Talk:S-block

These elements have noble gas structures (???)

Sounds like an error, surely hydrogen is not a noble gas.

Does anybody have any information about why it is called the "s" block? I believe it is something to do with a german name, but I am not certain. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Viola16 (talk • contribs) 20:50, 29 May 2010 (UTC)


 * "S" is short for "sharp". It's a bit of old terminology from spectroscopy, and the names are descriptive of the spectral lines observed. Lanthanum-138 (talk) 11:00, 16 March 2011 (UTC)


 * S is indeed short for sharp, it comes from one of the principle quantum numbers (the others being n, l, and m) It isn't German ... and the name has stayed the same for some time now. Neeya The Great (talk) 15:21, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Citations needed
I saw that quite a few "Citation needed"s were attached to basic statements that are a definite given. Example : They are extremely valuable as reducing agents to extract titanium, zirconium, thorium and tantalum from their ores, and have other uses as reducing agents in organic chemistry.[citation needed]

I'm sorry, what?

Why do we need a citation for things so obvious!? With your permission - may we please remove these tags? Neeya The Great (talk) 15:25, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Group 18 (He)
Group 18, He, is in the sidebar. Is that correct? -DePiep (talk) 20:50, 11 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, because He has electron configuration 1s2 and is thus an s-block noble gas. The other noble gases are in the p-block and shouldn't be in the sidebar (and they're not). Double sharp (talk) 01:53, 20 June 2012 (UTC)