Chapter 5 covered the harmful effects the elements can cause. It opened with a man named Haber who invented many gases that become deadly, along with bombs. He first used bromide and that became very deadly but when put into action didn't perform as anticipated. Therefore, he moved to Chlorine, which worked sadly much better. In the mean time, he became hired to make bombs and gases and collected a lot of data for the death rate and how much time. In order to collect this much data however, many people must have died. His work greatly disturbed his wife who was also a great science mind and got a Ph.D. She expressed her concerns but it never made a difference. More into the story, she eventually comes to a breaking point and kills herself. Her husband didn't even seem to care. At the end of WWI, he won a noble prize but soon after was convicted of criminal activity and other counts which put him in jail. Then the story went on into WWII, where another element became a weapon, Molybdenum. It was more effective than iron. The rest of the chapter talked about mining and how the elements got dried up because of the mass trade. Also, Congo was a major trading place because of its abondence of elements and due to the fact it isn't governed, many fights and deaths occur there back during WWII and still today. Something I find interesting and saddening about this chapter is the mass violence, and the fact that the gases and weapons made from the elements, the Nazis used to kill many many Jews! In chapter 6, it began with the hunt to fill in the periodic table. A scientist named Moseley linked the elements place on the periodic table to their characteristics. This lead to the understanding of atomic anatomy. Moseley did eventually die in war, but left a legacy that made scientists crazy about finishing the periodic table. However, when the last element, Promethium was found it hardly made any recognition. It was a useless element, but the author talks about how emotional chemists loving small triumphs. The change occurred when more inventions had been made. And simple elements now bore a lot of chemists. Later in the chapter, it talks about a new system that occurred in the science world. Instead of theories and lab work, it turned to numbers and equations which was a much less expensive way to do research. Then, neutrons were discovered, which turned many research projects into play. Chemists could now add more weight without changing the charge. Lastly, the chapter talked more about bombs and how sadly advanced they had become. One scientist discovered a bomb that would cause major earth damage. However, he was trying to make people see how wrong bombs were, and instead gave them a powerful deadly one. I thought chapter 5 was very interesting because of the links with the Nazis and war. It was very sad to read, but I never saw the perspective of the gases and stuff from a science light. It was disturbing but interesting to see and understand. Chapter 6 I found super boring.... Although it was interesting to see how much it has changes throughout history. This chapter was a lot more about chemistry than stories and it really made me fall asleep, didn't like that chapter! In chapter 7, it started with scientists finding new elements. Two were found and named after California Berkeley. Then two scientists came together and were a power team. Seaborg and Ghiorso found new elements together, they were also from Berkeley and loved it! Then the team slaved trying to master element 101, when they left, Berkeley thrived. Soon after found element 102. Then, it talked about how Russia has many elements and two useless ones. Then it went into how Stalin forced scientists to work for him. moreover, a major dispute happened among nine scientists. They all claimed their elements. it eventually got so bad the IUPAC had to step in. Lastly, element 118 basically disappeared from the files at Berkeley, and they had to retract claim to it. It was humiliating, and Russia soon after found it and now hold the claim. Berkeley went through major budget cuts! thats the end to chapter 7! on to part two of the book! Hope you all had a good three day weekend ;)
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