Elements form the basic building blocks of matter. Examples of elements include hydrogen, helium, gold, silver, iron, oxygen and carbon.

All of the elements are listed in the Periodic Table.

There are 90 naturally occurring elements. All elements after uranium, number 92 are man made. Synthetic elements are made in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators.

Elements are like different lego bricks. They chemically combine with each other to form millions of different types of compounds.

Watch an animated flash movie of the Element song by Tom Lehrer. Animation produced by www.privatehand.com

Elements are pure substances which cannot be broken down into simpler substances. Eg. Hydrogen cannot be broken down into anything simpler.

The smallest particle of an element that has the properties of that element is called an atom.

Elements are composed of the same type of atoms. eg. Gold is made up of gold atoms.

The elements are listed in the Periodic table.

Symbols of one or two letters are used as a means of chemical shorthand for the elements.

The first letter is always upper case. Eg. C for Carbon, Ne for neon

If the symbol for the element has two letters the second letter is always lower case. Eg. Cl for Chlorine and He for Helium.

The symbols of many elements are based upon their Latin names. Eg. Symbol Au for gold (Latin aurum meaning “glowing dawn - bright yellow ”) and Ag for silver (Latin argentum which is related to “money”)