The Disappearing Spoon Chapter Summary

John Dalton wrote the modern atomic theory, a fundamental component of that is, the mole ratios of elements in a compound will be small whole numbers.

The Disappearing Spoon written by author Sam Kean, is a book in where it talks about how the elements from the periodic table play a huge role into where we stand today. Kean digs deep down into where and how these elements were discovered or created. From the stories of the elements he can tell the reader how it led to other stories of science, history, finance, mythology, the arts, medicine, and more Ch. 1 In Geography is Destiny, the author Sam Kean begins by going into the organization of the periodic table.

Chapter two, The Dinner, is centralized around two main issues: the nation’s debt and where to locate its new capitol. While the issues were concerns of essentially every individual with political say, the three main problem-solvers presented in this chapter are James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. These three individuals became involved with each other when Jefferson noticed Hamilton looing like an exhausted mess outside of George Washington’s office. Hamilton shared his concerns that his plan to solve the nation’s deficit had reached a stalemate in congress against James Madison’s faction. Jefferson then hosted a dinner between the three in an attempt to solve the stalemate because he feared a deadlock.

Although one might assume that the periodic table is exclusively science related and has no connection with societal aspects, Kean proves with stories such as Hevesy’s that politics in addition to many other fields shaped the table’s path. Politics helped determine the outcome of the periodic table, or so Kean claims. Kean supports this conjecture with the fact that many of the scientific geniuses who developed the table lived in Eastern Europe and during the time of World War II. Because of this, the Nazi regime controlled most of the scientific research done at the time and, as we now know, prevented the work of Jews from gaining glory. Many of these scientists who contributed to the development of the periodic table were Jewish and so, as one might deduce, the scientific discoveries made during this time were tainted by politics, influencing the outcome of the periodic

Chapter one of The Disappearing Spoon informs us of the information hidden in the periodic table, and why the periodic table is arranged the way it is. Through its pages it explained the formation of the periodic table such as its shape, trends, and etc. The pages also tie into one or more learning goals in this unit. A periodic table is not just a chart with things splashed onto it, it is a chart that was thoroughly arranged based on the trends, the characteristics, the description, and formation of an element.

-Dmitri Mendeleev- first periodic table, organized 63 known elements according to properties, organized into rows and columns and wrote name, mass, and chemical properties on each

The elements were organized by Dimitri Mendeleév. He organized them by properties (columns), groups (horizontal), and atomic number (the number of protons and electrons). This became known as the Periodic Table. And currently there are 118 elements. He also found gaps in which elements that were yet to be discovered were to go, three of these unknown elements were found and identified in Mendeleév's lifetime. The elements today are used in everything and 75% of the 118 elements are metal.

At first glance, the Periodic Table of Elements seems large, complex, and randomly organized. But if you take a closer look into the history of the elements that make up the numerous columns and rows, you’ll begin to see that there’s more to the table than just a jumble of numbers and symbols. In fact, each and every element on that table has a story; some shrouded in mystery, others well-known and widely researched. In The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean explores the tales of “madness, love, and the history of the world” gleaned from all the elements that miraculously shape our very world we live in today. Every chapter is brimming with true stories about the elements and how

Although his periodic table was considered wrong when he had showed it to the public, it allowed Mendeleev to fix it and provide the periodic table everyone has today. Perhaps Mendeleev could have figured out the periodic table without Newlands help. But, him using Newlands table as a reference obviously sped up the process of organizing the table and envisioning the soon to be known atomic masses of the unexplored elements. Newlands had assisted the scientific world by presenting his Law of Octaves, arranging the elements according to atomic mass, and publishing his representation of the periodic table. With Newlands' contributions to the scientific world, the periodic table we have today is in favor to Mendeleev's table, which was constructed with Newlands'

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, believed there were only 4 elements; fire, water, air, and Earth. This idea was widely accepted for 2,000 years. Antoine Lavoisier is considered “father of modern chemistry” although he made a living as a tax collector. His view of having only 4 elements being the basis of the material world helped influence “alchemists”.

He continued his way and put forward the elements in order of increasing atomic mass and wherever he found a interval, simply assumed that this elements had not discovered yet. His way helped him to work out the atomic mass of undiscovered elements and predict their properties which the later on the new elements discovered it could go to the right place in his table. He put the elements in order of relative atomic mass and this gave a problem. For example: Iodine with lower atomic mass was after Tellurium in table and that breaking his rules.

Pierre Gassendi was born on January 22, 1592, in Champtercier, Provence, France. He was the son of two commoners. Unlike his parents, Gassendi was a child prodigy and was sent to college at the early age of sixteen. He was a faithful and devoted Christian. Over his lifetime, Pierre Gassendi was a writer, philosopher, professor, priest, Mathematician, astronomer and a scientist. While he had a variety of occupations and accomplishments, he is best known for his attempts to connect Epicurean atomism with Christianity and for observing and publishing the first official transit of Mercury (Pierre Gassendi1). He is also widely known for disagreeing with the famous ideas of the philosopher, Descartes.

Mendeleev built a foundation of his Periodic Table of Elements based off of Amedeo Avogadro’s hypothesis. Avogadro’s hypothesis stated that, “equal volumes of gas under equal temperature and pressure contained equal number of molecules” (Mendeleev, Dimitri, PDF from moodle Page 1). Mendeleev eventually used the idea and started to create his own observation describing all the elements and their atomic

He was puzzled about where to put the known lanthanides, and predicted the existence of another row to the table which were the actinides which were some of the heaviest in atomic mass. Some people dismissed Mendeleev for predicting that there would be more elements, but he was proved to be correct when Ga (gallium) and Ge (germanium) were found in 1875 and 1886 respectively, fitting perfectly into the two missing spaces. Later on in life, he created the periodic table.

John Dalton, a British chemist and physicist, that was born on the 6th of September 1766. His study of gases led Dalton to wonder about what these invisible substances