In between the metals and gases, about where Kentucky sits on a U.S. Only two elements, mercury and bromine, are liquids at room temperature. A few columns on the eastern side contain gases. Seventy-five percent of the bricks are metals, which means most elements are cold, gray solids, at least at temperatures human beings are used to. ![]() That is, not all the bricks are made of the same substance, nor do they have the same characteristics. That’s no exaggeration: if scientists determined that one element somehow fit into a different slot or that two of the elements could be swapped, the entire edifice would tumble down.Īnother architectural curiosity is that the castle is made up of different materials in different areas. Each brick is an element, or type of substance (as of now, 112 elements, with a few more pending, make up the table), and the entire castle would crumble if any of those bricks didn’t sit exactly where it does. The castle is made of “bricks,” and the first non-obvious thing about it is that the bricks are not interchangeable. It has eighteen jagged columns and seven horizontal rows, with a “landing strip” of two extra rows hanging below. What does it look like? Sort of like a castle, with an uneven main wall, as if the royal masons hadn’t quite finished building up the left-hand side, and tall, defensive turrets on both ends. People remember the table with a mix of fascination, fondness, inadequacy, and loathing.īefore introducing the periodic table, every teacher should strip away all the clutter and have students just stare at the thing, blank. It was the same irritation colorblind people must feel when the fully sighted find sevens and nines lurking inside those parti-colored dot diagrams-crucial but hidden information that never quite resolves itself into coherence. Probably the biggest frustration for many students was that the people who got the periodic table, who could really unpack how it worked, could pull so many facts from it with such dweeby nonchalance. And although the periodic table obviously had something to do with other sciences, such as biology and physics, it wasn’t clear what exactly. ![]() On the other hand, it was such a jumble of long numbers, abbreviations, and what looked for all the world like computer error messages (6s 24f 15d 1), it was hard not to feel anxious. ![]() On the one hand, the periodic table seemed organized and honed, almost German engineered for maximum scientific utility. Of course, part of the frustration you might remember about the periodic table could flow from the fact that, despite its being freely available to fall back on, a gigantic and fully sanctioned cheat sheet, it remained less than frickin’ helpful. It was introduced to the class in early September and was still relevant in late May, and it was the one piece of scientific information that, unlike lecture notes or textbooks, you were encouraged to consult during exams. The chart was usually enormous, six by four feet or so, a size both daunting and appropriate, given its importance to chemistry. When most people think of the periodic table, they remember a chart hanging on the front wall of their high school chemistry class, an asymmetric expanse of columns and rows looming over one of the teacher’s shoulders. Part I ORIENTATION: COLUMN BY COLUMN, ROW BY ROW 1 Geography Is Destiny And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
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