Summary of Sam Kean's The Disappearing Spoon

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The periodic table is a chart of the elements, and it is available to everyone. It is organized and honed, but it is still a jumble of long numbers, abbreviations, and computer error messages.

#2 The castle is made up of different materials in different areas. The coordinates of an element determine nearly everything scientifically interesting about it. The noble gases are a set of elements in column eighteen at the far right-hand side of the table.

#3 Helium is an example of an element that cannot be broken down or altered by normal, chemical means. It took scientists 2,200 years to realize what elements really are, because most are too changeable.

#4 The repose of the noble gases is rare. The most energetic and reactive gases are found in the halogen column to the west, and they form an alliance of interests with the alkali metals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822547889

IRB Media

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Insights on Sam Kean's The Disappearing Spoon

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The periodic table is a chart of the elements, and it is available to everyone. It is organized and honed, but it is still a jumble of long numbers, abbreviations, and computer error messages.

#2

The castle is made up of different materials in different areas. The coordinates of an element determine nearly everything scientifically interesting about it. The noble gases are a set of elements in column eighteen at the far right-hand side of the table.

#3

Helium is an example of an element that cannot be broken down or altered by normal, chemical means. It took scientists 2,200 years to realize what elements really are, because most are too changeable.

#4

The repose of the noble gases is rare. The most energetic and reactive gases are found in the halogen column to the west, and they form an alliance of interests with the alkali metals.

#5

The most important part of an atom is its electrons, which take up virtually all its space. They are the clouds swirling around the atom’s compact core, the nucleus.

#6

Gilbert Lewis was a scientist who spent his life researching how atoms’ electrons behave and bond in acids and bases. He was the best scientist never to win the Nobel Prize, and he knew it. He never discovered one amazing thing, but he refined how an atom’s electrons work in many contexts.

#7

The pH scale is used to measure the strength of acids. It goes from 1 to 14, with 1 being the strongest and 14 being the weakest. The scale’s unusual accounting methods boost the strength of acids by ten times for each unit moved up on the scale.

#8

The strongest solo acid is still the boron-based carborane, which is simultaneously the world’s strongest and gentlest acid. It can add an octane kick to gasoline, and help make vitamins digestible.

#9

The transition metals, which are located in the middle of the periodic table, have exasperating chemistry. They have more flexibility than other atoms in how they store their electrons. They also fight other atoms to secure full outer energy levels with eight electrons.

#10

The transition metals, which begin in columns three through twelve of the fourth through seventh rows, bury their d-shell electrons and leave them shielded beneath