Zirconium for use in jewelry. Zirconia is a component in some abrasives, such as grinding wheels and sandpaper. A small fraction of the zircon is converted to the metal, which finds various niche applications. Because of zirconium's excellent resistance to corrosion, it is often used as an alloying agent in materials that are exposed to aggressive environments, such as surgical appliances, light filaments, and watch cases. The high reactivity of zirconium with oxygen at high temperatures is exploited in some specialised applications such as explosive primers and as getters in vacuum tubes. The same property is (probably) the purpose of including
Synthetic element short half-lives. The following elements do not occur naturally on Earth. All are transuranium elements and have atomic numbers of 95 and higher. All elements with atomic numbers 1 through 94 are naturally occurring at least in trace quantities, but the following elements are often produced through synthesis. Except for polonium, francium, actinium, and protactinium, they were all discovered through synthesis before being found in nature. Synthetic element In chemistry, a synthetic element is a chemical element that does not occur naturally on Earth, and can only be created artificially. So far, 24 synthetic elements have been created (those with