Post-Reading Questions

1. Did reading the Disappearing Spoon change the ideas about the day-to-day Life of scientists and the work they do ? Why or why not?

I think I've gained more appreciation to scientists and what they do. I can truly see how they benefit us and how they help us understand our world. I think I can say that I've changed my ideas Because I hold them in a higher regard.  

2. Sam Kean makes connections to many areas of science, nature and life that normally are not discussed in association of the periodic table. What connections suprised you or were new to you? 

When Kean talked about astronomy with chemistry, I found it very interesting. I know that they correlate with each other a lot but to know how is a whole different story. 

3. Now that you read the disappearing spoon, what is your favorite element? Why? 

I've always liked gold and I know it will always be my favorite element. Now that I learned more about gold, I  can support and say why I like it so much. 🙂

Chapter 18 Summary

Chapter 18 starts off with talking about the NIST and the BIPM, two bureaus that focus on being as precise with all measurements as possible. Kean talks about one of the most important of all measurement tools, the kilogram. The International Prototype kilogram was a cylinder that weighed exactly one kilograms and scientists went to absolutely ridiculous measures to keep it this way. However, when it started to shrink mysteriously, they gave up this method to use an easier and more precise one, email. Aside from what Kean said in the book, I also found out that they're making a sphere that is equal to exactly a kilogram, making it easier to count the atoms inside it.
     The scientists started to use a cesium run clock in order to calculate the absolute most precise measurements of time that they possible can. Because alpha is something measurable, scientists of course found the exact measurement. Then came the data from Oklo, a site in Africa where the only known fission reactor exists. Based on research done, some scientists guess that alpha is slowly getting bigger and in return, there was a variation in data. This inconstant, if true, means that the big bang theory would be impossible. Then Australian ideas are introduced with quasars (or black holes) and this somehow led to the theory of a fundamental constant changing. The final ending to this chapter deals with Fermi and his question of whether other life exists or not. Based on the Drake Equation, much life could exist.

Chapter 17 Summary

Chapter 17 starts out with a story about Donald Glaser, who came to the idea of using bubbles for some current experiments going on by scientists studying exotic fragments of neutrons, electrons and protons. Watching his beer glass and bubbles, Glaser was able to take part in the creation of the “bubble chamber”. 
  The chapter then moves onto smaller stories of the Roman’s love of calcium bubbles. Kean then introduces Rutherford as basically that of a troll but based on his radioactive experiments he became famous. He and another scientist, Soddy, were able to prove that elements could mutate into other elements. He then used this knowledge and discovered helium particles being produced from this decay as bubbles.try This theory then went on to be used as a dating device to help find the age of the earth by measuring the amount if helium trapped in rocks (uranium decay). The next story is then of a scientist by the name of Putterman. He had the idea of sonoluminescene work and soon began a small experiment that led to his discovery. Most of the discoveries in the later part of the chapter were based on the research of foam

Chapter 19 Summary

 The last chapter started with the introduction of the most rare element known on Earth, astatine. The next rarest element in francium, which can be explained through a long set of decayed elements and probabilities. After scientists were playing with heavy elements and stability, they came up with the idea of the “island of stability”. However, this theory basically rests on francium and now to stabilize the nuclei of elements. Based on this theory, scientists have been able to fill in the last rows of the periodic table with hypothesized elements all dealing with latin names.

   However, the real question to many scientists was what the limits of the periodic table are. The chapter then moves into the periodic table and how it is set up dealing with properties. Over the years there have been hundreds of ways of organizing the elements and the author shows a genuine interest and respect for the ingenuity of a lot of them, especially some of the 3D ideas. 

Chapter 16 Summary

Chapter 16 was interesting but so hard to comprehend due to the uncertainty of it. The majority of the chapter dealt with the crazy characteristics of elements when exposed to extreme conditions of temperature. Kean starts out with the story of a few Englishmen that set out to be the first men to ever be 90 degrees below the equator. Though, Norwegians had already been there first when the five men reached the spot. Matters got even worse for the men because they became stuck in harsh snow storms for weeks and ran out of supplies, including a heat source, due to their tin kerosene holders leaking. This was caused by "Tin Leprosy"
 The next part doesn’t focus on certain scientists but more so the fascinating form that matter can take when temperature is either extremely cold or hot. In one example, the scientists dropped the temperature to around – 445 degrees Fahrenheit in order to combine xenon and argon as well as krypton to other elements, including the noble gases. Kean then moves on to an even more unimaginable idea of Bose-Einstein condensate. This then moved into an experiment conducted that reached one billionth of a degree above zero where all of the atoms basically combine into one huge super atom

Chapter 15 Summary

Chapter 15 talked a lot about “mad scientists” and their supposed ways but this chapter really dug deep into actual scientists who shared “mad” characteristics. The chapter first starts off with the story of William Crookes. Kean explains how he was a rather well acknowledged scientist in his early thirties. However, when his brother died at sea he went “mad”. He made contraptions and theories of spirituality and the existence of his dead brother when he went to séances en mass to mourn for him. Although many scientists thought of his work as ridiculous ghost ideas, he managed to pull out of his pathological science stage and began woking with selenium and radioactivity. Kean then goes on talking about scientists finding shark teeth on the bottom of the ocean covered in manganese, and then tells the theory of the megalodon. 
He moves on to the scientists Pons and Fleischmann. These two scientists came to fame and credit over their scientific findings with electric currents, water and palladium. When they discovered that palladium soaks up an extreme amounts of hydrogen when in water with electricity, they automatically released their results of a new age of energy before they could test the experiment more thoroughly. Thy went down in history as frauds of their own results but also as the scientists who started the important research on such a reaction. He next talks about Röntgen. Without the crazy details, he basically skirted pathological science madness and was still able to manage creating the x-ray.

Chapter 14 Summary

Chapter 14 focused on the aristocracy, or wealth related skills, that took place in science. Kean described this idea simply as only the rich could afford to study science. He then talks about Goethe, an author he learned about by one of his college professors. Kean was impacted by stories Goethe wrote about elements and science. The chapter then moves onto him choosing his partner, Döbereiner, to help him with his studies. They were both very successful and even helped to organize the periodic table even further. 
The chapter then starts on the story of Moholy-Nagy, a man which had the most successful theory of business in that people always want the newest product, no matter how well the old product worked. Then came the pen, invented by Kenneth Parker, which seemed to be quite the obsession. Then the most surprising part. Mark Twain wrote some literature dealing with science. This helped publicize the type writer (which he hated) and not so much the pen (which he loved). Lowell was the next artist and the last discussed. He was known as a bipolar poet and artist with a horrible social life. However, when he was tested with lithium to help with his “problem”, he was able to be one “cured”, though his art work was never the same.