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So you think you know your Einsteinium from your Titanium? See if you can match the periodic element to its corresponding wacky facts, and prove you're an elemental know-it-all -- period!

SULFUR (S)

ALUMINUM (Al)

ARSENIC (As)

IRIDIUM (Ir)

TANTALUM (Ta)

RADIUM (Ra)

POLONIUM (Po)

BALTHORIUM (Bt)

According to legend, the goldsmith who first mined this element hammered a dinner plate out of the stuff and presented it to Roman Emperor Tiberius. Concerned that proliferation of this shiny new metal would render his vast storehouse of gold and silver worthless, Tiberius had the goldsmith beheaded.

Used to power Soviet "doomsday" devices during the Cold War, this element increased the amount of deadly nuclear fallout produced in explosions. Also famously referenced in the classic film 'Dr. Strangelove.' (Also ... totally fictional.)

Marie Curie named this element in 1898 in honor of her then-beleaguered homeland. Tangled in a web of domineering control between neighboring Austria, Germany and Russia, its quiet struggle for independence needed all the publicity it could get – and while having a rare metalloid named for you ain’t exactly a two-page spread in the Times, it’s the thought that counts.

Called “brimstone” throughout English translations of the Bible, it may be the only element that keeps penitent Christians up at night: in Genesis it rains down on the naughty denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, killing them, and Revelations describes Hell as being both hot (from all the fire) as well as stinky (thanks to the element in question). But it keeps secular folk up at night, too – its release into the atmosphere by petrochemical plants is a leading cause of acid rain.

This element was the clue that cracked one of history’s biggest murder cases: what killed the dinosaurs? Turns out the layer of sediment laid down 65 million years ago – right on top of all the dino skeletons we excavate today – is full of this element, rare on the surface of the Earth but downright common in asteroids. This effectively put to rest a host of other extinction theories, ranging from a nearby supernova dissolving the atmosphere to a decrease in brain size which, yielding retarded dinosaurs, made them more susceptible to predators.

This element has many uses, the most popular of which, historically, have been suicide, fratricide, matricide, regicide – and just plain old murder. Also known as “the king of poisons” (or “the poison of kings”), it kills quickly, discreetly and untraceably, making it the most popular choice for upper-crust grudge-holders and inheritance-seekers since the Greeks discovered hemlock.

This element’s soft, blue luminescence earned it a name derived from the Latin word for a ray of light. It was used to paint glow-in-the-dark instrument panels and clock faces until the painters noticed it seemed to kill them; despite prior warnings from the element's discoverer, Marie Curie, about not putting radioactive things in your mouth, they shaped the paintbrushes with their lips. (Told you so!)

Its name was inspired by a mythical Greek who was condemned to stand for all eternity with perfect fruit growing just out of reach. The element itself is similarly non-reactive, and is used widely in making surgical equipment because of its immunity to corrosion by bodily fluids.

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