Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements

Product Information

When Pierre-Louis Dulong first made the highly explosive liquid nitrogen trichloride, it cost him and eye and three fingers. When Also interesting were the seemingly universal reactions to certain elements - disgust at the “yellow vomit of light” in sodium (mostly in street lamps), respect for the “purity” of silver, awe at the “immortality” of gold, and so on. I also liked the historical examples of thallium and arsenic securing their place in the world as dangerous poisons used by stealthy murderers.

Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements

But you also have historical stories of the elements. However rather than just dry stories of their discovery and who made them there are also side stories about how they were used or even how they became famous and had their 15minutes of fame (from St Pauls cathedral to Napoleons death). Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history?Ultimately, the story of the history of the elements is a story of scientists, like Marie Curie, discovering new elements, updating Mendeleev's period table to the periodic table we know today, experimenting with elements to learn new things, and manipulating elements for our personal gains, like using arsenic either for medication or assassination. It all adds up to a tale of cultural history, a subject that our generation wouldn't be very interested in, but it does educates readers of the usefulness of everyday elements or elements we used to use in the past. Periodic Tales tells that story very descriptively, reminding us how often we take advantage of our everyday objects, and how little we know about them, like how do they work, who invented them, or what they are made of.

Periodic Tales - ChemistryViews Periodic Tales - ChemistryViews

Furthermore, the book is also primarily written for a Western audience, and the history of science that is told is almost entirely European/American centered. Again, due to the scope of the project, this is understandable. Yet, there’s not much new in terms of content. Aside from the introduction of the cultural perspective of the elements (which is not explored with any theoretical or critical depth), this book is not breaking any new ground. Rather, it is a textbook work of popular science, which retells history and scientific discoveries in an accessible and engaging way. of a synthetic route to make ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen. After discussions, Haber resolved to pay the 269 billion goldmarksLecoq (who had discovered gallium) came under severe criticism as several felt the he had pompously named the element after Periodic Tales– A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams presents an introduction to the elements of the periodic table, their properties, their history, and the stories that surround them. Both books are similar in style and cover the same elements (there are only a finite amount of them!) but do so in completely different and interesting ways. It might be due to the time between reading both books but I didn't notice any overlap in information or anecdotes. If something was familiar it was more like getting the other side of the story than a repeat of the same details. Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery and alchemy, from the big bang through to the end of time. is speculated to have originated from the meteorites instead of a volcanic eruption. Richard Ford discovered that by varying the amount of coal or coke added to the ore, one could produce iron which was brittle or tough.

Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean; Periodic Tales by Hugh The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean; Periodic Tales by Hugh

experiments on the metal. Chabaneau thought he had managed to obtain the pure metal but as it refused to settle down to a standard By far the most interesting aspect of this work is Aldersey-Williams’s attention to how we, as human beings, attach meaning to the elements, which are objective and uncaring about such signifiers. The book’s central idea is to show how these meanings are often just as much a reflection of ourselves as they are about the physical properties of the elements themselves. Within the elements, we find ourselves, as we anthropomorphize them and witness how they evolve alongside us and our needs within a particular era. A love letter to the chemical elements. Aldersey-Williams is full of good stories, and he knows how to tell them well' Sunday Telegraph urn:lcp:periodictalescul00alde_0:epub:bf0ba959-4fdc-4ca1-9259-54f2e8e65f20 Extramarc University of Alberta Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier periodictalescul00alde_0 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t3kw93m8f Invoice 1213 Isbn 9780061824722 Mr Aldersey-Williams’ select bibliography now strongly and helpfully points me in the direction of I Nechaev’s 1942 book “Chemical Elements” (or rather of the translation from the Russian), as being my long-lost book.

Your browser is not supported

Ampere warned Davy about the dangers of the experiment- which Davy ignored and proceeded to receive cuts to his eye from flying glass. N=81) е описано в книгата на Агата Кристи "Сивият кон", чиято популярност води до разкриване на истински случаи на отравяне - някои поради рискови условия на труд, но други като опит за убийство. This story does not unfold behind the closed doors of a chemistry laboratory, however. We don’t need to go to them, because the elements come to us. Each element is on its own journey, a journey into our culture. As we grow more familiar with each one, so it gathers meanings and richness. Iron has long thought to have male warlike properties. The metallic taste of blood was explained when Vincenzo Menghini roasted the blood of several mammals and poked the residue with a magnetic knife and found iron particles. Mars is covered with iron which My loyal readers know that I have a thing about not rehashing the plots of fiction novels. Unfortunately, however, I did not take notes as I went along with this book, so I don't have specific examples of the author's success in carrying out his objective.

Periodic Tales - Hugh Aldersey-Williams - Google Books Periodic Tales - Hugh Aldersey-Williams - Google Books

Autors pastāsta arī dažus savus eksperimentus, uz kuriem viņu ir pamudinājusi grāmatas sarakstīšana. Tad nu varam uzzināt kā no urīna iegūt fosforu vai no asinīm dzelzi. pattern (it contained then-undiscovered elements osmium and iridium), and later abandoned the work only returning to it

Are you missing out?

Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table. Neither of these books is a history of the development of the periodic table, a group-by-group discussion of chemical properties or a discussion of recent variations in the presentation of the table. For these the reader should consult such books as that by Eric Scerri. Perhaps my favorite chapter in Randall Munroe's What If? is his examination of what would happen if you assembled