The Disappearing Spoon

  All of the information used for my blog can be found in the book, The Disappearing Spoon , which can be found in this link... Kean, S. (n.d.). The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. https://schoology.dodea.edu/course/6086371681/materials/gp/6537917369 Extra sources that expand on discussed topics... Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (n.d.). THE ATOM AND ATOMIC STRUCTURE. https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Science/Atom/atom.html Fission and fusion: What is the difference?. Energy.gov. (n.d.). https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/fission-and-fusion-what difference   Stein, B. P. (2021, November 9). The periodic table: It’s more than just chemistry and physics. NIST. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/periodic-table-its-more-just-chemistry-and-physics

    As the book progresses Kean moves on from elements to take a closer look at what composes them, diving into the structure of molecules, while taking a closer look subatomic particles, and explaining the forces that are at play at a molecular scale. Kean really first dives into this topic when he talks about electrons , or more specifically the octet rule , where all atoms try to get precisely eight electrons on their valence shell . He then breaks down how atoms get a neutral charge through balanced protons and neutrons. Expanding on this Kean explains that ions are atoms that have an imbalanced charge , with a different number of electrons that throwing off that balance. Kean also explains how atoms gain or lose electrons through unequal bonding, equal bonding, or a bonding where one atom gives electrons to another. This leads into Kean explaining how noble gasses do not really bond with other elements as they already have eight valence electrons, meaning they are alre...

      Kean covers many topics throughout his book, but one of the most interesting is nuclear energy and how it relates to the world. Kean really first dives into nuclear energy when he talks about the development of fission bombs in the 1940's. He quickly covers the Manhattan project before moving onto talking about cobalt bombs, which in a manner of speaking salt the Earth so that the target will not only be destroyed but will also be impossible to survive in for at least a human lifetime and does not even mention how long the land would take to recover fully. Kean mentions that as far as the public knows no cobalt bomb has ever been in development which really makes me curios as to if any country has secretly developed one but never brought it to light. Kean eventually dives into alpha  partials and how scientists used them to bombard molecules of plutonium  which leads into alpha decay , and the discovery of americium. Overall Kean's exploration of t...

     A pretty important part of chemistry is the elements, and what is the first thing conjured into a person's mind when they think of elements? The Periodic Table of course! The Disappearing Spoon puts a special emphasis on the periodic table, or to be more specific how the periodic table is organized. In the very first chapter Kean talks about "stripping away" all of the elements just to analyze and better understand the structure of the actual table. Throughout the book Kean discusses the different groups of the periodic table, breaking down how certain commonalities can be found between different elements just based off of where they are in the table. He explains what characteristics groups like noble gasses , alkali metals , and alkali earth metals have. He also explains that as you move horizontally across the table each element has one more electron than the element to its left, and that while each periodic family has many shared characteristics, there are still...

I just finished a book called The Disappearing Spoon: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean. The book overall was enjoyable, with some interesting and thought provoking ideas, but at certain points it seemed to drag on a bit. Here are some of the highlights of the book!