He states the importance the net electrical charge has on the elements and the periodic table placement. He describes how ions are made when atoms connect with electrons by either giving electrons or taking electrons to another molecule to obtain a net electrical charge. Kean also discusses how ions work overall. He then discusses how the periodic table contains, and is organized into, metals, gases, noble gases, halogens, etc. He describes the table of elements as a castle and the elements as bricks to build this castle. He states that an element's position describes its function and strength. He discusses how the periodic table would not function if it were not for the layout. He emphasizes the importance of its organization and justifies why it must be this way. He explains the set-up of the table and why it is organized the way it is. Sam Kean begins this book by explaining the basics of the periodic table and how it works. People discussed in the book include the physicist and chemist Marie Curie, whose discovery of radium almost ruined her career the writer Mark Twain, whose short story "Sold to Satan" featured a devil who was made of radium and wore a suit made of polonium and the theoretical physicist Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who earned a Nobel Prize in Physics for her groundbreaking work, yet continually faced opposition owing to her sex.Ĭontents Chapter 1. The book focuses on the history of the periodic table by way of short stories showing how a number of chemical elements affected their discoverers, for either good or bad. The book was first published in hardback on Jthrough Little, Brown and Company and was released in paperback on Jthrough Little, Brown and Company's imprint Back Bay Books. The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, is a 2010 book by science reporter Sam Kean. ( August 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.
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