Breaking Bad credit elements

Bryan Cranston (Walter White) - Br - Bromine
halogen group
“Elemental bromine is a fuming red-brown liquid at room temperature, corrosive and toxic, with properties between those of chlorine and iodine. When put under the pressure of 55 GPa, bromine converts to a metal. At 75 GPa, it becomes a crystal structure. Free bromine does not occur in nature, but occurs as colorless soluble crystalline mineral halide salts, analogous to table salt. Bromine’s primary industrial use is in fire retardants.”

Anna Gunn (Skyler White) - Na - Sodium
alkali metal
“Sodium is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal with only one stable variant. The free metal does not occur in nature, but instead must be prepared from its compounds. Many salts of sodium are highly water-soluble, and their sodium has been leached by the action of water so that chloride and sodium are the most common dissolved elements by weight in the Earth’s bodies of oceanic water. Sodium is an essential element for all animals and some plants.”

Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) - Ar - Argon
noble gas
“The name “argon” is derived from the Greek word αργον meaning “lazy” or “the inactive one”, a reference to the fact that the element undergoes almost no chemical reactions. The complete octet (eight electrons) in the outer atomic shell makes argon stable and resistant to bonding with other elements. Argon was first produced by removing all the oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen from a sample of clean air. It is mostly used as an inert shielding gas in welding and other high-temperature industrial processes where ordinarily non-reactive substances become reactive; for example, an argon atmosphere is used in graphite electric furnaces to prevent the graphite from burning. Argon gas also has uses in incandescent and fluorescent lighting.”

Dean Norris (Hank Schrader) - N - Nitrogen
non-metal
“Nitrogen is volatile element that converts to a stable gas at room temperature. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, and is a common element in the universe. its occurrence there is thought to be entirely due to synthesis by fusion in supernovas. The extremely strong bond in elemental nitrogen dominates nitrogen chemistry, causing difficulty for both organisms and industry in breaking the bond to convert it into useful compounds, but at the same time causing release of large amounts of often useful energy when the compounds burn, explode, or decay back into nitrogen gas. During the Middle Ages, The mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids was known as aqua regia (royal water), celebrated for its ability to dissolve gold (the king of metals).”

Betsy Brandt (Marie Schrader) - Be - Beryllium
alkaline earth metal
“Because any beryllium synthesized in stars is short-lived, it is relatively rare in both the universe and in the crust of the Earth. It occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals, and is present in many gemstones, the most notable being Beryl (an indian root of the name beryl, veḷiru, means “to become pale”). As a free element it is steel-gray, strong, and lightweight, but becomes brittle at room temperature. The high thermal conductivity of beryllium has led to its use in heat transport and heat sinking applications.”

RJ Mitte (Walter White, Jr.) - Te - Tellurium
metalloid
“A brittle and easily pulverized metalloid, mildly toxic, with a metallic luster similar to tin in its pure state, and silvery-white when crystalline. A semiconductor, it shows a greater electrical conductivity in certain directions, depending on atomic alignment. It was first discovered in Transylvania, in a mineral containing tellurium and gold, and was named after the Latin word for “earth”, tellus. Gold telluride minerals are the most notable natural gold compounds. In humans, tellurium is partly metabolized into dimethyl telluride, a gas with a garlic-like odor which is exhaled in the breath of victims of tellurium toxicity or exposure.”

Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman) - O - Oxygen
non-metal
“Its name derives from the Greek roots oxys (“acid”, literally “sharp”, referring to the sour taste of acids) and gοnos (“producer”, literally “begetter”), because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition. It is a highly reactive element that readily forms compounds with almost all other elements. The compound O2 is an important part of the atmosphere, and is necessary to sustain terrestrial life. Both liquid and solid O2 are clear substances with a light sky-blue color caused by selective absorption and scattering of white light.”

Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring) - Es - Einsteinium
actinide series
“Einsteinium was discovered as the debris of the first hydrogen bomb explosion, and named after Albert Einstein. The high radioactivity of einsteinium produces a visible glow and rapidly damages its crystalline metal lattice, with released heat of about 1000 watts per gram. Its short half life makes it difficult to study.”

Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut) - At - Astatine
halogen group
“Astatine occurs on Earth only as the result of the radioactive decay of certain heavier elements. Much less is known about astatine than most other elements, as a visible piece of it would be immediately and completely vaporized due to the heat generated by its intense radioactivity. It is estimated to be either a black solid, or to have a metallic appearance. Due to its rarity (less than 28 grams on earth at any given time), scientists’ attempts to find it in nature resulted in a number of false discoveries.”

(via fyeahbreakingbad)