The Disappearing Spoon Chp. 15

The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 15

Summary:

    The chapter first starts off with the story of William Crookes, the story explains how he was a rather well acknowledged scientist in his early thirties. However, when his brother died at sea he apparently went “mad”, or at least that’s what a few people thought. He made contraptions and theories of spirituality and the existence of his dead brother when he went to séances en mass to mourn for his brother. Although many scientists thought of his work as ridiculous ghost ideas, he managed to pull out of his pathological science stage and began working with selenium and radioactivity.

Following after the author provides a much appreciated definition of pathological science. He then goes on to tell the story of scientists finding shark teeth on the bottom of the ocean covered in manganese. Then the theory of the megalodon starts up.the story moves from giant sharks to the scientists Pons and Fleischmann. These two scientists unfortunately succumbed to fame and credit over their scientific findings with electric currents, water and palladium. When they discovered that palladium soaks up an unimaginable amount of hydrogen when in water with electricity, they automatically released their results of a new age of energy before they could test the experiment more thoroughly. They went down in history as frauds of their own results but also as the scientists who started the important research on such a reaction.

Reflection:

    This chapter talked about “mad” scientists that discovered many things that really changed the way people thought. William Crookes was talked about and was said to be well acknowledged  but when his brother died his descent into madness began. I thought this chapter was very interesting because I did not think that they would explain the specifics. The one thing I didn’t know before was that William Crookes was the scientist that suggested the idea of isotopes.

Guided Questions:

1. What was unique about William Crookes? How was he influential in the discovery of
William Crookes was unique because he believed in ghost .He discovered a radiometer which he used to detect spirits.

2. How is a megalodon like Bigfoot? How is it different?
The Megalodon are both mythical creatures that people believe to be true. You can say they are different because they live in different environments.

3. What does it mean to be a pathological scientist?
A pathological scientist is one who has psychological lapses to interfere with their science.

4. What is "cold fusion?" How is it similar to the attempt to develop perpetual motion machines, machines that can run forever without input of energy?
Cold fusion is during atoms with extremely cold temperatures. Since perpetual motion machines run on their own they can most likely keep going.

5. What did William Rontgen discover? How was his reaction to his discovery very different from the reaction of Pons and Fleischman to their "discovery?"
He believed that what he had done was somehow an error and didn't think it was a discovery. He discovered x-rays.