Chapter 5 Summary

       The discussion in chapter 5 speaks about the involvement of elements in war. Elements such as bromine and chlorine have been used as gases which suffocate and eventually cause fatality. Other elements to this day are still being used as nuclear weapons showing how people have manipulated naturally occurring chemicals to their own advantage. A scientist by the name of Fritz Haber collaborated with the Nazis during the war by providing basic weapons such as chlorine and bromine gas. He also found ammonia by combining nitrogen and hydrogen which he used as fertilizer for plants. Haber was one of the many scientists who use elements for destructive purposes which eventually listed him under as a war criminal.
    Kean also mentions other elements including tungsten, molybdenum, and tantalum that have all been used during warfare. Elements like Niobium and Tantalum are still used in cell phones today. These elements were most found in Africa but tungsten was prominent in the rocky mountains of Colorado. Tungsten was used by Germany, because of its strength was used to take down tanks. Germany used a series of elements during the war including the powerful Big Bertha a 2,200 pound shell nine miles in just a second. Elements were onced used to understand the world around us. Overtime, people have been able to manipulate some elements to produce harmful weapons used for destruction.