Periodic Table Quiz
Symbols, groups and record-setting elements: 15 questions for chemistry fans.
What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Au
Au comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold, which shares a root with 'aurora', the glow of dawn.
Ag, the symbol for silver, comes from the Latin argentum, which also gave Argentina its name.
What element has the atomic number 1?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen has a single proton in its nucleus, giving it atomic number 1 and the first place on the table.
About 74 percent of the ordinary matter in the universe by mass is hydrogen, most of it burning inside stars.
Which element is the most abundant in the Earth's crust?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Oxygen
Oxygen makes up about 46 percent of the Earth's crust by mass, bound up in silicate and oxide minerals such as quartz and feldspar.
Silicon is second at about 28 percent, which is why sand, mostly silicon dioxide, is so plentiful.
What is the only metal that is liquid at standard room temperature?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mercury
Mercury melts at about minus 39 °C, so it stays liquid across all normal room temperatures, while gallium and cesium only melt at around 29 °C.
Its symbol Hg comes from hydrargyrum, Greek for 'water silver', and mercury poisoning among 19th-century hat makers gave us the phrase 'mad as a hatter'.
Who is credited with creating the first widely recognized periodic table?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table in 1869, arranging the known elements by atomic weight and leaving gaps for elements not yet discovered.
Element 101, mendelevium, is named in his honor, although he never won a Nobel Prize, missing out by a single vote in 1906.
What is the chemical symbol for sodium?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Na
Na comes from natrium, the Latin name derived from natron, the sodium-rich mineral the ancient Egyptians used to dry out mummies.
Sodium metal is soft enough to cut with a knife and reacts violently with water, yet combined with chlorine it makes ordinary table salt.
Which noble gas is used in bright advertising signs and gives off a reddish-orange glow?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Neon
When electricity passes through neon gas in a sealed tube it glows a distinctive red-orange, which is why the first neon signs lit up Paris in 1910.
Other colors in so-called neon signs come from different gases or coatings: argon with a trace of mercury gives blue, and helium gives a pinkish white.
What element does the symbol Fe represent?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Iron
Fe stands for ferrum, Latin for iron, the same root behind 'ferrous' and 'farrier', the person who shoes horses.
Iron is the most abundant element on Earth as a whole, because the planet's core is mostly molten and solid iron.
Which two elements make up water (H2O)?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Hydrogen and oxygen
Each water molecule has two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom, which is exactly what the formula H2O spells out.
Ozone is O3, three oxygen atoms bonded together, and it shields Earth from ultraviolet light high in the stratosphere.
What is the heaviest element found in significant quantities in nature?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Uranium
Uranium, atomic number 92, is the heaviest element that occurs in nature in significant amounts; everything beyond it is made in reactors or exists only in traces.
Uranium was named after the planet Uranus, discovered just eight years before Martin Klaproth identified the element in 1789.
Which scientist discovered radium and polonium?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Marie Curie
Marie Curie and her husband Pierre isolated polonium and radium from pitchblende ore in 1898, naming polonium after her native Poland.
She remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.
What is the lightest element on the periodic table?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Hydrogen
A hydrogen atom is just one proton and one electron, giving it an atomic mass of about 1.008, roughly a quarter of helium's.
Hydrogen is so light that Earth's gravity cannot hold on to it, which is why free hydrogen gas is almost absent from our atmosphere.
What group of elements are found in Group 18 (the far right column) of the periodic table?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Noble gases
Group 18 holds helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon, gases with full outer electron shells that rarely react with anything.
Xenon compounds were first made in 1962 by Neil Bartlett, proving the so-called inert gases were not completely inert after all.
Which element has the highest melting point?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Tungsten
Tungsten melts at about 3,422 °C, the highest of any metal, which is why it was chosen for incandescent light bulb filaments.
Its symbol W comes from wolfram, the German name, and it is almost exactly as dense as gold.
What element is represented by the symbol K?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Potassium
K comes from kalium, the Latin name derived from the Arabic al-qali, meaning plant ashes, from which potassium compounds were first extracted.
Bananas are famous for potassium, but a baked potato with its skin contains roughly twice as much.
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All Science quizzes →About the Periodic Table Quiz
The periodic table packs 118 elements into a single chart, from hydrogen, which makes up about three quarters of the ordinary matter in the universe, to oganesson, of which only a handful of atoms have ever been made. Its 1869 designer left gaps in the table and predicted the elements that would fill them, and the bet paid off when gallium and germanium turned up with almost exactly the properties he described.
The 15 questions cover element symbols such as Au, Fe and K, the noble gases, the most abundant and heaviest elements, and the scientists who discovered and organized them. It is an easy round overall, so it suits school students revising, parents helping with homework and anyone who wants to check how much high school chemistry has stuck.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Easy. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
How many elements are on the periodic table?
118. Tennessine and oganesson were the most recent to be officially named, in 2016, and elements 119 and 120 are being hunted but have not yet been confirmed.
Why do some symbols not match the English name?
Several symbols come from the element's Latin name rather than its English one, a legacy of chemistry's early days. Others honor scientists, places or Greek words.
Is the quiz useful for exam revision?
Yes. It covers the symbols, groups and properties that appear in introductory chemistry courses, and the explanations add the reasoning behind each answer.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Au Au comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold, which shares a root with 'aurora', the glow of dawn. Ag, the symbol for silver, comes from the Latin argentum, which also gave Argentina its name. - What element has the atomic number 1?
Hydrogen Hydrogen has a single proton in its nucleus, giving it atomic number 1 and the first place on the table. About 74 percent of the ordinary matter in the universe by mass is hydrogen, most of it burning inside stars. - Which element is the most abundant in the Earth's crust?
Oxygen Oxygen makes up about 46 percent of the Earth's crust by mass, bound up in silicate and oxide minerals such as quartz and feldspar. Silicon is second at about 28 percent, which is why sand, mostly silicon dioxide, is so plentiful. - What is the only metal that is liquid at standard room temperature?
Mercury Mercury melts at about minus 39 °C, so it stays liquid across all normal room temperatures, while gallium and cesium only melt at around 29 °C. Its symbol Hg comes from hydrargyrum, Greek for 'water silver', and mercury poisoning among 19th-century hat makers gave us the phrase 'mad as a hatter'. - Who is credited with creating the first widely recognized periodic table?
Dmitri Mendeleev Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table in 1869, arranging the known elements by atomic weight and leaving gaps for elements not yet discovered. Element 101, mendelevium, is named in his honor, although he never won a Nobel Prize, missing out by a single vote in 1906. - What is the chemical symbol for sodium?
Na Na comes from natrium, the Latin name derived from natron, the sodium-rich mineral the ancient Egyptians used to dry out mummies. Sodium metal is soft enough to cut with a knife and reacts violently with water, yet combined with chlorine it makes ordinary table salt. - Which noble gas is used in bright advertising signs and gives off a reddish-orange glow?
Neon When electricity passes through neon gas in a sealed tube it glows a distinctive red-orange, which is why the first neon signs lit up Paris in 1910. Other colors in so-called neon signs come from different gases or coatings: argon with a trace of mercury gives blue, and helium gives a pinkish white. - What element does the symbol Fe represent?
Iron Fe stands for ferrum, Latin for iron, the same root behind 'ferrous' and 'farrier', the person who shoes horses. Iron is the most abundant element on Earth as a whole, because the planet's core is mostly molten and solid iron. - Which two elements make up water (H2O)?
Hydrogen and oxygen Each water molecule has two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom, which is exactly what the formula H2O spells out. Ozone is O3, three oxygen atoms bonded together, and it shields Earth from ultraviolet light high in the stratosphere. - What is the heaviest element found in significant quantities in nature?
Uranium Uranium, atomic number 92, is the heaviest element that occurs in nature in significant amounts; everything beyond it is made in reactors or exists only in traces. Uranium was named after the planet Uranus, discovered just eight years before Martin Klaproth identified the element in 1789. - Which scientist discovered radium and polonium?
Marie Curie Marie Curie and her husband Pierre isolated polonium and radium from pitchblende ore in 1898, naming polonium after her native Poland. She remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911. - What is the lightest element on the periodic table?
Hydrogen A hydrogen atom is just one proton and one electron, giving it an atomic mass of about 1.008, roughly a quarter of helium's. Hydrogen is so light that Earth's gravity cannot hold on to it, which is why free hydrogen gas is almost absent from our atmosphere. - What group of elements are found in Group 18 (the far right column) of the periodic table?
Noble gases Group 18 holds helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon, gases with full outer electron shells that rarely react with anything. Xenon compounds were first made in 1962 by Neil Bartlett, proving the so-called inert gases were not completely inert after all. - Which element has the highest melting point?
Tungsten Tungsten melts at about 3,422 °C, the highest of any metal, which is why it was chosen for incandescent light bulb filaments. Its symbol W comes from wolfram, the German name, and it is almost exactly as dense as gold. - What element is represented by the symbol K?
Potassium K comes from kalium, the Latin name derived from the Arabic al-qali, meaning plant ashes, from which potassium compounds were first extracted. Bananas are famous for potassium, but a baked potato with its skin contains roughly twice as much.
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