http://present.me/view/1666-study-chinese-radicals
Look here for a list of all the radicals, and their meanings. http://xuehanyu.wikispaces.com/Radicals Take some time to read through the list.
Flip through the following online book, paying close attention to the radicals.
http://www.wobook.com/WBGT1nZ5o70z/Characters-by-Radical.html
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This is a Chinese Table of the elements. Look closely at the characters. There are only four radicals amongst all of the elements. Can you guess what they are? (The answer is at the very bottom of the page.) The other part of the characters are all phonetic elements, the sound parts (which you will learn about next).
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_elements_in_East_Asian_languages
Recommended Reading
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/sobelman/radicals/
http://www.archchinese.com/arch_chinese_radicals.html
http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Lang%20work/Radicals/Strokes&Radicals.htm
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Answer: The four radicals used in the table of the elements are:
metal 钅
gas 气
water 氵
stone 石