The Disappearing Spoon

nitrogen

-locked into molecular form more tightly than oxygen -prevents neurons and heart cells from absorbing new oxygen -pickpockets the little oxygen cells stored up for hard times -causes the brain to shut down

tungsten

-made in Portugal -one of the hardest metals known -can withstand even greater heat than molybdenum (melts at 6,200°)

molybdenum

-used to strengthen iron weaponry -can withstand heat (melts at 4,750°) -large atoms -60% more electrons (absorb more heat and bind together tightly) -prevents iron from sliding around

isotope

-variations in element's atom's number of neutrons

lanthanides

-"rare earths" -F-shell elements -bury mew electrons even more deeply than the transition metals -can barely be distinguished from one another -no pure sample in nature (brothers contaminate it) -brightly colored -six of these trace their roots back to Ytterby

seaborgium

-element 106 -Germans and Americans argued over who found it first -dueled over element names -International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry stepped in -named after Seaborg -only element named after a living person (at the time)

base

-"electron donor"

tungsten

-"it" metal of World War II

radium

-1 of the Curies new found elements -glows translucent green -always hotter than its surroundings (radioactivity heats it up)

polonium

-1 of the Curies new found elements -named after Poland -useless metal -linked to lung cancer from cigarettes

Irene Joliot-Curie

-Marie Curie's daughter -continued Marie's work with radioactivity -figured out method for converting tame elements into artificially radioactive atoms by bombarding them with subatomic particles -won Nobel Prize

iodine

-adding it to the diet is the cheapest and most effective health measure a government can take to prevent birth defects and mental retardation

György Hevesy

-assigned to separate out radioactive atoms from nonradioactive atoms inside blocks of lead (impossible) -developed a way to track molecules inside veins and organs using radium-D -found element 72 (hafnium) with Coster

antimony

-based on Nebuchadnezzar -mixed with lead to paint palace yellow (caused him to go mad) -Egyptian women used it as makeup -believed to be a hermaphrodite -laxative -very valuable -scientist realized its wonderful for building custom acids -world's strongest acid (when mixed with hydrofluoric acid)

where atoms come from

-big bang theory -scientists analyzed the amount and placement of common and rare elements in the earth's crust and deduced how they could have gotten where they are -formed about 4.55 billion years ago -every 26 million years, earth does mass extinction (possibly) -stars/sun heated themselves by fusing hydrogen together to form helium -some stars contain elements that do not exist on Earth -if iron is found in a star, than the rest of the periodic table up that point is represented

Maria Goeppert

-born in Germany -had trouble convincing Ph.D. program, to admit a woman -earned doctorate at University of Hannover -would not be hired -followed husband (Joseph Mayer) t0 work and conferences -given some stereotypical "feminine" jobs for no money -invited to work for the Manhattan Project -made a professor of physics at University of Chicago for no pay -worked on the nucleus -proved nuclei do have shells -recognized for her nuclear shell model -paying job at University of California

chlorine

-bromine's cousin -more aggressive in attacking other elements for one more electron -small, weighs less than bromine -can attack the body's cells more nimbly -turns skin yellow, green, black -glasses over eyes

nuclear bombs

-can kill alot of people and flatten a lot of buildings -one-stage fission bomb -kill with heat

DNA

-carrier of genetic information -had phosphorus-sugar backbone -nucleic acids

periodic table's roles

-catalogs all the different kinds of matter inn our universe -its shape gives scientific clues as to how those atoms mingle with one another -encodes forensic information about where every kind of atom came from and which atoms can fragment or mutate into different atoms

ions

-charged atoms -occurs when electrons are traded between atoms -when atoms lose or gain electrons

Fritz Haber

-chemist -helped German gas research units outpace the rest of the world -one of the best chemists at the ptime -formed fertilizer by "capturing" nitrogen -with fertilizer, farmers could grow cheaply w/out relying on dung -saved millions from starvations -used bromine to make military gas shells, did not work against Russia -directed first successful gas attack in history

mercury

-considered most potent and poetic substance in the universe by medieval alchemists -cultish (atoms want to stay only with each other, minimize contact with outside world -dense -soft -symbol: Hg (water silver) -fumes cause central nervous system to fray and burns holes in the brain

atoms

-contain electrons -have different energy levels (like tiers) leveled inside each other -each level needs a certain number of electrons to fill itself and feel satisfied (2 inside, about 8 outside) -fill their inner, lower-energy levels as full as possible with their own electrons -whenever multiple touch, nucleus is mute

alpha decay

-converts elements -most dramatic change on nuclear level

thallium

-deadliest element -goes into body through ion channels to vacuum up potassium -pretends to be potassium and goes into proteins -render protein useless -poisoner's poison -can stay in body for aeons, grow stable nuclei

shells

-different-shaped bunks used to store electrons as elements swell in size

antiprotons

-discovered by Segre and Owen Chamberlain -mirror image of regular protons -negative charge -travel backward in time -annihilate any "real" matter

Ghiorso and Seaborg

-discovered more elements than anyone in history -extended the periodic table by almost one-sixth

Louis Pasteur

-discovered the handedness of tartaric acid -realized that life is built solely from elements on the periodic table -developed pasteurization (heating milk to kill infectious diseases) -saved a young boy with his rabies vaccine

tin

-dull gray metal used to can corn

neutron chain reaction

-electrons keep neutrons/protons at 1-1 ratio -if too many neutrons, atom splits itself (releases excess neutrons) -nearby atoms absorb neutrons » become unstable/spit out neutrons''

sulfur

-electrons will be in a dozenet, not octet -shares one electron with a benzene ring, one with a short nitrogen chain, and two each with two oxygen atoms

helium

-element 2 -liquid: cooled mercury below -452° to find it became an ideal conductor -pure: turned into superfluid (0 viscosity, 0 resistance to flow, defy gravity) -can't be broken down/altered by normal chemical means -doesn't need to share/steal electrons

vanadium

-element 23 -deadly to small wriggling cells -best spermicide -raises and lowers blood glucose levels

copper

-element 29 -antiseptic power -bacteria/fungi/algae go across element, absorb its metabolism, choke, and die -used to cover doorknobs and railings -inexpensive

arsenic

-element 33 -Bunsen worked with it -smelled foul

technetium

-element 43 -Greek for "artificial" -found by Segre -element that has been discovered for the "first time" the most -1st time: really impure iridium -2nd-3rd time: actually niobium -later named davyium -mix of 3 elements -next called lucium -finally named yttrium

cadmium

-element 48 -lightest element in poisoner's corridor -found in a Japanese mine -coats batteries and computer parts to prevent corrosion -found in pigments, tanning agents, and solders -toxic -replaces zinc in the body -sometimes evicts sulfur and calcium from the body

gadolinium

-element 64 -potential cancer assassin -has abundance of unpaired electrons -magnetized more strongly than any other element -helps MRI machines pick up on the difference between tumors and normal flesh -can absorb neutrons, causing it to become radioactive and tear tissue around it -repairs DNA

bismuth

-element 83 -whitish metal with pinkish hue -burns with blue flame and emits yellow fumes -found in paints and dyes -replaces red lead in fireworks -one of the few elements that expands when it freezes -final element to go instinct -used medically

lead

-element more or less hostile to life

bromine

-energetic grenade of an element -has 7 electrons in outer layer, wants 8 -shreds weaker elements in cells to get its electron fix -irritates eyes and nose -used as a military weapon

Linus Pauling

-figured out how quantum mechanics governs the chemical bonds between atoms (bond strength, bond length, bond angle) -snowflakes are six-sided because of the structure of ice -people die from sickle-cell anemia because their hemoglobin can't hold on to oxygen -thought DNA was triple-stranded, phosphorus molecules in middle -stubborn and would not take any advice -realized vitamins could cure people -only person to win 2 unshared Nobel Prizes

gallium

-first named eka-aluminum -discovered by Paul Emile François Lecoq de Boisbaudran -became best spectroscopic surgeon in the world -will melt in the palm of your hand -Mendeleev was given partial credit for finding this element

Plato

-fled Athens after mentor (Socrates) died -made "elements" meaning different small particles of matter -claimed that every being longs to find its compliment -all objects are shadows of one ideal type

Flyorov

-focused on topics too hard to explain to laypeople -scientists could now fuse lighter elements to make heavier elements

nitrogen

-forms multiple bonds to keep itself happy

Dmitri Mendeleev

-generally acclaimed for creating the first periodic table -after a series of hardships, was enrolled at his dead father's alma mater in St. Petersburg -co-discovered the "periodic law" with Julius Lothar Meyer -understood that certain traits about elements persist, even if others don't -defining trait of elements are their atomic weight -worked in chemistry labs his whole life

Emilio Segre

-greatest element craftsmen of an earlier era -immigrant/Jew -found element 43 on strips of molybdenum with help from Lawrence and Perrier -misidentified nuclear fission products as transuranics -misidentified transuranic neptunium as a fission product -won Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering antiprotons

Lewis

-grew up in Nebraska -college/graduate in Ma -studied in Germany under chemist Walther Nernst -built Berkeley's chemistry department into the world's best -best scientist never to win a Nobel Prize -instead of doing one specific thing, fine tuned many broad things -may have died of a heart attack (smoked 20 cigars a day/40+ years) -smell of cyanide gas when he died??

alliance between alkali metals and halogens

-halogens have one less electron they need for an octet -alkali have one electron in outer layer and full octet below -forms strong links by dumping and adding to each other

uranium

-heaviest natural element -atoms surrounding it did not affect if or when its nucleus went radioactive

transition metals

-heavy -have different energy levels (one, two, three, etc) -have lower energy levels buried beneath the higher levels -fight other atoms to secure full outer energy levels with eight electrons -file electrons into d-shells (hole 10 electrons) -hide extra d-shells beneath other layers -act the same way chemically due to being shielded by the hidden d-shells

noble gases

-helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon -have closed shells with full complements of electrons -do not react with anything under normal conditions

periodic table

-hundred-odd characters -75% metals (cold, gray solids) -a few gases -two liquids at room temperature (mercury and bromine -a few hard to define elements -moving horizontally, each element has one more electron than its neighbor to the left

titanium

-hypnotizes blood cells -doesn't trigger immune response -cons the body's osteoblasts into attaching themselves to it

americium

-in smoke detectors -smoke absorbs the alpha particles, which disrupts the current and sets of the shrill alarm

spectroscope

-invented by Bunsen -tool that uses light to study elements

dirty bombs

-kill with gamma radiation (malignant x-rays) -result from frantic radioactive events -burn people -dig down into bone marrow and scramble chromosomes in white blood cells

promethium

-last element in periodic to be found -element 61 -useless

Dr. Rush

-made mercury-chloride sludge administered orally (bilious pills) -figured mercury could cure patients by fighting poison with poison -damaged and killed lots of people with his "cure" -purged bowels very well (body will rid itself of all poison including mercury)

Gerhard Domagk

-made the first genuine antibacterial drug -first tested the drug on mice | with prontosil the mice lived -injected into dying daughter and she lived -given the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology

Neodymium

-makes unprecedentedly powerful lasers

nucleus

-makes up more than 99% of atom's mass -core and essence of an atom -number of positive protons (atomic number) gives atom's identity -protons and neutrons inside sit in shells -filling these shells leads to stability

pH scale

-measures acid strength -lower numbers = stronger acids -water (7) - dropping one unit (4 to 3) boosts acid's strength by ten times

alkali metals

-more violent elements -instead of rusting or corroding, can spontaneously combust in air/water -form alliance of interests with the halogen gases

halogens

-most energetic and reactive gases -7 electrons in outer layer

electrons

-negatively charged particles -shed, shared, or stolen to secure the right number in outermost layer -most important part of an atom -virtually take up all of an atoms space

silicon

-one element responsible for modern technologies -nearest chemical cousin to carbon -alternative to carbon-based life in other galaxies -could form "brains" as complicated as any carbon-based one -could form new life (however, _____ dioxide is a solid, not a gas) -does not dissolve in water -packs on more electrons than carbon -cannot form rings to store energy -cannot squeeze tight electrons into tight spaces for double bonds -really cheap (money wise)

germanium

-one element responsible for modern technologies -outer electrons sit in a higher energy level -electrons are more loosely bound -conducts electricity more smoothly -used by Bardeen and Brattain to build the world's first s0lid-state amplifier called the transistor -temperamental

Marie Sklodowska (Curie)

-one of the most illustrious Poles ever -tutored by her father -married Pierre Curie -studied uranium -was "the other woman" in an affair with her married colleague

acids

-originally judged by being tasted/dunking fingers into them -called "proton donors" -many contain hydrogen -when acids mix with water (2 hydrogen, 1 oxygen) , protons are added -later called "electron thieves"

rhenium

-originally thought to be the missing element 43 -found by Masataka Ogawa (unknowingly) -later found by Otto berg, Walter, and Ida Noddack

Gadolinium

-perfect for magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs)

polonium

-poisoner's poison of nuclear age -makes people's hair fall out

immune system

-rejects all attempts of integrating metal/wood into the body

elements

-seeks out other atoms to form bonds with that mask its nature -neutral (normally have equal numbers of negative electrons and positive protons)

silver

-self-sterilizing -if ingested, turns skin blue permanently -blue man overdosed on silver nitrate to cure his syphilis

Marie and Pierre Curie

-shared Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering that chemistry is different from physics -only had to study periodic table, not millions of chemicals -Marie won another Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering two new elements in uranium's "waste" (Pierre was killed so could not accept the prize)

gamma decay

-simplest and deadliest type of shrapnel -occurs when nucleus emits concentrated X-rays

carbon

-sixth element -element responsible for life -most versatile element on the periodic table -build proteins (forms backbone of amino acids) -has to fill outer energy level with eight electrons -has 4 electrons left to fill outer level, has to find 4 more to make 8 -latches on to anything -shares its electrons with up to four other atoms at once, forming steady and stable bonds

Rosalind Franklin

-specialized in X-ray crystallography (shows shape of molecules) -calculated DNA was double-stranded

amino acids

-string together to make proteins -contains oxygen atoms on one end, nitrogen on the other end, and carbon atoms in the middle

Henry Mosely

-student of Ernest Rutherford -studied elements by blasting them with electron beams -discovered the connection between an element's place on the table to a physical characteristic -showed that order of elements was based on the atomic anatomy -pointed out missing elements -enlisted in king's army and died

radioactivity

-study of how nuclei fall apart -nuclei could be altered by blowing off atomic shrapnel (alpha, beta, or gamma decay)

poisoner's corridor

-subtle -can migrate deep inside the body before going off -can give up different numbers of electrons depending on the circumstances

neutron

-supplied a great way to probe atomic innards -scientists could shoot it at atoms without it being electrically impulsed -helped induce new type of radioactivity

beryllium

-tastes like sugar -very toxic -when mixed with radioactive matter, slows emitted particles down

Ninov

-tried to produce element 118 -smashed krypton into lead -decayed immediately -Russians, Germans, and Berkeley team tried to recreate experiment -left no data in data file -may have faked data files

Scandium

-tungsten-like -used in aluminum baseball bats and bike frames -helped Soviet Union make lightweight helicopters

Tantalum and Niobium

-types of metals -dense -heat-resistant -noncorrosive -hold a charge well -used in cell phones -found mostly in Congo

David Hahn

-wanted to solve the world's energy crisis and break addiction to oil -played with violent chemicals -was not that good at chemistry -learned about fusion, fission, and radioactive decay (3 main nuclear processes) -made a "breeder reactor" which makes its own fuel through a combo of radioactive species -searched by the police and under investigation -left off the hook -went to work with the navy

Watson and Crick

-worked with Franklin's ideas -realized four nucleic acids always showed up in pairs (a-t, c-g) -nucleic acids must pair up inside DNA -made the double helix

Robert Bunsen

-worked with arsenic -antidote to arsenic's poison (iron oxide hydrate) -loved anything that spewed from the ground -invented the spectroscope -added a knob to a gas burned to adjust oxygen flow to improve the flame (making the Bunsen burner) -enlisted Dmitri Mendeleev

carborane

-world's strongest and gentlest solo acid -practically becomes helium -won't rip electrons from other atoms -adds octane kick to gasoline -helps make vitamins digestible -floods a solution with protons then freezes the molecules at crucial intermediate points (cradles)

neutral neuron

adds weight without adding charge

beta decay

conversion of neutrons to protons and vice versa

protons

positively charged particles

fission

the splitting of the uranium atom