Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements

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Iron has long thought to have male warlike properties. The metallic taste of blood was explained when Vincenzo Menghini roasted the blood of several mammals and poked the residue with a magnetic knife and found iron particles. Mars is covered with iron which

Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements eBook Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements eBook

Born of the age of alchemy and harbouring the kind of mysterious influence that alchemists sought, phosphorus brought wealth to a few but misery to many. For over 300 years, phosphorus maimed, killed, polluted and burned - sometimes on a terrifying scale. Yet, such were its perceived benefits that doctors prescribed it, every home contained it and whole industries were dedicated to its manufactureAn online version of this textbook is available at www.kerboodle.com where you can log in with your own details. The elements do not belong in a laboratory; they are the property of us all. Periodic Tales is a record of the journey with the elements that I never encouraged to take when I was a chemist,” writes Aldersey-Williams in the introduction. With this start, the author presents an unorthodox and invigorating look at the elements in our cultural history and in many areas of everyday life. Aldersey-Williams takes the reader on a personal and emotional journey through the world of several elements along with their discoverers and discovery location. Full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well ... an agreeable jumble of anecdote, reflection and information"

Wider Reading List (Optional) — Wilmslow High School Wider Reading List (Optional) — Wilmslow High School

That the author is way into his topic is proved by the line "...we should all have a little piece of spent uranium to keep in the garden as a momento of our reliance upon it for our energy." I'd rather opt for a gnome. Random relationship tip here: it’s always good to date intelligent people, and even better when you take the opportunity to learn things from them you otherwise wouldn’t have known. That way, if/when things end, you can say you learned a great deal from your experience in more ways than one, lol.Strangely, these different elements make up a very small part of the cosmos. Ninety per cent – more or less – of matter in the observable universe consists of hydrogen while the other 10% is helium. The other elements account for a mere 0.04% of total matter and could be dismissed by an overenthusiastic mathematician while rounding up his figures. We live in an odd part of the cosmos, it would seem. While their chemical properties of the elements in the periodic table are important it is the cultural baggage these substances have accumulated that the author is most concerned with. This is particularly true when talking about the things we value and esteem. Gold and silver are not only objects of worth but symbols of it as well. Just ask the guy who gets the bronze medal. However there was a time when aluminum was so highly valued that the guests at Napoleon III's table were given cutlery made for it to eat with while the less favored were given silver or gold.