Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Elements/Guidelines

Regarding style guide we have to document the following for any element,

1. the chemical reactivity of the element itself, in particular for metals corrosion, reactivity to acids/bases heat etc.
2. trends in coordination number, types of bonding, the role of oxidation states where applicable and similarities to other members of the same group and adjacent elements etc. etc.
3. a narrative on the binary compounds
4. a narrative of organometallic compounds.

-Axiosaurus

I would also like to see the "biological role" section more standardized. In particular I would like to see it applied to every element that is essential to some normal metabolic or life process of some living organism. I'd like it to show whether

1. the element is part of some essential process of some organism, and if so a brief hint as to what some such processes are and what some such organisms are,
2. the element has therapeutic uses in the treatment of some conditions of humans or of some domesticated animals or domesticated plants or other domesticated organisms,
3. the element is toxic to some organisms.

--Eldin raigmore (talk) 15:01, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Element articles are usually NOT about the elemental forms

Following a discussion at Talk:phosphorus. The element articles are about the main source/use/history of anything containing the element as a dominant component, not the elemental form. If readers want to know about the uses of the element phosphorus, we dont want to delude them into thinking that white or red phosphorus is very really dominant - that would be [[WP:UNDUE}}. The content should reflect the fact that phosphorus occurs and is used mainly as oxides. The article on lithium, similarly, should not be about lithium metal but about the minerals that are sources of Li⁺, the compounds of Li, and the applications, which are mainly of Li⁺-containing materials. The manual of style for elements articles is:

1 Characteristics

1.1 Physical

1.2 Chemical

1.3 Isotopes

1.4 Occurrence

2 Production

3 Compounds

4 History

5 Applications

6 Biological role

7 Precautions

Sections 1.1 and 1.2 are allocated to the properties of the element. For some elements, say Ti, the dominant uses involve the metal in which case #2 (production) and #5 (applications) would emphasize the production and use to Ti metal. Please let me know if these views reflect consensus. Thanks, --Smokefoot (talk) 11:55, 6 July 2011 (UTC)