We all know the saying, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” Similarly, every element in the periodic table has its’ own story and its’ own unique meaning. However, the average high schooler simply associates these elements as something used in their chemistry classes. In fact, the elements seen on the periodic table actually have much more to do in our daily lives and in history than most people know. While giving a whole new perspective to the meaning of Chemistry, author Sam Kean successfully recounts the hidden tales through humor and wit in his bestselling novel The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements. Specifically, Chapter 15, “An Element of …show more content…
Roentgen performed many tests, including his colleagues’ discoveries, which involved painting the plates with a barium compound. When the plates were held in front of an object, Roentgen was able to see through whatever he was holding up. Inevitably, he was astonished by this discovery and immediately suspected that he had gone mad. As readers now, one finds his reaction to the first traces of x-ray quite humorous. In fact, this tale is certainly one where the ending is not detrimental, and in contrary the happy opposite. Essentially, Kean focuses on the idea that these certain elements mentioned in the chapter affected the lives of these mad scientists immensely. For the most part, these elements hurt the careers and lives of some scientists, however this was not the case in all of the stories in this chapter. The examples of selenium-crazed Crookes, the false hype of the manganese-covered megadaltons, the palladium scandal of Pons and Fleischmann and the startling discovery of the x-ray by Roentgen successfully conveyed the central theme and concepts. It is very easy for someone to understand the context-filled stories and how they connect to what Kean is trying to establish. Additionally, the author generally maintains a balanced bias throughout the chapter. However, with the story of Pons and Fleischmann, one can really sense Kean’s negative attitude to these two scientists. He describes the pair as “impostors, swindlers, and cheats” (263) as well as
Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science. He often conducted experiments in his basement and enjoyed making things such as homemade fireworks, brewing moonshine, and even making his own self-tanning lotion. Hahn especially loved chemistry and spent much of his time doing amateur chemistry experiments. The chemical reactions in these experiments sometimes went wrong and resulted in small explosions. We learned about chemical reactions in class this semester. He loved to read “The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments” that his father had given him and tried to collect samples of every element in the periodic table, including the radioactive ones. We learned in class about the elements in the periodic table and how they are identified.
Page 13 of The Disappearing Spoon ties into learning goal 22. Learning goal 22 ties into this page because the page discusses about how the periodic table is arranged by the different types of elements such as metals, metalloids, and nonmetals. On the western side and the middle part of the periodic table, you will find the metals which make up seventy five percent of the periodic table. On the eastern side, you will find the gases or
The History of the Periodic Table of elements is vast, and filled with interesting facts that not many average people would know about, these four scientists have had all contributed to the table in some way, and lead it to its current state, here is what they have
The book “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levi is undoubtedly a masterpiece. It showcases the enthusiasm, the level of dedication, and passion successful chemists such as Primo Levi himself had for the field of their expertise. The way Primo Levi has related the troublesome times and events he had to face in prospect with the elements of the periodic table is laudable. Primo Levi is surely an inspiration and a perfect example of prodigy and passion. Despite the challenges and the hardships inflicted on him by the bigoted group of Germens, he still managed to emerge as an exceptional chemist and an author who made great contributions to the modern chemistry as we now know it.
In these two chapters of the Disappearing Spoon, the author, Sam Kean, focused on both the medical benefits to some elements, as well as their deceptive qualities. From silver to chirality to NASA, these two chapters are constantly surprising you, just like the elements discussed within them. Without knowledge of chemistry, it would be incredibly difficult to cure diseases, or even discern between deadly and helpful
The book Napoleon’s buttons was an informative story that mixed slow and confusing chemistry with history. This mix allowed a history buff like me to get involved with the chemical make up and structure of common elements. Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson used this book to explain their theories on how key historical events are related to the chemical make up of important elements. In essay after essay they explain the history and events. In addition, they go further in depth to explain the details of particular elements and why they are important. The historical aspects of this book are what grabbed my attention. The long string of facts otherwise would have been too confusing for even the smartest of readers.
At first glance, the Periodic Table of Elements seems large, complex, and randomly organized. But if you take a closer look into the history of the elements that make up the numerous columns and rows, you’ll begin to see that there’s more to the table than just a jumble of numbers and symbols. In fact, each and every element on that table has a story; some shrouded in mystery, others well-known and widely researched. In The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean explores the tales of “madness, love, and the history of the world” gleaned from all the elements that miraculously shape our very world we live in today. Every chapter is brimming with true stories about the elements and how
A scientist would need a glass tube with positive and negative electrodes. The tubes were called cathode tubes, and they were common in the late 1890s. The air leaves the glass tube, and a florescent glow is produced when a high voltage runs through the tube. The scientist needs to cover the glowing tube with a heavy, black paper or cardboard. Then the scientist will see the green colored fluorescent light illuminating from the box. This is known as the X-Rays which energizes the phosphorescent materials in the room. The newly discovered ray would pass through objects, and it can cast a shadow of most solid objects. The ray consists of electron passing through the matter underneath the cathode tube. It can pass through human tissues, but it cannot pass through bones and metal
Honor means to hold with high respect or esteem. My view of honor is to give respect to those who deserve it. Dmitri Mendeleev, the creator of the first periodic table, is one of those who deserve the respect honor has to offer. Dmitri Mendeleev was born February 8, 1834. When he was young, his father went blind and couldn’t work.
-The first x-ray Roentgen ever created was an image of his wife's hand. It was so detailed that you could see her wedding ring.
For the lesson observed the objectives was to explain the trends of the periodic table based on the elements’ valence electrons and atomic numbers. Additionally, students were responsible for applying their previous knowledge in calculating subatomic particles to review the Bohr Models and discus the relationship among families in the periodic table. Students will use the information from today’s lesson to make future judgments on reactivity and bonding created during chemical reactions in the next unit. Lastly, students were to connect the information on elemental properties to previous experiences with their health, commercial products, and everyday life.
With this stability and mass production, x-rays machines became very common everywhere. From large factories, to doctors offices, all the way to the corner store of small towns, where children and adults alike could insert a coin into a machine and view the bones in their feet. (3.) Because of their relative adolescences in the world, not much was known about x-rays or their effects on the human body. The first theories about the rays’ effects on the human body were that they had beneficial applications. With this being the only theory about their effect, widespread use went on, unmonitored, and unregulated. This unregulated use led to injuries but because of their slow onset the injuries were never attributed to x-rays. While some scientists tied certain skin burns to over exposure of x-rays it wasn’t until popular minds of the world like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and William J. Morton expressed that they experienced eye pain when dealing with the rays for extended periods of time that people began to connect the dots and understand the negative
X-rays were discovered by accident in 1895 by the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. Roentgen was already an accomplished scientist with forty-eight published papers. He had a reputation among the scientific community as a dedicated scientist with precise experimental methods. Roentgen had been conducting experiments at the University of Wurzburg on the effect of cathode-rays on the luminescence of certain chemicals. Roentgen had placed a cathode-ray tube, which is a partially evacuated glass tube with metal electrodes at each end, in a black cardboard box in his darkened laboratory. He sent electricity through the cathodre-ray tube and noticed something strange his laboratory. He saw a flash of light
In about the fifth page of the essay, Dyson switches to using positive words to get readers to believe his true stories of success in stopping immoral science application. He uses words like "credit", "peace", and "finest hour", giving readers a positive feel. This positive feel is reflected into the reader's opinion about the odds of correcting science. The positive words influence readers to believe success against biological weapons, nuclear weapons, and other problems are easy obstacles.
1895 – X-rays were discovered accidentally by physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen. Rontgen was working on a experiment and testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass. He noticed that a nearby tube emitted fluorescent glow of crystals. The air in the tube was released, high voltage applied, the same tube emitted a fluorescent glow. When Rontgen covered the tube in a heavy black paper, a green light could be seen. He concluded that a new light ray was being broadcast. Rontgen discovered that the light was very powerful and the same ray could pass through human tissue, but not through bones and metal objects. Medical applications were soon to follow. ("History of radiography," )