Disappearing Spoon Ch. 1-3 Summary

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
Chapters 1-3 Summary

The periodic table is composed of eighteen columns and seven horizontal rows, with two additional rows underneath. There is grand total of 112 elements in the periodic table, each of which is placed in a designated spot on the table and cannot be moved. Different areas on the table have elements that are made of different components. Elements that are in the same column are more similar than elements in the same horizontal row. Seventy five percent of the table is made up of metals, and a couple of the columns on the right of the table have gases. There are only two elements that are liquids- mercury and bromine. Column 1 contains the alkali metals, which suddenly combust when exposed to air or water. Columns 3-12 are the transition metals, which contain heavier atoms, which are more flexible in how they organize their electrons. Column 17 is made up of the more reactive gases- the halogens. The noble gases are in column 18. The electrons are the most significant part of an atom. When atoms don’t have the sufficient number of electrons they need in their outer level, they will do whatever they can to get the number they need. The number of protons an atom has is its atomic number. The atomic number plus the number of neutrons the atom has is the atom’s atomic weight. Carbon is the element responsible for life on earth. Carbon creates the backbone of amino acids, which are what make up proteins. The suffix –ine is used for amino acids, and the suffix –yl is used for the protein’s structure. Carbon needs to create bonds; in any way it can, with other atoms. It can share its electrons with up to 4 other atoms at once, which lets carbon build complex chains. Carbon is very similar with silicon, the element right under it. Silicon has the capability to imitate carbon, and constantly bonds with oxygen. This makes silicon dioxide, which is surprisingly not a gas, but a solid. Silicon is inexpensive and accessible. Both silicon and germanium are in modern electronics. Silicon is used in computers, microchips, cars, and calculators. Robert Bunsen was a German chemist who invented the spectroscope, and also enhanced gas burners by adding a valve to control the flow of oxygen, which improved the burner’s flame. He taught some of the people who created the first periodic table. Dmitri Mendeleev is most commonly known for organizing the first periodic table, but he didn’t do it on his own. He started out with an estimated guess of how to arrange elements into similar sets. Julius Lothar Meyer was competition to Mendeleev, but Mendeleev had a much more deeper knowledge about the different properties of elements, particularly the metals. He also predicted that there were other elements out there that had yet to be found. Paul Emile Francois Lecoq de Boisbaudran thought he had found a new element, and he named it gallium. When Mendeleev hear of this news, he knew it was his earlier prediction of eka-aluminum. It was concluded that Mendeleev had identified the characteristics of a new element more distinctly than Lecoq de Boisbaudran. The island of Ytterby was a coastal village in Sweden, and there was a quarry that had rocks that contained exotic pigments and colored glazes. Johan Gadolin was a geochemist who discovered 7 elements in Ytterby.