The Disappearing Spoon

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...