Summary:
At the beginning of the chapter, the author refers to the periodic table as a castle. He speaks about how the elements on the table are the bricks to the castle and if they were to be moved around the "castle" would tumble down. He uses this metaphor to create a better understanding about the importance of the structure of the Periodic Table. He also describes the periodic table as a map. Kean discusses where the name elements derives from and how helium is one noble gasses. Plato came up the word "elements" to describe a general group of small particles of matter. Kean discusses Plato's fascination for geometry and his ideas of all non-mathematical objects being imperfect copies of the "perfect" copies. Kean continues to talk about helium and how it can be used. How two scientist, one Dutch-German and the other being Russian-Canadian, discovered flabbergasting discoveries during their times while working with the element helium. If an atom loses or gains an electron, it becomes and ion. Plato's idea of beings searching for their other halfs is used to describe how elements search for other atoms to form bounds that mask their natures. Helium is known as a pure element, the name comes from Helios. Helium was not isolated on earth until 1895. Helium, unlike the majority of the elements on the periodic table, doesn't have to look for electrons to fill its outer shell. Kean explains how atoms of an element work in order to fill their outer shell. Kean circles back to Plato and talks about how Plato sees noble gasses as perfect and unchangeable.
The author describes the halogens as "the most energetic" and the alkali metals as the most dangerous. He continues to use the metaphor of the map giving specific locations of the groups of elements on the periodic table. Alkali metals are explained as being able to spontaneously combust in air or in water. Electrons are used to determine the reactivity of an element. Halogens only have 7 electrons on their outer ring. Kean refers to halogens being one octet short. They bond with alkalis causing the latter to dump an electron causing negative and positive ion charges. Sodium chloride is used as an example of one of the bond between a halogen and alkali metal. Sodium chloride is a common household product, salt. The bond occurs because of the ions. The author explains how the rows can help you determine which elements will bond. Such as sodium and oxygen, together they form sodium oxide. Kean talks about a joke on a universal solvent and continues onto the studies of Gilbert Lewis. Gilbert Lewis is known as the man who never earned a Noble Prize despite all his work. He discovered the explanation of ph levels. Kean explains how the higher the ph level is, the less acidic the substance is, but if the ph level is lower, it is more acidic. If the ph level moves from 3 to 4, the acidic level increases by 10. Lewis changed the definition of what an acid is after discovering not all acids rely on hydrogen. Maria Goeppert was a professor of physics, born in Germany. Maria discovered that an atom's nuclei does have shells for protons and neutrons called "magic nuclei". The protons and neutrons form into symmetrical spheres that allow the element to be balanced. That is also what relates the elements helium, oxygen, and calcium.
Reflection:
The most interesting thing that I learned from this chapter was how Gilbert Lewis, despite all of his work and multiple nominations, was not awarded with a Noble Prize. I don't dislike anything about this chapter. So far the book has been very interesting. I learned many things from this chapter alone. Such as, how the periodic table can be seen a geographical map, how electrons are fought over by atoms, and how certain scientist discovered new things about the periodic table. I found that this chapter is a good start to the rest of the book. The first chapter contained a lot more information than I was expecting to find out. Something that I found very interesting about this chapter is how the pH levels can change so drastically; simply by dropping from 3 to 4.
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