Lanthanum can be found in the ores monazite sand and bastn°site. Mixed with other rare earths lanthanum is used in flints for lighters and lightbulb filaments. Lanthanum compounds are used in electron microscopy to resolve individual atoms and in movie lighting to illuminate vast areas.

Hafnium can be found in zirconium mineral. It is used for nuclear reactor control rods because of its ability to absord neutrongs and its good mechanical and corrosion resistance qualities.

Tantalum can be found in the mineral columbite-tantalite and is rarely found uncombined in nature. Tiny amounts of tantalum are used in the capacitors in all high tech devices. It's also used for medical implants like skull plates.

Tungsten can be found in certain minerals including wolframite and scheelite. It is extremely hard to melt, so when large pieces are needed it is often sintered into solid form from loose powder. The biggest application by far is tungsten wire for incandescent light bulbs. Other current uses are as electrodes, heating elements and field emitters, and even jewelry.

Rhenium cannot be found uncombine in nature; it is widely distributed in the earth's crust in platinum and molybdenum ores and in many minerals, but is not abundant. Typical uses involve thin wires, fine powders, or chemical compounds. Rhenium is used with platinum as catalysts in the production of lead-free, high-octane gasoline. The metal is used in alloys for jet engines and in tungsten and molybdenum based alloys. It is widely used as filaments for mass spectrographs.

Osmium is a by-product of nickle refining. The element occurs in the mineral iridosule and in platinum-bearing river sands in the Urals, North America and South America. Ultra dense osmium is alloyed with other precious metals to make them harder and stronger. It sometimes occurs naturally combined with iridium, and such osmiridium mixtures are used in fountain pen tips, pen tips, instrument pivots, needles and electrical contacts. It is also used in the chemical industry as a catalyst.

Iridium generally is produced commercially along with the other platinum metals as a by-product of nickel or copper production. Iridium-containing ores are found in South Africa and Alaska, U.S., as well as in Myanmar (Burma), Brazil, Russia, and Australia. Iridium is extremely hard to melt. This property of iridium makes it useful in high-temperature situations, such as spark plug electrodes.

Platinum can occur free in nature and is sometimes found in deposits of gold-bearing sands, primarily those found in the Ural mountains, Columbia and the western United States. Pure platinum mesh, like mosquito netting except more expensive, is one example of platinum's use as labware impervious to nearly all chemical attack. It is also used in coins, which are similarly expensive .

Gold is one of the few elements you can find lying on the ground. It can be found on every continet on Earth except Antarctia. The uses of gold are endless. It can be found in makeup producs, to jewelry, to computer micro chips.

Mercury is not usually found free in nature and is primarily obtained from the mineral cinnabar. Mercury is the only metal element liquid at room temperature. The element is toxic and was onced used to fill thermometers because it expands evenly when heated. When super-cooled to near absolute zero, it also presents some superconducting properties.