Day 31: Interesting Facts About Gallium
Atomic Symbol: Ga; Atomic Number: 31; Atomic Mass: 69.723

1. Though gallium is a solid at room temperature, its melting point is at 85.57˚F or 29.76˚C, so it will melt in your hand or in the the summer heat. It also has one of the longest liquid ranges of any metal, with a boiling point of 3999˚F or 2204˚C.
2. Once liquified, the element tends to supercool, remaining a liquid below its freezing point. Adding solid gallium seed particles may be necessary to solidify the liquid metal. Also, be careful not to store your gallium in glass or metal containers, as gallium expands by 3.1 % during solidification, possibly breaking these containers.
3. Gallium can prove extremely useful in high-temperature thermometers, creating low-melting alloys, doping material for semiconductors, radiogallium salts, transistors, mirrors, LEDs, lasers, and in the study of neutrinos.
4. A classic prank many scientists have been known to use involves creating spoons of gallium and serving them with tea for unsuspecting guests. Imagine the surprise when the spoon melts in their hands and hot tea!
5. Also: watch the gallium beating heart reaction here, in which Gallium is placed into 6M solution of H2SO4. Upon being prodded with a nail, the surface tension decreases, creating a “heartbeat.”

Image: Gallium melts on the hand.

Day 25: Interesting Facts About Manganese
Atomic Symbol: Mn; Atomic Number: 25; Atomic Mass: 54.938

1. Take a deep breath and thank manganese. As an essential element in photosynthesis, without it, there would be no free oxygen on earth.
2. In our bodies themselves, there is only a tiny amount of manganese (10-20mg), which, comparatively, weighs less than a 100th of a dime! Yet, without manganese, we not only are unable to breathe, but we also could not perform vital metabolic functions.
3. Archeologists studying cave paintings that date back 30,000 years have discovered that not only did these early humans use manganese-based pigments, but they also used it as a cosmetic. In addition, the use of the element to remove green hues from glass was first implicated in the stone age, a technique that is still in use today.
4. Common uses include being used for drying black paints, preparing oxygen and chlorine, strengthening steel and other metals, gasoline additives, quantitative analysis, depolarizing dry cells, various medicines, and making colorless glass.

Image: Manganese is a silvery-gray metal resembling iron. It stimulates spontaneity.

Day 11: Interesting Facts About Sodium
Atomic Symbol: Na; Atomic Number: 11; Atomic Mass: 22.9898

1. Sodium is so highly reactive that it will spontaneously ignite when placed in water, thus in its pure metal form it must be kept under oil or kerosene.  
2. Common uses for sodium and its compounds include food preservation, cooling nuclear reactors, sodium vapor lamps, purifying and refining other elements and compounds, and as a desiccant.
3. Despite its outward appearances similar to a rock, elemental sodium at room temperature can easily be cut with a dull butter knife.
4. Sodium is the 4th most abundant element in the universe, being found in the sun and many other stars, where it is formed when atoms of neon gain a proton. It is also the 6th most abundant element on Earth, comprising about 2.6% of the earth’s crust, in which it is mainly found in minerals, including halite, cryolite, soda niter, zeolite, amphibole, and sodalite.

Image: Freshly cut shiny surfaces of sodium metal.