The Disappearing Spoon Chp. 6

The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 6

Summary:

It first starts off by talking about how puzzled scientists were about finding ways to fill in the periodic table; at the time advanced tools didn’t exist yet. Then it goes back to just before WW1 began and gives a summary of who and what a man named Henry Moseley did during that time.

Mosley was possibly the most promising student in the University of Manchester in England and was admired by Charles Darwin. He would mostly spend his time in his lab and treated his body with little to care; he also was very interested with studying elements and would experiment with them by blasting them with electron beams. It was because of this he was able to find a mathematical way to find out how many protons an element would have and what the atomic number would be. Later on he then answers the question as to why there was an atomic number to begin with and if there is a reason as to why it should have continued to be there. After giving his answer, a man named Georges Urbain tried to embarrass him by giving a piece of earth that contained 4 rare elements and asked him to find out what elements are in it. In less than an hour Moseley gave him a list that was fully correct; sadly, however, Moseley then later on enlisted himself in the war and died at the age of twenty-seven.

In order to continue the work that Moseley did when he was alive, scientists did the best tribute they could do; to hunt down the rest of the missing elements. Scientists eventually found every element known today except for element sixty-one, promethium. However, once the element promethium was found, nobody really cared much about it and mainly focused their eyes on the elements plutonium and uranium. Then it goes back in time to 1939 about how a young physicist named Luis Alvarez came across the possibility of splitting a uranium atom. Then it talks about how they had several problems because of Moseley’s discovery of there being different types of a single element and how scientists were already studying the way radioactivity worked and how nuclei fall apart. It was until 1932 that one of Rutherford’s students, James Chadwick, discovered the existence of the neutron. After the discovery of the neutron, everything started to become crystal clear to the scientists and helped induce a new type of radioactivity.

Then it is explained as to why there still are empty spots at the bottom of the periodic table; because they were so unstable that they destroyed themselves a very long time ago. Scientists then come across nuclear fission and neutron chain reactions later on and start experimenting with atomic bombs in WW2. Then it starts talking about the process it took to create the atomic bomb and how if it weren’t for the women that worked on the calculations for the atomic bomb, the atomic bomb may have not been used during WW2.  Most of the women that worked there weren’t even informed about what they were doing calculations for, but just accepted it. Then it starts talking about the cobalt-60 dirty bomb and how only a madman would ever think about using it; besides talking about what the bomb was, it also compared it with the extinction of the dinosaurs and the destruction it would create. Overall, this chapter pretty much talked about the creation of mass destruction.

Reflection:

Overall, I’d say that I liked this chapter, but I didn’t see myself as interested in this chapter as I was in other chapters. I liked how it discussed atomic bombs and the somewhat completion of the periodic table in this chapter. However, for some reason, I felt like it kept on talking about the same thing over and over again and lost a bit of interest. I also would have liked if there had been a better story about an important figure in the history of chemistry. While reading this chapter I learned about how atomic bombs came to be and how it was mainly created because of calculations that bored women were told to do. I don’t think this chapter was bad at all, but I’m just not as interested in this chapter as probably most people are.

Guided Questions:

1. Pre-Reading: What do you already know about plutonium?

I already knew that plutonium is a radioactive element and is used to create bombs that impact a large area.

2. Summarize the life and work of Henry Moseley.

Mosley was possibly the most promising student in the University of Manchester in England and was admired by Charles Darwin. He would mostly spend his time in his lab and treated his body with little to care; he also was very interested with studying elements and would experiment with them by blasting them with electron beams. It was because of this he was able to find a mathematical way to find out how many protons an element would have and what the atomic number would be. Later on he then answers the question as to why there was an atomic number to begin with and if there is a reason as to why it should have continued to be there. After giving his answer, a man named Georges Urbain tried to embarrass him by giving a piece of earth that contained 4 rare elements and asked him to find out what elements are in it. In less than an hour Moseley gave him a list that was fully correct; sadly, however, Moseley then later on enlisted himself in the war and died at the age of twenty-seven.

3. Research why they would’ve needed uranium ore at Oak Ridge in Tennessee.

They needed uranium ore in Oak Ridge because during WW2, the U.S. planned on making this location an atomic facility.

4. What are two ways uranium and plutonium are similar? What are two ways they are different?

Uranium is a natural element and has an atomic number of 92, but plutonium is an artificial element and has an atomic number of 94. On the other hand, both elements are radioactive and are used in bombs.

5. Why is a cobalt bomb more horrific than a uranium bomb?

The cobalt bomb was created to produce more radioactivity in a wider range for a longer period of time, but the uranium bomb can be waited out and isn’t as harmful as the effects of that from a cobalt bomb.