From "sulphur" or "sulfur" or "sulpur" (Latin) sulphur
Formula:
S
Description:
Yellow crystals which smell of fireworks (although really, of course, fireworks smell of sulphur!)
Sulphur is also known as brimstone (which means the burning stone). It is used in making gunpowder. It is very inflammable (which means it burns very easily).
It is found near volcanos.
It used to be used for purification of houses by fumigation. It was thought that smells caused diseases. So if you could make something smell of something else, like sulphur, then the disease would go away!
Another spelling of sulphur is sulfur. As you can see from the derivation, the Romans couldn't work out how to spell it either!
