Monday, November 10, 2008

Periodic Table Rings - Itsnoname

By on Monday, November 10, 2008 Comments

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Sometime in the 19th century, a Russian chemist named Dmitri Mendeleev (1834 -1907) made an extremely important contribution to science, engineering and industry when he came up with the original periodic table of elements.

Mendeleev classified the elements according to their chemical properties and arranged them in order of their atomic numbers. He had noticed "certain recurring or periodic trends" and was able to group them to some degree. What is significant with the table of known elements is its ability to predict yet undiscovered elements.

What has that got to do with jewelry making? Well, you can find all your favourite metals in that table. Copper is known by its scientific short form as Cu. If you look at the above periodic table, its atomic number is 29. Gold is Au (79), silver is Ag (47) and platinum is Pt (78). Nickel, best avoided by those allergic to this metallic element is Ni (28). Chain maille artisans sometimes use aluminium , Al (13). Steel, brass and pewter are alloys or mixtures so they are not on the periodic table.

To my delight, I came across which offers three unique rings for sale. They are not only made from the respective metal but also bear the correct periodic table notations. The silver ring retails for $280, the 14K yellow gold one is $2,350 and the platinum ring is $6,600. The larger number at the bottom is the individual metal's atomic weight.

If anyone is into metal stamping, copper, silver or even gold tags could be stamped with Cu, Ag and Au and perhaps the atomic numbers to make really geeky jewelry!

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  1. Oh, now I know what to get for Xmas. What a cool idea. Guess I could not wash my hands with a Na ring.

    Great find Pearl!

  2. Pretty cool stuff! I am always learning things over here, so interesting.

  3. Pretty hard to have a "Geeky" ring for $6,600. How about Fe?

    PS Too funny the word verification I was given is degaus - now if it were degauss, that is geeky!

  4. That's the idea - to share and learn here.

    Stainless steel is used for jewelry but it doesn't count as an element as it is a steel alloy. It's mostly iron (Fe) with carbon and chromium in it.

  5. On second thoughts, Bev, perhaps Fe should have been in my article! We use alloys too for sterling silver and gold. Neither are ever used in their pure state.