Chapter 3 Guiding Questions

1. The symbol for Lead is Pb. Both lead and plumber are derived from the Latin word Plumbum.

2.Robert Bunsen is said to have invented the bunsen burner, however Bunsen just improvised it and popularized it after he used it for a spectroscope. He discovered the spectroscope which showed the different color elements showed in Heidelberg. Robert Bunsen also helped contribute to the period table.

3. In chemistry, it's often taught that Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic table and that's all that is said, when in reality 6 people independently developed one. Another invention that one person has taken the credit for was the discovery of America. For example, when Christopher Columbus sailed to America in 1492, there were still many people who lived here. Therefore, he technically did not discover America but merely introduced it to the other side of the world. Mendeleev gets the credit for the periodic table because he had an incredible amount of knowledge of the elements discovered at that time and even made extraordinary predictions about undiscovered elements.

4. Thinking of the elements and organizing them into groups showed the missing pieces. When a puzzle is missing pieces, you can more accurately tell which pieces fit when they are organized in a precise matter. Mendeleev's accomplishments led to many elements being discovered which show just how easy he made it for other scientists in his time.

5. Mendeleev made many mistakes like denying the existence of noble gases and even atoms. He stated that he only believed in things he saw with his eyes. Mendeleev made many other mistakes such as believing that the sun contained an element called coronium.

6. Lavoisier was wrong about acids in which he said that they all contain oxygen. Although it was wrong, it was one of the first attempts to observe acids and bases.

7. Ytterby, in Sweden is perhaps one of the most important places related to the periodic table because more elements have been discovered here than anywhere else in the world. Lanthanides were some of the elements discovered here.