Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Elements/Guidelines

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

the chemical reactivity of the element itself, in particular for metals corrosion, reactivity to acids/bases heat etc.
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.
a narrative on the binary compounds
a narrative of organometallic compounds.

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

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,
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,
the element is toxic to some organisms.

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

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. About the uses of phosphorus, we dont want to delude readers into thinking that white or red phosphorus is very really dominant - that angle give undue weight to a relatively modest aspect. The content should instead reflect the fact that phosphorus mainly occurs and is used as oxides. The article on lithium, similarly, should not be mainly about lithium metal but about the minerals that are sources of Li⁺, the compounds of Li⁺, and the applications, which again are mainly Li⁺-containing materials. The manual of style for elements articles specifies:

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 elemental form of the element. For some elements, say Ti, the dominant uses involve the elemental form (Ti metal), in which case #2 (production) and #5 (applications) would emphasize (but not exclusively describe) the production and use to Ti metal. Please let me know if these views do not reflect consensus. Thanks, --Smokefoot (talk) 11:55, 6 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Since we do not presently have subarticles on the isolated element and its properties, for most elements, most of this info has been hitherto done by the major element article. I think this reflects the expectation that most people would rather see the stuff on the isolated element in the main article ON the element (if it will fit), rather than in some spin-off. This tends to "overweight" articles for which the elemental form is hardly ever used or seen (ytterbium), toward information on the isolated element which is actually a very rare use. For elements like titanium and neon where the element is almost the only thing used industrially, it's not an issue. And yet I would not change it, simply because people expect to see the element properties and uses HERE, if anywhere. Only if they are very common (carbon) and contain so much information as to need subarticles, should they be spun off. That's only an opinion. Personally I"m happy to see most of the metallic lithium info in lithium and compound uses spun off, even though these are by far the most common uses (> 75%). S B H arris 00:25, 7 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]