Transition metal · element 48
Cadmium
Bright yellow, quietly toxic.
Only 0.3% of people are Cadmium. (estimated)
If you're Cadmium
You are vivid, useful, and slightly dangerous to keep close. Painters loved you; the people who cleaned up after them did not.
Cadmium yellow was Monet's and Van Gogh's colour, and cadmium batteries were in every cordless drill until lithium took over.
How to get along with Cadmium
Do
- Enjoy the colour they bring.
- Handle the sharp side with care.
- Keep them away from things they can poison: teams, plans, mornings.
Don't
- Don't underestimate the toxicity of their bad days.
- Don't try to replace them overnight; it took lithium decades.
When it goes wrong: They leak. Slowly, into everything nearby. Contain the problem early.
Atomic profile
Every element is placed on six personality dimensions derived from its chemistry. Your answers are placed on the same six, and the closest element wins. How the scoring works
- Reactivity
- 4
- Sociability
- 5
- Stability
- 8
- Energy
- 3
- Rarity
- 5
- Warmth
- 4
Cadmium in literature
- Nana — Nana, Émile Zola (1880)
- Steerforth — David Copperfield, Charles Dickens (1850)
- Undine Spragg — The Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton (1913)
Characters from public-domain works, chosen for the same traits. Company, not a verdict.
Closest personalities
The elements whose profiles sit nearest to Cadmium's. If you got Cadmium, one of these was probably your runner-up.
Other transition metals
ScScandiumTiTitaniumVVanadiumCrChromiumMnManganeseFeIronCoCobaltNiNickelCuCopperZnZincYYttriumZrZirconiumNbNiobiumMoMolybdenumTcTechnetiumRuRutheniumRhRhodiumPdPalladiumAgSilverHfHafniumTaTantalumWTungstenReRheniumOsOsmiumIrIridiumPtPlatinumAuGoldHgMercuryRfRutherfordiumDbDubniumSgSeaborgiumBhBohriumHsHassiumMtMeitneriumDsDarmstadtiumRgRoentgeniumCnCopernicium