What Heavy Metal Element? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Osmium

It is used primarily in fountain pens and electrical contacts. Some other miscellaneous uses include the stylus on early phonographs, fingerprint detection and in staining fatty tissue on microscope slides.

Answer: Rhenium

This was the last natural element to be discovered. It is primarily used in jet engines and as a catalyst in making unleaded gasoline. It also has one of the highest melting points of any element, surpassed only by carbon and tungsten.

Answer: Holmium

This metal is also used in nuclear control rods. While most metals are a consistent silver color, holmium oxide has some fairly dramatic color changes depending on the lighting conditions. While in daylight, it is a tan - yellow color, under trichromatic light, it is a bright - orange red.

Answer: Samarium

The samarskite mineral was named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, the Chief of Staff (Colonel) of the Russian Corps of Mining Engineers in 1845-1861. The name of the element is derived from the name of the mineral, and thus traces back to the name Samarsky-Bykhovets.

In this sense samarium was the first chemical element to be named after a living person. Samarium is also used to create the bright light needed for cinema projectors, along with other rare earth metals. These projectors work in the following way: Large amounts of current are passed between two (or more) rods of metal, and then the rods are slowly separated.

The light comes from the "lightning" between the rods.

Answer: Thallium

This metal has been used as a rat poison, but today it is mostly used as a conductor with variable resistance. It is occasionally used to treat ringworm infections, and is used as a radioactive marker in stress tests, most often for those relating to coronary disease.

Answer: Silver

Silver is mainly used for its value in jewelry. It was also used in photography, but this has declined since the widespread use of digital cameras.

Answer: Tantalum

It is also used to make camera lenses. While it is a metal, it is one of the most nonreactive metals around, surpassed by only osmium, rhenium and tungsten. It will not dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids in a volume ratio of about 3:1), which can dissolve almost anything, including gold and platinum.

Answer: Technetium

This is also the lightest artificial element. There is also the "technetium cow" a device used to make the material at hospitals and other places where it is used for nuclear medicine.

Answer: Vanadium

It was also named for the Norse goddess of beauty.

Answer: Mercury

Mercury was used to stiffen the fur on hats. As a small side affect, the fumes made people crazy (permanently).