the forces controlling each dimension

wildly different styles of fanart 

+ bonus image

Original & Other Elements 23/?: Arsenic

As there are six kinds of metals, so I have also shown with reliable experiments… that there are also six kinds of half-metals: a new half-metal, namely Cobalt regulus in addition to Mercury, Bismuth, Zinc, and the reguluses of Antimony and Arsenic. (Georg Brandt)

Arsenic is another unseen element in the series, a famously toxic metalloid of varying colours (mainly grey, red, and yellow).  Despite being poisonous, it’s also a semi-conductor and has some positive uses - it’s used in industry in lead alloys & bronzing (including bullets), car batteries, wood treatment, animal medicine, and, of course for various pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides.

Known from ancient times, it has been used for a worrying amount of medicines and cosmetics.  In the 19th century it was used for dyes to create bright greens and yellows, especially Paris Green and Scheele’s green, and used in clothing and wallpapers.  It was sometimes even used to adulterate food, leading to the notorious Bradford 1858 sweet-poisoning incident.  In more recent times, it was used in making glass lenses for spectacles.

Fics posting the first full week of December , so the 1st-7th

1. Minor Characters (basically, anyone but Sapphire, Steel and Silver)

2.  Sapphire

3. Steel

4. Crossover Day

5.  Original/Audio Elements: Today’s a day to focus on Elements we didn’t get to see in the TV show. For example,  Ruby or Gold from the audios, or completely fan-created Elements.

6. Assignment 7 (or just how did Sapphire and Steel get out of that motorway in the final episode?)

Anyone interested in a Sapphire and Steel fic week? If I posted seven prompts (one per day), would anyone be interested in joining in? I considered a fic exchange, but thought this would produce more new fics. 

Original & Other Elements 22/?: Bismuth

Not appearing or mentioned in canon, Bismuth is a brittle silvery-pink post-transition metal, with chemical properties similar to arsenic and antimony.  It has often been confused with lead, and has been used in its place in alloys, as bismuth has a much lower toxicity.  It is considered stable, although is in fact weakly radioactive, but with a massive half-life - over a billion times the estimated age of the universe!  Unusually, it expands as it solidifies.  It’s also the most naturally diamagnetic metal (i.e. is strongly repelled by magnetic fields).

It can occur naturally and has been known since ancient times.  It is mostly used in compounds and alloys, in cosmetics (hairspray, eye shadow, nail polish), medicine, solders, glazes, sprinkler systems and in setting print type.

Original & Other Elements 21/?: Amethyst

Made up of the glories of the most precious gems, to describe them is a matter of inexpressible difficulty. For there is amongst them the gentler fire of the ruby, there is the rich purple of the amethyst, there is the sea-green of the emerald, and all shining together in an indescribable union. (Pliny the Elder.)

Amethyst is a variety of quartz, a silicate mineral, coloured violet via irradation, iron impurities and traces of other elements.  Its name is from the Greek (”not intoxicated”) reflecting the ancient belief that amethyst warded off drunkenness and insanity.  Egyptians carved amethysts into the shape of hearts for burials.  In folklore and crystal healing, it is said to help the wearer clear the mind and keep a cool head, and amethyst amulets have been worn from ancient times.  It is traditionally the birthstone for February.  Amethyst is a colour as well as a mineral.

It’s a semi-precious gem, of the same hardness as quartz, and so has also been used in jewellery for millennia, and, being purple, was seen as symbolic of royalty.  In previous centuries, it was as valueable as diamonds or rubies, but as more sources of amethyst have been found, particularly in Brazil, its value has decreased in modern times.  As with other varieties of quartz, it is used in clock and watch-making, and synthetic amethyst crystals are grown for this purpose.  In Tibet, it is seen as sacred to Buddha and prayer beads are made from it.

Original & Other Elements 20/?: Iridium

Iridium isn’t mentioned in the series, although its history and usage is linked with Platinum, who is.  Iridium is a brittle, silvery-white metal.  It’s a rare element, found in river beds, as a by-product of copper and nickel production, and is more common in meteorites than on Earth.  It is the most non-corrosive metal, and has a high density and melting point.  It bonds with iron, is found with platinum and forms salts and acids with chlorine, and is part of Group 9 on the periodic table with cobalt, rhodium and meitnerium.

It was discovered in 1803 by Smithson Tennent and named for Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow, due to the various colours of its salts. It’s used in electronics, as a chemical catalyst, and in electrodes, in spark plugs, and for growing crystals.  The Iridium Satellite Constellation, providing coverage to phones and receivers across the Earth, is named after the element.  (It was originally believed that 77 satellites would be needed - the atomic number of iridium - even though only 66 were eventually used.)

steel: oh no

silver:

silver: