The world, including ourselves, is made from just 92 different natural chemical elements. These are 71 metal elements and 21 nonmetals which include the elements of life: C, H, 0, N, S, P.
The elements are continually being formed in stars by nuclear fusion of hydrogen (H) atoms. The number of H atoms required for its formation is the atomic number of an element.
Lining up the elements from number 1 hydrogen (H) to number 92 uranium (U) in rows, with similar elements in each row arranged in columns gives the Periodic Table for predicting chemical reactions.
The elements combine with each other to give millions of different chemical compounds. Only 17 of the least reactive elements are found uncombined in nature.
You can have fun collecting 10 or more uncombined elements in your own home and can learn more about them from the Periodic Table and a dictionary.
Carbon, (C) , is a nonmetal and is a diamond in jewellry and the stylus (needle) of record players and it is also charcoal and graphite in pencils; aluminum, (Al), is foil for wrapping food; iron (Fe), is used in railings and skillets; nickel (Ni), is made into dimes and quarters; copper (Cu), is made into pennies, wires and pipes; zinc (Zn), is the outside electrode of flashlight batteries.
Gold (Au) and silver (Ag), are used in jewelry and electronic equipment. Au is also made into teeth and Ag is in tooth fillings and is the black colour in photo negatives.
Mercury (Hg) , is the liquid metal in thermometers that swells as it gets hot and lead (Pb) , is a soft grey metal sewed into drapes and hung on fishing lines to hold them down.
Other possibilities are helium (He), in balloons and platinum (Pt), in very expensive jewellry and in automobile exhaust converters.
These home elements are grouped together in the center of the Periodic Table with more reactive elements on each side.
Locate your home elements in the Table and find their atomic numbers and atomic weights. The atomic weight of an element is the weight in grams of six hundred thousand billion billion of its atoms. Atoms are very small.
Look up Fe, Cu, Ag, Au, Hg and Pb to see why their symbols don't fit their everyday names. Elements 93-105 are man-made in atomic fusion reactions.

From Do-It-Yourself Chemistry
by Doug Hayward, University of British Columbia, 1988