The Disappearing Spoon

Post-Reading After reading The Disappearing Spoon, I saw things from a new perspective. It actually did change my ideas about the day-to-day life of scientists and the work they do because it helped me understand that some of these scientists dedicated their lives to science. Sam Kean makes connections to many areas of science, nature, and life that are not discussed in association of the periodic table. One connection that really was new to me was that aluminum was at a time more valuable than gold. I really couldn't believe this because I always thought that gold was always more valuable. Not only this, but Kean also surprised me when he mentioned how Pepto Bismol contain bismuth in it. This really blew my mind because this was all new to me and it also explains so much like the name of the medicine. Now that I have read The Disappearing Spoon, I don't really have a favorite element because I like them all. Each element has its own uniqueness. Overall, I really enjoyed re

Chapter 19: Above( and Beyond) the Periodic Table Summary: In the last chapter, Kean starts off by talking about francium. He explains how francium is really rare to find and how there has been only ten thousands atoms every collected. He then elaborates that astatine is way more rare than francium. If francium is beyond difficult to find, now imagine looking for astatine. The author mentions how even if you could find astatine, its radiation will kill you. Furthermore, Kean continues by telling is that uranium is, in fact, more stable and heavier than are astatine and francium. The author tells us that element 116 and 112 are calmer when element 114 is around. They call this the “island of stability”. He then moves on to talking about the periodic table in the future. It is believed by many people that the periodic table will stop at element 137 because according to Einstein anything beyond element 137 should be physically impossible. Reflection: I really enjoyed this

Chapter 18: Tools of Ridiculous Precision Summary: In chapter 18, Kean first starts by explaining how the NIST and the BIPM are really precise with all the measurements because measurements are significant. The author then transitions into talking about specifically the kilogram. The International Prototype Kilogram weighs exactly one kilogram and it is two- inch platinum cylinder. The scientists desired for it to remain this way, so they were really protective over it. However, keeping it this way is quite a challenge. Kean then continues by mentioning a metal rod that is found in Paris and measure one meter. Light is able to travel into a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. The official measurement of time, cesium atomic clocks, is also talked about. These atomic clocks benefitted us because it helped us stop using the constellation to tell time. Then the author continues by elaborating how the alpha was 1/136 and how the measurements then changed to 1/137.0359. Reflecti

Chapter 17:Spheres of Splendor: The Science of Bubbles Summary: In chapter 17, the author begins by elaborating on bubbles. Donald Glaser first thought of bubbles while looking at bubbles rising in a beer. Because Glaser was curious to find out more about bubbles and the way they function, he began creating a bubble chamber. He first began to examine the bubbles in beer. However, then he examined the bubbles in another liquid. Due to his bubble chamber, he was able to receive a Nobel Prize when he was in his early 30s. Furthermore, Kean then moves onto talking about Ernest Rutherford who was curious about how radioactive substances are able to innfect the air surrounding them with more of the radioactivity. Even though he knew about the studies that Marie Curie had done about radioactivity and radioactive elements, he chose an easier way. Instead of going Marie Curie’s way, he just took his time and kept examining the gases in radioactive elements slowly. With his patience, h

Chapter 16: Chemistry Way, Way Below Zero Summary: In chapter 16, the author begins by telling us about the journey of Robert Falcon Scott and other people to the South Pole. They thought they would be the first people to get to the South Pole, but to their surprise Roald Amundsen and his Norwegian team had arrived there first. Scott’s team was then stuck in the South Pole because of the snow shower. Things got worse when they found out that the tin cans ran out of fuel because the fuel had leaked. Not only that, but the tin cans also changed due to the really cold temperature; this they called the tin leprosy. Kean went off to explain the two solids of tin, which are beta and alpha. Unfortunately, Robert Falcon Scott and the rest companioning him died on the South Pole. Kean then continues by elaborating on the other elements who were put to endure temperatures because they wanted to find a solid sample, just how had happened with tin. First they put xenon and krypton in rea

Chapter 15: An Element as Madness Summary: Chapter 15 went into depth when talking about scientists who shared similar mad characteristics. Kean begins by introducing William Crookes. Crookes was a scientist who was very popular when he was in his 30s, all that changed afterwards. His brother had died at sea and it’s believed that that's when he apparently went crazy. He began to create theories about the spirituality and the existence of the dead when he mourned for his brother. Many thought of his work to be silly ideas, but eventually he was able to get away from that type of work and started to work with radioactivity and selenium. In addition, Kean then continues by mentioning a story of how scientists had found manganese covering shark teeth. Afterwards, the author moves on to discussing about the scientists Pons and Fleischman. They had discovered that palladium was able to take in large amounts of hydrogen when it was in water and electricity. After discovering th

Chapter 14: Artistic Elements Summary: Chapter 14 is mostly about how the people who had money were the ones who were making the discoveries in science. Kean discusses how science and wealth came hand in hand. Because science began to be expensive, only the rich people had the money to study science. Kean then elaborates on a claim that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe made about how double replacement reactions worked. What he claimed about the double replacement reactions was unbelievable, for he used an analogy of two marriages with laws of attraction. Kean also mentions Johann Dobereiner whose career benefitted from Goethe’s point. In addition, the author then switches his attention to Robert Lowell. Lowell had very interesting episodes of madness like, for example, he once stuttered that he was the Virgin Mary while at a friend's house. However, it didn't stop there because he had another episode where he tried to make cars stop by spreading his arms. Despite his episo

Chapter 13: Elements as Money Summary: Chapter 13 is mostly about how the elements were used as currency in the past, elements like gold or silver. Before paper currency was introduced, people would use metals, such as gold and silver, as a form of money. The author first starts by mentioning the myth of King Midas with his ability to be able to transform anything to gold with a single touch. However, Kean explains how instead back then gold could have been confused with brass because of their similar appearances. Brass and gold are both shiny metals and could easily been mixed up all the time. Kean elaborates that the location of King Midas’ kingdom itself can be used as evidence to support the theory of brass being confused for gold. There were many mines, mines having a lot of zinc, located near King Midas’ kingdom; thus, the zinc and copper could have been mixed to appear as it was gold, but in reality it was probably brass. The other then continues by elaborating on a gol

Chapter 12:Political Elements Summary: Chapter 12 of the book is all about how elements tie in with politics. Kean first starts by talking about Marie Sklodowska a.k.a. Mary Curie. Marie Sklodowska was a chemist born in the period of history where women were not yet respected and taken seriously in science. Marie Sklodowska was able to receive her PhD after all her determination to pursue her science career. Soon after, Marie Sklodowska married a man named Pierre Curie. This married couple, Mary and Pierre Curie began working together to find radioactive elements. By observing the periodic table, Marie and Pierre Curie were able to discover the radioactivity in the elements; thus, causing them to win a Nobel Prize in physics. After they want their first Nobel Prize, Marie and Pierre together both began experimenting with uranium. Through this, they discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. Unfortunately, Pierre Curie was ran over by a carriage in the street and died. Becaus

Chapter 11: How Elements Deceive Summary: Chapter 11 is all about how some elements can be deceiving. The author begins by describing the tragedy that occurred in 1981 when five technicians worked on the stimulation spacecraft at NASA. Since they cleared the five technicians too early, they entered and immediately fell down unconscious. This happened because nitrogen gas, an odorless colorless gas, tricks the body into thinking that it's oxygen. Therefore, the body doesn't sense any danger and then unexpectedly collapses. This incident resulted in the deaths of two of the five technicians who were working on the stimulation. Kean reassures us that they died peacefully, for the nitrogen gas quickly goes in the body and shuts down the brain. In in addition, the author shifts his attention towards titanium and the way it was used. Titanium was very effective to use as prosthetic limbs because it is able to deceive the body. Titanium tricks the body into thinking that it is

Chapter 10: Take Two Elements, Call Me in the Morning Summary: Chapter 10 is mostly centered around the topic of how elements are used to help people medicine-wise. He first talks about the element silver. Tycho Brahe was a man who lost part of his nose in a fight and he was able to use silver, as in a silver prosthetic, to fix his nose. Not only this, but Kean also tells us about the pioneers and how they were able to use silver to their advantage. Pioneers used silver in order to keep their milk from going bad because silver has antibacterial properties. Then the author moves onto talking about how copper was very useful in plumbing and other everyday uses. Kean then goes on to introduce gadolinium and it's great uses in medicine. Gadolinium is used in MRI machines, for this element has high magnetic properties. By using gadolinium in MRI machines, doctors are able to detect tumors in a person's body. Furthermore, the author then discusses Louis Pasteur. Pasteur was a

Chapter 9: Poisoner's Corridor:"Ouch-Ouch" Summary: And chapter 9, Kean is mainly talking about the elements of the periodic table that are poisonous to living organisms. For instance, he tells us about cadmium, bismuth, thallium, polonium, and lead. He first starts off by describing the negative effects that cadmium had in Japan. During the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, miners worked to purify the zinc needed; thus, removing the cadmium. The cadmium was then thrown into streams. Because of this, the Japanese rice became poisoned by the cadmium. Rice was a main food source for the Japanese and so it caused many health problems, especially to woman. Once cadmium enters your system, it doesn't leave. They began calling this sickness the itai-itai disease, which would cause people's bones to weaken and their kidneys to feel as well. In fact, he mentions a situation where a doctor broke a girl’s wrist while only taking her pulse. Furthermore, Kean then c

Chapter 8: From Physics to Biology Summary: In chapter 8, Kean starts off by talking about how the Time magazine gave the title “Men of the Year” to 15 scientists in 1960. He then focuses on talking about two scientists, Emilio Segré and Linus Pauling. Emilio Segré and Linus Pauling were both able to codiscover element 87 named francium. Even though they both became legends in their fields, they will forever be known for committing two of the biggest mistakes in science. They could have avoided these mistakes if they would have been careful when studying the periodic table. Kean mentions how element 43 had been “discovered” by many scientists throughout the years. In 1937, Emilio Segré and Perrier were able to officially discover element 43 and decided it to name it technetium. Emilio Segre made the mistake of assuming that there wasn't transuranic elemental properties about the element 93. The author then shifts into talking about Linus Pauling. Pauling figured out how the

Chapter 7: Extending the Table, Expanding the War Summary: In chapter 7 of the book, Kean is mostly talking about the new elements that were discovered during the Cold War. The author first focuses attention towards Edwin McMillan who is able to make the first transuranic element; he named this element neptunium. McMillan and his colleagues then went on to discovering element 94 by letting the neptunium seep; the scientists named this element plutonium. The author then mentions how Ghiorso and Seaborg were the ones who were able to find a lot of elements, more than anyone else in history. They were able to discover elements 95 and 96 as they messed around with plutonium and radioactive particles; they decided to name these elements americium and curium. They continued on and soon were able to discover berkelium and californium. Afterwards, they were able to find elements 99 and 100 as well. Even though it took them awhile, they were able to discover element 101; they named this ele

Chapter 6: Completing the Table....with a Bang Summary: In chapter 6, the author talked about how the periodic table finally came to be organized as. He started off by talking about Henry Moseley, who helped organize the periodic table. Moseley was a physicist who came up with the idea of the atomic number. To study the atomic structure, Moseley would use the X-ray spectra. He was able to notice that there was a relationship between the amount of protons there are in an atom and its atomic number. Henry Moseley was the one who suggested that the elements on the periodic table should be organized by increasing atomic number and mass. Sadly, Henry Moseley soon joined the army where he was killed. After Henry Moseley's death, many scientists began looking for the missing elements on the periodic table. More and more elements soon came to be discovered; thus, expanding the periodic table. They were able to track down every one of the missing elements except element 61. Eventually,

Chapter 5: Elements in Times of War Summary: In chapter 5 of the book, it is discussed how some elements were used in war. Like for example, in ancient Greece, when the Spartans try to get the Athenians to leave their own city by gassing them with stinky sulfur. This tactic unfortunately failed, leaving victory of the war for the Athenians. Kean then transitioned into speaking about how elements were used in World War 1 and World War 2. Fritz Haber was a Jewish German chemist who first began using bromine as the major component for the toxic gas he tried to create. However, this didn't work against the French and the Soviet Union due to their windy and cold environments. He didn't give up despite his failure and he later began using chlorine rather than bromine. This new toxic gas prove to be very effective, for when used in war it left many for dead. Not only this, but Haber was able to accidentally create a fertilizer for crops, which proved to be very beneficial for the

Chapter 4: Where Atoms Come From: "We Are All Star Stuff" Summary: In chapter 4 of the book, Kean mostly discusses about how the elements came to be formed. He first begins by talking about the Big Bang Theory, which gives an explanation as to how the universe started. The Big Bang Theory explains that all matter was bunched up together into a little ball and so then it eventually exploded; therefore, creating the whole universe. Scientists began to doubt the Big Bang Theory because this big bang should have released elements all over the place; however, young stars had only hydrogen and helium, while older stars contain many more elements. He then goes on to elaborate about stars and how they burn up the elements hydrogen and helium until it all fuses into iron. Stars don't fuse elements beyond iron on the periodic table because it will need energy to do so. After burning down to iron, stars implode and explode outward. Additionally, the other then mentions Jupit

Chapter 3: The Galapagos of the Periodic Table Summary: In chapter 3, Kean begins by talking about Robert Bunsen whose arsenic obsession led to an explosion that made him half blind. He was a German chemist who successfully improved the Bunsen burner and made it popular. By studying geysers and volcanoes through collecting vapors and boiling liquids, he was able to figure out how geysers build up the pressure that causes them to blow. Not only this, but he was also able to invent the spectroscope which is used to observe elements. The author then goes off to talk about Dmitri Mendeleev’s life and his contributions in the periodic table. Mendeleev was able to place the 62 known elements into rows and columns; however, he wasn't the only one, for Julius Meyer also worked on a periodic table of his own. Kean then points out how Mendeleev was able to predict elements that hadn't been discovered yet. In addition, the author continues to be explaining how Francois Lecoq de Bo

Chapter 2:Near Twins and Black Sheep: The Genealogy of Elements Summary: In the chapter, “Near Twins and Black Sheep; the Genealogy of Elements”, the author elaborates on the existing relationships between germanium, silicon, and carbon. The author starts off by explaining how scientists first named proteins in long words where some protein names consisted of more than a thousand letters. He then transitions to talk about carbon and how it is the backbone of amino acids. He explains that the amino acids are able to bunch together due to carbon who desires to fill its outer energy level. In addition, the author wrote that carbon is able to build various elaborate chains since it interacts with many other elements to obtain the four electrons that it needs to completely fill its outer energy level. Furthermore, the author goes on to talking about the similarities which exists between silicon and carbon. He mentions how they both have the same amount of valence electrons and how

Chapter 1: Geography Is Destiny  Summary:        In the chapter “Geography is Destiny”, the author explains how the periodic table is organized in a particular way, so a location of the element can say a lot about its chemical properties and its interaction with other elements. Helium and oxygen are both similar in that they are both gases at room temperature. However, the great distinction between the two is their interaction with other elements. Because helium is a member of a group called the noble gases, it doesn't interact with other elements as it is already stable. There is no need for him to interact with other elements; they are perfect as they are. On the other hand, oxygen is quick to interact with many other elements despite being a stable gas at room temperature. At the beginning of the chapter, the author compares the periodic table to a map and I totally find this metaphor effective since the periodic table has groups and periods as sort of coordinate points of