines hardness 1 on Mohs scale?
- A. Talc
- B. Gypsum
- C. Calcite
- D. Fluorite
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Talc
Did you know? Talc sits at Mohs 1, scratchable by a fingernail.
4.Which element named after Pluto won Glenn Seaborg's team the 1951 Nobel Prize?
- A. Americium
- B. Uranium
- C. Neptunium
- D. Plutonium
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Plutonium
Did you know? Plutonium (1940) earned Seaborg a share of the 1951 chemistry Nobel.
5.Which 2016-named element filled the final empty slot of period 7?
- A. Flerovium
- B. Moscovium
- C. Copernicium
- D. Oganesson
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Oganesson
Did you know? Oganesson's 2016 naming completed period 7 with element 118.
6.Which beryllium silicate makes emerald?
- A. Beryl
- B. Quartz
- C. Corundum
- D. Olivine
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Beryl
Did you know? Emerald is chromium-tinted beryl.
7.Which dense metal's spike in clay marks the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs?
- A. Tungsten
- B. Platinum
- C. Osmium
- D. Iridium
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Iridium
Did you know? A worldwide iridium layer marks the K-Pg asteroid impact 66 million years ago.
8.Which group of metals is nicknamed the "coinage metals" for old-money use?
- A. Tin, lead, and bismuth
- B. Copper, silver, and gold
- C. Iron, nickel, and zinc
- D. Aluminum, magnesium, titanium
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Copper, silver, and gold
Did you know? Group 11's copper, silver, and gold are the classic coinage metals.
9.Which mineral is pure table salt?
- A. Quartz
- B. Gypsum
- C. Calcite
- D. Halite
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Halite
Did you know? Halite is rock salt, sodium chloride itself.
10.Which metal is second only to aluminum in crustal abundance?
- A. Calcium
- B. Iron
- C. Magnesium
- D. Titanium
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Iron
Did you know? Iron ranks fourth in the crust and second among its metals.
11.Which radioactive halogen is the rarest natural element of its family, decaying in hours?
- A. Fluorine
- B. Bromine
- C. Iodine
- D. Astatine
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Astatine
Did you know? Astatine is the rarest natural element on Earth, with grams at most at any time.
12.Which jade mineral family makes Chinese carvings?
- A. Serpentine only
- B. Nephrite and jadeite
- C. Quartzite
- D. Marble
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Nephrite and jadeite
Did you know? Chinese jade is nephrite; jadeite came later from Myanmar.
13.Which glowing noble gas did Ramsay and Travers discover in 1898, naming it "new"?
- A. Krypton
- B. Neon
- C. Argon
- D. Xenon
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Neon
Did you know? Neon, Greek for "new", was found in 1898 and lit its first sign in 1910.
14.What does the word "halogen" literally mean in Greek?
- A. Salt-former
- B. Water-hater
- C. Light-bringer
- D. Metal-eater
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Salt-former
Did you know? Halogen means "salt-former", for the salts each halogen makes with sodium.
15.Which green copper mineral decorates old jewelry?
- A. Jade
- B. Azurite
- C. Malachite
- D. Turquoise
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Malachite
Did you know? Malachite's green bands are copper carbonate.
16.Which element did German alchemist Hennig Brand discover in 1669 while distilling urine?
- A. Bismuth
- B. Arsenic
- C. Phosphorus
- D. Sulfur
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Phosphorus
Did you know? Phosphorus was the first element with a known individual discoverer, via glowing urine distillate.
17.Which element family is made entirely of radioactive metals?
- A. Coinage metals
- B. Lanthanides
- C. Actinides
- D. Noble gases
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Actinides
Did you know? Every actinide, from actinium through oganesson's neighbors, is radioactive.
18.Which organic gem is calcium carbonate from oysters?
- A. Coral
- B. Jade
- C. Amber
- D. Pearl
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Pearl
Did you know? Pearls are nacre's aragonite layers around a seed.
19.Which metal has the highest melting point of any element?
- A. Iridium
- B. Titanium
- C. Tungsten
- D. Platinum
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Tungsten
Did you know? Tungsten melts near 3400 degrees C, hence old light-bulb filaments.
20.Which evaporite mineral makes plaster of Paris?
- A. Calcite
- B. Barite
- C. Halite
- D. Gypsum
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Gypsum
Did you know? Heated gypsum grounds into plaster.
21.Which gemstone-named element takes its name from the mineral beryl?
- A. Magnesium
- B. Beryllium
- C. Boron
- D. Aluminum
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Beryllium
Did you know? Beryllium is named from beryl, the pale-green gemstone in its ore.
22.Which element's traces make ruby red?
- A. Chromium
- B. Iron
- C. Vanadium
- D. Titanium
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Chromium
Did you know? Chromium impurities paint corundum ruby red.
23.Which Spanish-named precious metal, "little silver", got its name from Colonial Colombia?
- A. Palladium
- B. Platinum
- C. Rhodium
- D. Silver
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Platinum
Did you know? Platinum comes from Spanish "platina", little silver, a coin-metal impostor.
24.How much radium did the Curies win from a ton of pitchblende?
- A. A full kilogram
- B. About a tenth of a gram
- C. Ten grams
- D. Half a gram
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About a tenth of a gram
Did you know? A ton of pitchblende yielded barely a tenth of a gram of radium chloride.
25.Which process uses carbon monoxide to purify nickel?
- A. The Kroll process
- B. The Mond carbonyl process
- C. The Pidgeon process
- D. The Hall process
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The Mond carbonyl process
Did you know? Mond's nickel carbonyl vapor decomposes to pure metal.
26.Which blue copper mineral shares malachite's chemistry with more oxygen?
- A. Sodalite
- B. Azurite
- C. Malachite
- D. Lapis lazuli
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Azurite
Did you know? Azurite is the blue twin of green malachite.
27.Which two alkali metals did Bunsen and Kirchhoff discover with the new flame spectroscope?
- A. Sodium and potassium
- B. Cesium and rubidium
- C. Calcium and strontium
- D. Lithium and barium
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Cesium and rubidium
Did you know? Cesium (1860) and rubidium (1861) were the first elements found by spectrum colors.
28.Which process wins titanium metal from its chloride?
- A. The Kroll magnesium reduction
- B. The electrolysis of rutile
- C. The cyanide leach
- D. The Bessemer blow
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The Kroll magnesium reduction
Did you know? Kroll's 1940 magnesium route freed titanium for jets.
29.Which barium mineral shields X-ray rooms?
- A. Strontianite
- B. Fluorite
- C. Gypsum
- D. Barite
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Barite
Did you know? Barite's heavy barium sulfate blocks radiation.
30.Which blue metal's old name "columbium" honors America, from its American ore?
- A. Tantalum
- B. Niobium
- C. Vanadium
- D. Zirconium
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Niobium
Did you know? Niobium was long called columbium in America, for the mineral from Connecticut.
31.Which blue stone is a sodium aluminum silicate from Afghanistan's mines?
- A. Lapis lazuli
- B. Sodalite
- C. Azurite
- D. Cyanite
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Lapis lazuli
Did you know? Lapis lazuli's lazurite travels from Badakhshan.
32.Which element did Perrier and Segrè make in 1937 as the first artificial element?
- A. Technetium
- B. Promethium
- C. Plutonium
- D. Neptunium
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Technetium
Did you know? Technetium, element 43, was the first element made rather than found.
33.Which aluminum fluoride mineral is the topaz of birthstone fame?
- A. Peridot
- B. Tourmaline
- C. Garnet
- D. Topaz
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Topaz
Did you know? Topaz is an aluminum fluorosilicate.
34.Which two elements together tint sapphire blue?
- A. Manganese and nickel
- B. Copper and zinc
- C. Chromium and vanadium
- D. Iron and titanium
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Iron and titanium
Did you know? Iron plus titanium charge transfers make sapphire blue.
35.Which manganese oxide mineral gives purple glass its decolorizing touch?
- A. Rutile
- B. Pyrolusite
- C. Hematite
- D. Cassiterite
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Pyrolusite
Did you know? Pyrolusite's manganese both tints and corrects glass color.
36.Which chromium-bearing mineral is the only ore of chromium metal?
- A. Rutile
- B. Corundum
- C. Chromite
- D. Malachite
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Chromite
Did you know? Chromite, iron chromium oxide, is chromium's sole ore.
37.Which titanium oxide mineral supplies white paint pigment?
- A. Cassiterite
- B. Hematite
- C. Rutile
- D. Magnetite
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Rutile
Did you know? Rutile's titanium dioxide whitens paint and sunscreen.
38.Which internal structure makes an opal shimmer?
- A. Hydrated silica spheres
- B. Copper salts
- C. Calcium carbonate
- D. Carbon layers
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Hydrated silica spheres
Did you know? Opal's stacked silica spheres diffract light.
39.Which trace element makes amethyst purple?
- A. Iron
- B. Copper
- C. Manganese
- D. Chromium
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Iron
Did you know? Iron impurities, irradiated, lend amethyst its purple.

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