Week 5

Welcome to week five and the beginning of chemistry. For our introduction to chemistry we read about atoms and the periodic table (chapter 12), elements of chemistry (chapter 14), and how atoms bond and molecules attract (chapter 15).

The lesson planned for the week and the readings from the textbook were not all that interesting. In fact, all of the material that was covered during the week was a review of what I had already learned. However, one topic that got me thinking was the elements and the periodic table. there are over 100 known elements organized in the periodic table and people are still trying to find natural elements and create other elements!

It amazes me how some people have actually memorized the periodic table and are able to recite the elements from memory with perfect pronunciation. How are the able to to memorize all of the elements and perfectly with recite them when half of the elements get you tongue tied when you try to pronounce them? Now most people know the common elements and what they are found in. To name off a few there is hydrogen and oxygen which together make water. We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, a combination of carbon and oxygen. Iron is found in meats and beans, calcium is found in dairy products, potassium is in bananas, and salt is a mixture of sodium and chlorine. Silver and gold make beautiful jewelery and neon can be used for neon lights. Other elements that may know or recognize are the elements that may be named after a place or person such as neptunium (Neptune), plutonium (Pluto), americium (America), curium (Marie/Pierre Curie), californium (California) and einsteinium (Albert Einstein). But what about the other elements that you can only imagine how they are pronounced praseodymium, molybdenum, darmstadtium, or roentgenium.

One fun way to try and remember all of the elements is to sing them. Now there are many different ways to sing the elements but the most entertaining song is "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer. "The Elements" song stimulates your interest in trying to memorize the elements and sing along with the song. I have tried several times to sing along with the video and I always get tongue tied because it's very fast, no breaks, and some of the names are hard to pronouce. However, I did master the two lines. "There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium..." and thats all I can do. Here's the site for the song with lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFIvXVMbII0&feature=fvwrel

Another thing that amazes me is how detailed the organization of the periodic table is. At first glance, the elements of the periodic table are arranged from ascending order of their atomic mass and then grouped as either a metal, metalloid or nonmetal. Upon further investigation, the elements are organized into horizontal rows called periods and vertical columns called groups. The elements within a period have little changes in their properties, however when you go down a column the properties of the elements are almost identical. To add on another level, there are also blocks within the periodic table and the elements within these blocks have similar chemical properties and the same number of valence electrons.

There has been a lot of work and energy put into the elements and periodic table that has gone unnoticed. The elements and periodic table initially may be uninteresting but when you try to memorize the elements and figure out the arrangement of the periodic table, it becomes a work of art.