Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements

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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 The final void in the table was filled, in 1939, with francium, the last naturally occurring element to be uncovered. Physicists then started bombarding existing elements with high-energy particles to create synthetic ones. These, as Kean points out, are the first new elements to appear on Earth since the creation of the solar system billions of years ago and have found widespread use, ranging from plutonium, in nuclear bombs, to americium, which is employed in domestic smoke alarms. The problem lies in the fact that the subject is so huge they have to give a hook, something personal that will get the reading not only interested but also to connect with the book. Now I will admit I have read my fair shore of this type of book only to realise I either have nothing in common with the writer or worse still I actually disagree with them - so why would I waste my time and effort in reading their book. Sadly it seems that there are more than their fair share of these books out there. of a synthetic route to make ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen. After discussions, Haber resolved to pay the 269 billion goldmarks

Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements

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. The red poppy which we commemorate the loss of life in World War I is a symbol of survival- the flower grew from the soil of the battlefields which were fertilized with the blood of the slain. However, chlorine- which was used in 1915 would both choke lungs and bleach the flowers white. Chlorine is the most brutal weapon as it rips through the blood vessels that line the lung and the victim eventually drowns in a fluid produced as the body attempts to repair the damage. Haber's wife, Clara, commited suicide using her husband's revolver whereas his son by his second marriage, Lutz, was haunted by his father's history and wrote the book The Poisonous Cloud. Haber was forced to leave Germany with his family when his Berlin research insitute was shut down by the Nazis. A love letter to the chemical elements. Aldersey-Williams is full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well' Sunday TelegraphI remember while taking a chemistry class not too long ago that though the nitty gritty details were sometimes daunting, boring, or downright frustrating, it was always the stories about the elements or their discoverers that helped put everything in context, making it a richer learning experience. Seeing as how the history behind the elements wasn't the point of taking the chemistry class I sought out books that would help fill the gap. Random relationship tip here: it’s always good to date intelligent people, and even better when you take the opportunity to learn things from them you otherwise wouldn’t have known. That way, if/when things end, you can say you learned a great deal from your experience in more ways than one, lol. By graduation, I was aware of a latent interest in the arts, particularly in architecture and design, and was seeking ways to satisfy all these urges in something resembling a career. Journalism seemed the obvious answer, and after a string of increasingly disastrous editorial positions on technical magazines, I went freelance in 1986 and was able at last to write about what really interested me in newspapers and magazines in all these fields.

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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). Louis Catrier changed the rules of high-society jewellery by using platinum as it was hard as opposed to gold and silver Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. 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.Unfortunately, this book isn't one of those books that's like an emotional roller coaster ride. This book is somewhat monotone, but I felt amazed, confused, and bored while reading this. Of course, I had "Whoa, really?" moments when I read something very interesting, but I also had "Huh?" and "Zzz" moments because of the uninteresting facts or the complicated chemistry terms that I don't understand. Even though I had confused and bored moments, I enjoyed reading about a quarter to half of the book, but the rest gave me a headache like the after-effect of a sugar rush.

Periodic Tales - Hugh Aldersey-Williams

The idea is definitely interesting - Mendeleev's periodic table classifies elements based on their physical and chemical properties. Whilst this may suffice for more technical use, these elements interact and are construed in our common life very differently. And thus, is there any merit in studying elements together that have similar values (E.g. clubbing "value" metals such as gold, silver, platinum etc. together). The brilliance of the book, however, lies in the author's ability to showcase our anthropomorphism with these elements. For instance, iron for strength, Arsenic as an adjective for anything poisonous, platinum for anything rare and precious (think platinum jubilee, platinum membership etc.) and so on. The author talks about how these elements have evolved with the society and our needs (e.g. Aluminium was considered a precious and power metal based on Napolean's use of it, but with time has lowered in perceived value). Delving into these elements also allows the author to explore interesting correlations around the time and geography of these elements being discovered. All in all, the author does a good job of bringing to life these fundamental and ubiquitous, yet often ignored elements. 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. Periodic Tales Penguin, 2011 ‘Science writing at its best fascinating and beautiful if only chemistry had been like this at school to meander through the periodic table with him ... is like going round a zoo with Gerald Durrell ... a rich compilation of delicious tales, but it offers greater rewards, too’ Matt Ridley 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. Perhaps my favorite chapter in Randall Munroe's What If? is his examination of what would happen if you assembledWhy 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? An extremely enjoyable book. To date it’s the closest I’ve found to one of my absolute favorite childhood books, passed down to me, long since mislaid; the title and author of which I cannot remember. That book had a red cover. Inside there were the most marvelous stories of the discovery of (amongst others) the composition of air (Scheele, Cavandish, Lavoisier), the alkali-earth metals (Davy), and helium (Kirchoff & Bunsen) in our Sun.

Periodic Tales - Penguin Books UK

When it wasn’t interesting though, it could be downright boring. And as I mentioned earlier, the writing could be quite scattered - one moment speaking about projects the author attempted to undertake from home using these elements, to the next moment citing their usage in Shakespearen plays, then veering off into long diatribes about their usage in historical paintings. a b c Farmelo, Graham (January 30, 2011). "Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams: review". The Telegraph . Retrieved 13 March 2017. Mendeleev's critics were silenced in 1875 when Paul-Emile Lecoq announced that he had discovered a new aluminium-like element which he had named gallium. Its atomic weight was exactly equal to that which Mendeleev had assigned in his table. Lecoq reported a density which was lower than that predicted by Mendeleev but Mendeleev told him to obtain a pure sample. When Lecoq followed these instructions, the density which he arrived at was exactly the one predicted. Basically you have a scientists who not only knows what he is talking about but also how to present it in an accessible and fun manner he has also had experience on how to create displays and exhibits so he knows how to keep your attention. I will admit that I am starting to get a bit weary of popular science books. Do not get me wrong being trained as a chemist and working in science and engineering for many years I find these books fascinating.

Elements. Everything in the universe is made of them, including you. And like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning. Platinum had a low value and was seen as less valuable when compared to silver. Chabaneau was bought to Madrid to carry out Henry VIII came to be known as Old Coppernose because he introduced so much copper into the silver coin that the king's nose and other raised parts on the coin would turn red as they wore down. The American patriot Paul Revere, achieved fame with his copper-bottomed cooking pots and pans. Ductility is copper's most useful property. The book is organized by rough, anthropological categories. Rather than giving a chronological retelling of the elements (either historically or by atomic number), Aldersey-Williams organizes them by their cultural significance. For example, in the first section, titled “Power,” Aldersey-Williams focuses on elements that have been utilized to amass wealth (such as gold, silver, etc) and exert control over other people (iron, carbon, plutonium). He continues organizing the elements by cultural significance, with subsequent sections titled, “Fire,” “Craft,” “Beauty,” and “Earth.” By reclassifying the elements in this way, Aldersey-Williams hopes to shift our perspective on the elements, seeing them as imbued with cultural significance as a result of their physical properties. As such, Aldersey-Williams wants us to see that the elements are not just the property of chemistry labs; rather, “they are the property of us all” (12). Aldersey-Williams’s playful, hands-on approach to scientific exploration shines through the book. Boston Globe