What element has the symbol 'V'?

The story behind the answer

V is the chemical symbol for Vanadium, element 23, a hard, silver-gray transition metal. The other options aren’t elements: Valium is a medication, vermilion is a red pigment (mercury sulfide), and “Vestryum” is fictional. Vanadium is prized for making strong, lightweight steel alloys used in tools, springs, and jet engines; it occurs in minerals like vanadinite. Discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río (1801) and later named by Nils Sefström (1830) after “Vanadis” (Freyja), its compounds are known for vivid colors.

Memory tip: V = Vanadium = “van-tough” steel—picture a sturdy van made of vanadium alloy. Or think “V adds Vigor to steel,” reminding you that V belongs to the strength-giving transition metals.