Bismuth is a silvery-pink metal with an unusual property: when it cools and crystallizes, it forms spectacular geometric patterns that look like something from a science fiction movie. These rainbow-colored, stair-step structures, called hopper crystals, make bismuth one of the most visually striking elements you can hold in your hand.

Unlike many metals, bismuth is relatively safe to work with. It has such a low melting point (around 520°F) that some science teachers demonstrate melting it in class. Chemists use bismuth in medicines for upset stomachs, and manufacturers add it to cosmetics and certain low-temperature alloys.

The element sits at number 83 on the periodic table and was once thought to be the heaviest stable element in nature. Scientists later discovered it's actually slightly radioactive, but it would take trillions of years longer than the age of the universe for even half of a bismuth sample to decay, so for practical purposes, it's effectively stable.

You might encounter bismuth in unexpected places: it's in some fishing sinkers (replacing toxic lead), in fire sprinkler systems, and even in certain specialty solders that electronics makers use.