Periodic Table Tier List

For my article this week, I have ranked all of the elements on the periodic table (in a somewhat biased manner) . You may disagree with me so I will explain my rationale for each one. Also, most of them are based on name, recognizability, and usefulness

In S tier we have Mg, H, Hg, Pu, Cl, O, Sb, C

Mg
- Great name and symbol along with lots of uses in chemistry it is also very recognizable
H
- THE element I say think of an element and you probably think of this used almost everywhere the biases of all chemistry
Hg
- One of the best metals. It has incredible historical relevance and has so many cool and interesting reactions.
Pu
- While not the most famous radioactive element it is significantly underrated it has a great name and is used pretty commonly in… some weapons of war.
Cl
- Chlorine is a super common element and in my opinion the superior half of salt. It also has so many chemical engineering properties and so many interesting experiments are using chlorine sometimes.
O
- Commonly this is the air we breathe. This is used in almost all organic chemistry and is incredible in pure form. It is surprisingly corrosive!
Sb
- This one is purely the name it is a great switcheroo antimony is also an amazing name, especially for an element
C
- It is used in almost everything organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and even some inorganic

Next is A tier these are great but not perfect there are a crap ton of them so I am going to just cover the standouts/controversial if you have any questions or want justification email me at corrado-s@students.grps.org Ar Yb No Mo

Ar
- Argon is in my opinion the most underrated noble gas it is used commonly to prevent oxygen from getting to some reactions and it doesn’t react with anything because it is a noble gas
Yb
- Great name and I personally love the Y- y-starting elements for no good reason
No
- Come on No is a great symbol it is just the word
Mo
- Another amazing name and is surprisingly useful

B tier is the largest tier so I am going to once again cover only a few Hf, Pd, Nd

Hf
- A surprisingly useful element used in control rods and even rocket parts as it has a very high melting point.
Pd
- This is one of the many unsung elements if you don’t get to super advanced chemistry in college. This is typically used in reactions as a catalyst and it makes a whole host of reactions more feasible on a large scale
Nd
- While the name is kinda of bad it is super useful you even have some of it in your phone right now it is typically used as a strong meranite magnet which is needed for speakers.

C tier is an alright tier these are ok at best elements and generally don’t have anything super Meribel. Some of the more controversial ones that I will talk about are Na, Ni, He, and Kr

Na
- Na is a terrible element. It is used often, yes but it never really makes it better. From my experience it does nothing to help or is used as its element; it needs another element.
Ni
- It is just alright. Tell me something that nickel does that another metal can’t do better and I will move it up but otherwise, it does nothing special to me
He
- This is like the little brother to hydrogen. It is expensive and annoying and does make your voice funny yes but otherwise doesn’t do anything special.
Kr
- Unnecessary element

D tier is the bottom of the barrel it is just a bunch of sad elements Mn, Xe, Te

Mn
- This is a worse magnesium and if you have taken the weekly quizzes in chemistry you know why it is down here.
Xe
- Somehow more unnecessary than Kr
Te
- Just bad. Bad name and some useful properties but not enough to justify anything higher it is just an additive nothing special on its own

SAM CORRADO

Senior Editor — Social Media Manager at The City Voice

Hello, my name is Sam Corrado. I am a science and opinion writer for the City Voice. I run our social media and contribute ideas for others. Some of my interests include electronics and science. I am planning to go to college for chemistry and enjoy baking in my spare time.