The Disappearing Spoon Chp. 19

The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 19

Summary:

The chapter first opens up by talking about the highly scarce and unstable element Francium and its uses in the world around us. It then goes on to talk about what the universe we live in is made up off and how everything else is just an error. After so, the chapter then starts to give out information about the scarcest and most unstable natural element Astatine and just how much scarier it is when compared to any other known element. The chapter then introduces the concept of exactly what the Island of Stability of Superheavy Nuclei is and how many scientists tried preparing to conquer it like it was an actual island and even used charts to look like maps. However, scientists didn't expect it to be so ridiculously difficult and even modern scientists today aren't even able to "Find a port on the island". Plus, our modern scientists have discovered the possibility that more "Islands" like these may exist further out since any known element with a high enough mass can join it too. With this current rate of progress, we may never find the end of unstable elements and will never conquer them all. 

After talking more about how DNA fits in all of this, the chapter then introduces Albert Einstein and how he contributes to all of this. Although Einstein contributed greatly to modern sciences with his research, theories, and etc., as the more he continued to work on quantum mechanics, he eventually came to distrust himself because even he didn't want to believe what he was saying since it was conflicting with his religious code. Sadly, no matter how strong his efforts were, he was incorrect about God NOT using dice to determine the universe his "Theory of Everything" was too incorrect. After the chapter finishes speaking about Albert Einstein, it speaks more about the arrangement of the periodic table and how it is essentially our best way of communication with otherworldly species in the universe since it is the only form of communication shared around the universe. Finally, the chapter ends it off with expressing that the periodic table formation is our most prized possession in modern science.

Reflection:

While I enjoyed the way that the chapter ended off and the new types of possible questions it opened up for me, I overall feel that the chapter could have been better. The chapter felt like it was repeating itself a bit from the very beginning to somewhere halfway through and the information given in the beginning to the middle wasn't all that appealing to me. I, of course, do believe that the information given is certainly interesting, but I certainly did enjoy reading other chapters more than this one. However, just because this chapter wasn't all that appealing to me doesn't mean that it wasn't interesting at all. Overall, I enjoyed finishing this book and am glad to have read it from start to finish.

Guiding Questions:

1. Francium is terribly dangerous. Why don't we hear about it being used as a weapon? 

It's too highly unstable to use and and most of it disappears before we even get the chance.

2. What are the other two fundamental forces besides the strong and electromagnetic forces? Which force is responsible for radiation?

 Weak interaction and gravitation. Weak interaction is responsible for radiation.

3. What is the "island of stability?"

Highly radioactive elements we have yet to overcome.

4. Why is it believed that we could never go beyond element 137 on the table? 

The speed the gravitational force would have would be too high for it would be crossing the speed of light.

5. Find alternative ways to arrange the periodic table online and comment on them. Would you prefer the table was designed differently? Why or why not?

I believe it would be better to keep the table as it is since our current table has been used for a very long time already and thus need time to adjust and check to see if correct and not confusing to use.