Period 4 element be dangerous in large enough quantities due to its radioactivity. Nickel (Ni) is an element in period 4, between cobalt and copper. Nickel is rare in the Earth's crust, mainly due to the fact that it reacts with oxygen in the air, with most of the nickel on Earth coming from nickel iron meteorites. However, nickel is incredibly common in the Earth's core; along with iron it is one of the two main components. Nickel is an important component of stainless steel, and in many superalloys. Copper (Cu) is an element in period 4, between nickel and zinc. Copper is
Chemical element Chemical element A chemical element is a species of atoms having the same number of protons in their atomic nuclei (that is, the same atomic number, or "Z"). For example, the atomic number of oxygen is 8, so the element oxygen consists of all atoms which have exactly 8 protons. 118 elements have been identified, of which the first 94 occur naturally on Earth with the remaining 24 being synthetic elements. There are 80 elements that have at least one stable isotope and 38 that have exclusively radionuclides, which decay over time into other elements. Iron is the most abundant