The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 8
First of all, the beginning of chapter goes into describing the attention scientists were receiving from their discovery of elements. It then starts to describe the background of Emilio Segre, the scientist that discovered the most slippery and elusive element in the entire periodic table, Francium. Segre was a Jewish immigrant, he had a colleague that helped him with his inquiries, and had deep knowledge on Chemistry since young; plus, he was meant to have entered the University of California at Berkeley instead of the California Institute of Technology. Since Segre was a Jewish immigrant, he had been forced to deal with pay severely cut and had to take care of his family. Years later Segre and Pauling would forever be remembered as the two greatest scientists most people may never have heard about in our modern age. However, while Pauling and Segre may be remembered as some of the few greatest scientists, they will also be forever united in infamy for making two of the biggest mistakes in scientific history. Mistakes in science don't always lead to completely humiliating results, but when they do, they'll still surely never be greater than the mistake these two made in our modern age.
Shockingly, humanity has been able to push themselves forward with mistakes and it is how we as humans learn to improve ourselves. However, that doesn't mean that every mistake is a good mistake to proficiently learn from. In 1828-1896, element 43 was seemingly impossible to discover since nobody was able to correctly find it and nobody did until 1896 because of the periodic table making scientists to try to discover an element that wasn't possible with such requirements. In 1909, a man of Japanese descent claimed to have discovered the actual element 43, but retracted his claimed due to believing that he had actually been incorrect. In a sick turn of events, Ogawa had his discovery of the so claimed element 43 checked nearly a hundred years later only to find out he had discovered an element that was unknown at the time he had announced. In 1925, a German team of three discovered element 75 and took a crack at element 43. After announcing their discovery alongside results, they named the element after a region in Prussia that offended many; they were turned down by scientists and may have actually discovered element 43 if their wording wasn't so sloppy. In general, the chapter goes on to describe even more scientific mistakes that could have changed history completely and furthermore describe more about Segre and Pauling. Finally, at the last several chapters, just as the title says, physics takes a completely right turn into biology and describe the similarities both parties have with each other.
Reflection:
Based on what I read from this chapter, I enjoyed learning the background and ground-breaking mistakes many scientists made in their life. Even though some of these people only made very small mistakes, not having these small mistakes could have changed their lives completely and possibly the lives of everybody in the world. Plus, I enjoyed reading about the connections Physics and, of all things, Biology have with each other in the world around us and how it greatly impacts many objects around the world. I don't believe I disliked any part of the reading in this chapter in particular besides the fact that I don't have the knack for reading long periods of time in a row that involve me doing work. I would thoroughly read these chapters consistently if it weren't for the fact I must work at the same time while doing so. Besides which parts I enjoyed and which parts I have questions about, I, most certainly, learned quite a number of things. Whether it be that the world revolves around learning from mistakes or that small actions can result to impossibly large ones, I learned quite a bit of everything. Overall, I enjoyed the time reading the information in this chapter and saw nothing in particular that made me upset.
Guided Questions:
1. Why was element 43 named technetium?
It was named after a Greek word that translates to artificial. For why it was named as such is because this element was artificial made after a different element.
2. What are two other scientific discoveries that occurred by mistake besides those cited?
The microwave and artificial sweeteners
3. Why isn't Linus Pauling, a brilliant chemist, as famous as Watson and Crick?
He suggested an incorrect model at first instead of creating a correct one unlike Watson and Crick
4. Research two interesting facts about phosphorous that relate to urine and matches.
Matches use phosphorus on the tip to catch on fire and since the kidneys help regulate phosphorus, they expel extra phosphate into the bladder and onto the outside of the body along with other waste.
Summary:
First of all, the beginning of chapter goes into describing the attention scientists were receiving from their discovery of elements. It then starts to describe the background of Emilio Segre, the scientist that discovered the most slippery and elusive element in the entire periodic table, Francium. Segre was a Jewish immigrant, he had a colleague that helped him with his inquiries, and had deep knowledge on Chemistry since young; plus, he was meant to have entered the University of California at Berkeley instead of the California Institute of Technology. Since Segre was a Jewish immigrant, he had been forced to deal with pay severely cut and had to take care of his family. Years later Segre and Pauling would forever be remembered as the two greatest scientists most people may never have heard about in our modern age. However, while Pauling and Segre may be remembered as some of the few greatest scientists, they will also be forever united in infamy for making two of the biggest mistakes in scientific history. Mistakes in science don't always lead to completely humiliating results, but when they do, they'll still surely never be greater than the mistake these two made in our modern age.
Shockingly, humanity has been able to push themselves forward with mistakes and it is how we as humans learn to improve ourselves. However, that doesn't mean that every mistake is a good mistake to proficiently learn from. In 1828-1896, element 43 was seemingly impossible to discover since nobody was able to correctly find it and nobody did until 1896 because of the periodic table making scientists to try to discover an element that wasn't possible with such requirements. In 1909, a man of Japanese descent claimed to have discovered the actual element 43, but retracted his claimed due to believing that he had actually been incorrect. In a sick turn of events, Ogawa had his discovery of the so claimed element 43 checked nearly a hundred years later only to find out he had discovered an element that was unknown at the time he had announced. In 1925, a German team of three discovered element 75 and took a crack at element 43. After announcing their discovery alongside results, they named the element after a region in Prussia that offended many; they were turned down by scientists and may have actually discovered element 43 if their wording wasn't so sloppy. In general, the chapter goes on to describe even more scientific mistakes that could have changed history completely and furthermore describe more about Segre and Pauling. Finally, at the last several chapters, just as the title says, physics takes a completely right turn into biology and describe the similarities both parties have with each other.
Reflection:
Based on what I read from this chapter, I enjoyed learning the background and ground-breaking mistakes many scientists made in their life. Even though some of these people only made very small mistakes, not having these small mistakes could have changed their lives completely and possibly the lives of everybody in the world. Plus, I enjoyed reading about the connections Physics and, of all things, Biology have with each other in the world around us and how it greatly impacts many objects around the world. I don't believe I disliked any part of the reading in this chapter in particular besides the fact that I don't have the knack for reading long periods of time in a row that involve me doing work. I would thoroughly read these chapters consistently if it weren't for the fact I must work at the same time while doing so. Besides which parts I enjoyed and which parts I have questions about, I, most certainly, learned quite a number of things. Whether it be that the world revolves around learning from mistakes or that small actions can result to impossibly large ones, I learned quite a bit of everything. Overall, I enjoyed the time reading the information in this chapter and saw nothing in particular that made me upset.
Guided Questions:
1. Why was element 43 named technetium?
It was named after a Greek word that translates to artificial. For why it was named as such is because this element was artificial made after a different element.
2. What are two other scientific discoveries that occurred by mistake besides those cited?
The microwave and artificial sweeteners
3. Why isn't Linus Pauling, a brilliant chemist, as famous as Watson and Crick?
He suggested an incorrect model at first instead of creating a correct one unlike Watson and Crick
4. Research two interesting facts about phosphorous that relate to urine and matches.
Matches use phosphorus on the tip to catch on fire and since the kidneys help regulate phosphorus, they expel extra phosphate into the bladder and onto the outside of the body along with other waste.
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