Summary:
Elements can be used for warfare in many ways. Two examples are: weapon creation and chemical warfare. Kean stars off this chapter by talking briefly about the methods of attack from Sparta to the city of Athens, by using chemical warfare. The word harbinger is mentioned during this time and it seems to mean it brought forth more ideas of how to develope the chemical warfare that was started. Uranium was used for nuclear weapons that would wipe out large populations. The author then begins to speak about how the German government hired Harber to develop an ammonia that dispersed gas onto their enemies.
It is ironic that harbor won a Nobel Peace prize because he did a lot of work that did not really bring any peace at all. All of his work was used for some kind of destruction. Kean spoke about the work of Harber. Nazi Germany, began gassing their victims with gasses they called, white cross, blue cross, and yellow cross. Kean also spoke about Portugal being neutral and still selling tungsten. Tungsten's price jumped during WWII because a man referred to as Salazar, had played Axis and Allies for more money. Towards the end of the chapter Kean begins to talk about how the Democratic of Congo began to sell tantalum and niobium because of the demand for more technological inventions like cell phones. Buyers in America soon began to realize that their vendors were using their profits to cause anarchy. So they began to start buying from Australia, even though it was more expensive.
Reflection:
This chapter was very interesting. By far I would have to say that this was my favorite chapter. I liked how it explained how elements are some of the causes for past wars. Also, how they can still be relevant to the technology today. Reading about how elements can be used for chemical warfare and improving weapons is very interesting to me as well. This is something that I might keep in mind for a topic of conversation one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment