Comments on: Alicia Keys Wants To Know: Which Element Of The Periodic Table Best Represents “Freedom”?

By: Grant Philpot

Grant Philpot — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:29:37 +0000

Hey fellow runners, there is still time to enter the Brighton Marathon in the UK, this is only its 2nd year running

By: Evie

Evie — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:44:33 +0000

I’m going with Hydrogen, because freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

By: RobMurphy

RobMurphy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:28:36 +0000

@dusty vinyl: Or maybe number 33? (yes, I had to check as well...)

By: Here_Now

Here_Now — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:24:17 +0000

Well, it’s gold (Au), of course!

We all know how valuable it is — entire wars have been fought over it, and its pursuit has driven mankind to do some fearless, even foolhardy things. But many of us have very little of it, and there are certain human beings whose entire existence is devoted to prying it away from others.

By: drinkypuss

drinkypuss — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:15:38 +0000

@dusty vinyl: Aaaaaaahahaha! I'm slightly ashamed I had to look that up, but worth every second it took. Probably more!

By: dusty vinyl

dusty vinyl — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:58:15 +0000

Rob – though Roentgenium was discovered by a Nobel laureate it’s not a Noble gas unfortunately – excuse by geeky chemist’s play on words. We don’t get out much.

Which also gives me the chance for the predictable follow up question “which element best describes Alicia’s album” – let me be the first to suggest the one which has the atomic number 5.

By: dippinkind

dippinkind — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:39:50 +0000

Marah Eakin is correct, the least reactive (and thus most free) element is helium.

By: RobMurphy

RobMurphy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:06:09 +0000

@dusty vinyl: Might I then suggest “Roentgenium”, the last element to receive an official “real name” (instead of an unofficial made-up scientific-y name); a member of the family of metals that includes copper, silver, and gold; and the element named in honor of the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, whose discovery of x-rays earned him the very first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901?

(Wikipedia does not lie, my friends…)

By: dusty vinyl

dusty vinyl — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:52:17 +0000

On a day like this it has to be a Noble gas.