The Disappearing Spoon Ch. 7

Summary

In the University of California Berkeley, element after element. The University of New york, was not falling far behind. Scientists were trying to create new elements never seen before. This was the sparking light for the Cold War. Glenn Seaborg, a chemist won the Nobel Prize for creating the first transuranic element, Neptune (number 93). Noticing it was very unstable and weak he wanted to do more. Seaborg, made element ninety four, by dissolving away the excess Neptunium. This element is Plutonium.

Seaborg together with technician Al Ghiorso, began the search or rather the making of new elements. By conducting alpha-bombing experiment on the Plutonium, elements ninety five and ninety six were formed. These were called Americium, and Curium. Later on, they found the next two elements Berkelium and Californium. They continued to do so and they even discovered elements ninety-nine (Einsteinium), and also one hundred (Ferrium), which were found on radioactive coral after a hydrogen bomb test. After element one hundred, the elements were becoming very weak, swelled with protons. They wanted to skip element one hundred and jump to the one hundred and first element using the ninetieth ninth. This way would have consequences to the use of Plutonium. All their perseverance of try after try paid off. Thanks to Ghiorso’s adaptors, the new element one-hundredth-and-first was made. There was a time by saying that they had invented element one-hundredth-and-second, but Berkeley payed no attention and named it Nobelium, and later found the one-hundredth-and-third element naming it Lawrencium.

Communist Russia kept its scientific advances, after the second world war, that frightened non-communist America. The John Birch Society, added fluoride to water to prevent cavities from happening. But the Soviet leader Stalin then prohibited any type of biology or science that messed with the genes. With this, the fields failed to give food and it caused starvation since the plants needed to be mixed to have better results. Stalin forced people work on Nickel mines and they got intoxicated. He wanted to get rid of the physicists, but was advised not to do so since they may help making nuclear weapons. Georgy Flyorov warned Stanley of the Manhattan project of America, and Stalin collected physicists to work on nuclear weapons. Because of his loyalty, Flyorov obtained his own scientific lab. He created element 104, and that is when the race with Berkeley began. For the elements 104 and 105, Flyorov won them. Both, in 1969, found element 106 this time by a few months apart. Then in the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, nine wise men, in 1995 named the elements 104-109: Rutherfordium (104), Dubnium (105), Bohrium (107), Hassium (108), and Meitnerium (109). Experiments continued, some elements skipped, but still forming the man-made part of the periodic table.

Reflection

This Chapter could have been a continuation to the previous chapter, but it turned out to be better. I still talked about the Cold War, but with this, explained the making of new elements. Most of this chapter took place here in the University of Berkeley, and some in Russia. Seaborg together with Ghiorso, became the most famous elements makers.

First of all, if they would have named four consecutive elements with the initials of University of California Berkeley, that would have been very cool. Instead some elements got their name from famous people like Einstein, and one of my favorites Curium because of Marie Curie. It would be fascinating if our teachers had to take down the known periodic table for a new one. I do not understand how some people do not like new elements, or take the matter as if it were not important. It is very important because it demonstrates the power of science.

At first I thought that the controversy of naming an element after a Russian scientist during the Cold War was not much of a struggle. In fact it would be nice to name the element after the one of the people who arranged the Periodic table. After the competition of who found the greatest element began, the tension between both countries became ridiculous. One thing that I would tell my friends or my family members is the Russian joke about the beggar that instead of asking for money asked for drops of rain to evaporate the water to have the metal and trade it for money. Maybe they will not understand after some background information, but they will eventually get it. If I got it, they will too.

The Disappearing Spoon Ch. 6

Summary

Since the beginning of time, elements were blended and distributed. Some have become extinct since they were weak to survive in nature. Because it was hard to fill in the gaps of these elements, scientists decided to do it themselves which is actually very difficult and dangerous to do. Henry Moseley, an enthusiastic about the elements. He together with Darwin’s grandson decided to probe the elements up to gold. They did it by using a beam of electrons that gave out X-Rays. Moseley, using his physicist perspective,  decided to arrange the order of elements by their atomic number by conducting a series of experiments. After Moseley figured it out, there was no more solving. With the electron gun, he could prove the claimed new elements to so so or not, and he also added actual new elements to the table filling in spots. He, a genius, fell victim to the First World War.  He inspired an element hunt in which chemists followed his clues to find elements he had pointed out. Gaps were filled, but one remained without solving: element sixty one. This element was later found in uranium ore.

Moseley without meaning it, opened the door for nuclear science. Scientists now wanted to learn how the subatomic particles worked. Scientists were now trying to find how the nuclei falls apart, and even had a vision of how it was. They imagined it having the electrons inside, at least pulling them inside,but this was not the perfect model. James Chadwick, found the neutrons that added weight to the atom without giving any charge.Now it was understood that elements thought to be from the same element, but with different masses, could still be the same element since the number of neutrons could vary (isotopes). By shooting neutrons, a new type of radioactivity was created. If an element has too many neutrons it splits itself releasing energy. This was discovered around the time of the second world war. The possibility of atomic bombs started. From this the Manhattan project took shape. The scientists in charge of this wanted to create a chain reaction that will release many neutrons as energy to different directions. They tried doing this with expensive, Plutonium and Uranium. They needed to purify these elements, and with Plutonium, they needed to synthesize it and then purify it. After much calculations, problems, solutions, and different measures, the project became successful in the test trial in New Mexico and on the destructive attacks in Japan.

Some people after the project, went back to their homes. Stanislaw Ulam, meditated in the methods used for the bomb, and together with John von Neumann, an expert at calculations, realized that they could use this information for other things. As solitaire player, Ulam and his partner helped with the production of the machines and computers in casinos. Sadly this caused more nuclear technology to come out, but this never left apart of being secret. Gamma radiation is far way worse than nuclear bombs. These instead of burning, they get into the system causing deformations and cancerous diseases. Humans have created these unstable substances, and cause each other’s destruction. If people did not believe the end of the world, we are causing it.

Reflection

This chapter’s theme is about bombs. I take it as the continuation of the previous chapter which was about war.This chapter discusses the beginning of our end, with the Manhattan project. But even far before that with Moseley who did all the work for his successors. It also had a little bit of chapter three, which dealt with the arrangement of elements of the periodic table.

What I found amazing of this chapter is that elements can actually become extinct. I thought that since matter can neither be destroyed, nor created, this was not possible. I learned that this had to do with the weakening of the nuclei. Also, when chemists created the elements that were needed  to fill the periodic table, I became curious. I want to know how they did it, and I know they must only last a little, this since, the elements are substances that cannot be broken any further. What I like not only about this chapter, but the previous as well, is that women are recognized. The way Kean describes them, is like heroic and unique. He also does not hesitate to add all the work they did even if they are not commonly recognized.

What I do not like about this chapter and the previous, is destruction. It is part of life, but all the chaos caused by wars and the chemical novelties used for bad, could have been prevented with a little more of human conscience. If people did not believe the end of the world, well, we are causing it. Look at the environment, at the wars, the events going on. Chemistry can be helpful, useful, and can even undo this harm. But let it fall into the wrong hands and all it means is destruction.

The Disappearing Spoon Ch.5

Summary

Chemistry has been used throughout the centuries. It has been used in war since the times of the Spartans and Athenians. It was not a great thing, nor improvement until the First World War. Then chemists and scientists started to invent chemicals, at first mostly gases that will inflict harm upon the enemy. The United States had made the Hague pact with other countries prohibiting the use of harmful chemicals, but this pact was later broken and ignored. More chemical weapons started to be made including lacrimators made out of Bromine used by the French, though this was not even useful during war against the Germans.

Fritz Haber, a German chemist, was able to convert the abundant Nitrogen on the air, to scarce Nitrogen in the ground needed by the plants called Ammonia. Composting was then replaced by fertilizers. His method help feed many people during WWI. From something that helped people, Haber began doing Hydrogen based bombs that killed people. The Hague pact came to place again and some countries like France did not want to break it. Germany only promised not to use certain weapons, so they made the Bromine lacrimator better, and to release gas with impact. It was not successful with the Russians, since it is so cold it froze. But Haber came to make something worse than Bromine: Chloride. It is lethal on both the skin and the lungs, in which people end up choking. Haber caused the death of many people, only to collect data for what later became the Haber’s Rule. Even though he was supporting the side that lost, Germany, he still won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for producing the Nitrogen fertilizers. A year later he was arrested for causing the deaths of many people during the war.

In times of war, two other elements replaced the use of Bromine and Chloride in the war. These were Molybdenum and Tungsten, two metals. Molybdenum, was used for the German guns and this metal supported the excessive heating of the guns. This did not last the Germans as they had a limited supply and the mine in Colorado was out of reach. Otis King a miner, found an easy way to extract Molybdenum faster, but it ended up flooding the market because an excessive supply. The Germans threatened King to get this useful material. After a few years the U.S. tried to get this metal back, but it was too late. Later, Scott, who had taken the mines from King, became bankrupt after the war. King, on the contrary, became a millionaire by helping Henry Ford strengthen the car model with Molybdenum. Tungsten had a dark place in WWII. It could perforate through armors. Portugal wa the main supplier and ally of the Axis powers. It was one of the strongest metals that could perforate through others. Portugal took the most advantage. The metallic revolution started with the second world war, but metals, after the war became more useful in other things improving day by day with the technology.

When the cell phone industry rose, the need for Tantalum and Niobium rose as well. The Congo, a dense, secluded and poor area in Africa, had vasts amount of it. White people will take advantage of the miners of the Congo to make plenty of profit. The people in the Conge, seeing a little more profit on the mines, decided to abandon the farms, and that worsen their food supply problem that lead to the killing of many native animals. Noticing that did bad, the buyers instead bought these elements from Australia which helped the Congo.

Reflection

This chapter like the rest has a theme. In this case, the theme is war and destruction. Chemistry fits in many areas of study including the diverse sciences, history, mathematics and many other ones. This chapter focused in the history of wars, and how catastrophic they were.

The pattern of the use of chemical substances throughout wars, became ironic. In times of war, the side that had found the most harmful weapon, ended up losing. The Spartans was the first example, as although the Athenians were being suffocated by the nasty odor of Sulfur, they still fought and managed to win. This same thing happened to the French with their lachrymose gases, and the Germans with the rest.

At the beginning I liked Haber, since he helped save lives by creating a fertilizer that would allow food to grow faster. It is very ironic and disappointing that a talent like Haber’s, was wasted on killing people right after saving them. He started to invent very harmful chemicals that killed hundreds during the Chemical warfare. The worse thing is that he did it as to complete his theories without knowing who he had killed, but doing it anyway without measure. I found it very funny that he tried to pay Germany’s debt by getting the dissolved gold from the ocean. That is something I would definitely tell someone. Wars that are caused by greedy desires, cause many fatalities. But it is even worse, when the wars are mostly to brag the chemical technology that is used by the country to kill innocent lives.

The Disappearing Spoon Ch. 4

Summary

Elements place of origin. Lifetime of the elements is the lifetime of the universe. The elements were created when the Big Bang took place. Stars contain Hydrogen fused to form Helium (process that releases a lot of energy), and indeed younger stars contain only these two elements, while older stars contain more. Stars burn up Hydrogen that fuses to Helium, but later, as Hydrogen starts to run out, other elements start to form. These elements include Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, and Carbon. When scientists find Iron, they assume that the star has all the elements previous to that element. White dwarfs are formed when Hydrogen runs out, the star dies and creates a molten mass of Carbon . Iron is the last element in the life of a star. When there is a lack of energy, the protons and electrons are fused and pulled to the center creating neutrons and then after this collapse they explode outward. This explosion together with the death of a star is called a supernova which for months it shines brighter moving at a fast speed for millions of miles. Particles move through space sometimes becoming protons again and forming new elements.

The sun was created by the combination of a flat cloud of space dust and particles carried out from a sonic boom of a supernova. After this, the planets began to form and the gassiest, Jupiter, where the elements exist in an unimaginable, and impossible way here on Earth. Planets began to be named after the elements, but Jupiter, remained a mystery. When humans first witnessed and intergalactic connection with the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet, the fragments hit Jupiter instead of us. People started to question the components of this gigantic planet. Some even thought of the planet having a core as big as earth made out of diamond, and many still hold hope to this. The reason why the elements act strangely in Jupiter, is because it is not a planet, but is a “‘tweener”, or a star that failed to be completed. The atoms in Jupiter, fused and cooled, and started to have a different behavior. That is why they cannot act the same as they do here on earth. The decimal numbers in the atomic weight, are there to note the atomic weight of the element in other planets. Radioactive elements are the heaviest.

Meteors are made of solid Iron, and sometimes contain Lead. Lead began to be used for the progress of industrialization before it reached harmful levels for us and the environment. Clair Patterson a specialist in Lead wanted to study the Lead of the pieces of meteor in Arizona, and interrupted by industrialization. His obsession with Lead, lead to the finding of the approximate age of our planet Earth (4.55 billion years) and noticing the toxic element, became an activist to prohibit it from everyday use. Luis and Walter Alvarez (father and son), explored deposits in Italy of when the dinosaurs still walked on Earth. The noticed siderophile (iron loving), Iridium that probably came from asteroids, and this chemical, secluded the living organisms of getting their oxygen and food finalizing with most of life on Earth sixty-five million years ago. Alvarez went one of his friends, Richard Muller, to help him review all the information he had collected, but instead Muller rejected his theory by insisting that meteors go to different directions and would not go to a small target as Earth, if they did, they would not go all to one place. Muller instead insisted on Nemesis (a partnering star) to have caused this, and to come every so years. It was not believable and was later proved to be an erroneous conclusion.

Reflection

I have noticed that every chapter has a different theme. The first chapter was an introduction to the Periodic Table and personifications of elements. The second, was about Carbon and Silicon included in electronics. The third chapter was the drama behind putting together of the Periodic Table. In this chapter, the author talked mostly about astrology, and how the elements found here on Earth, are found here as well.

I found it very interesting how the universe was made in a very short amount of minutes and, as mentioned in the book, is less than what it takes to cook a full mean. I mean actually cook it, not microwave frozen food. I also found it very important, how the stars define our fate since if they explode in a Supernova, we are all goners. I feel that the planet Jupiter is more important than what I had thought all these years since, it is not even a planet. It is a star, well a failing star. The red eye that I have seen in pictures all my life, I now found out, is a hurricane three times the size of Earth that continues to be there, and just keeps on spinning.

I put more attention in fun facts. For example, the cubic Iron snowflakes in Mercury that are microscopic, to me seems like a beautiful fact that both (if not more) planets share, only that in Earth they are hexagonal, and composed of water. I have always liked dinosaurs, and learning more about their deaths is like a sweet melody to my ears. If Nemesis was real, there would be an always predictable end of the world, but contemporary astronomers would have found out. To us that gives us more time to be on Earth. The sad truth is that we have been contaminating it with Lead and other harmful chemicals.

The Disappearing Spoon Ch.3

Summary

The chapter starts by praising all of those who contributed to the making of the periodic table. It clarifies how instead of inventing his famous burner, the German chemist Robert Bunsen , he improved its design and made it more popular. Arsenic, element number thirty three, had been used as poison, and Bunsen found it fantastic. He developed the antidote to arsenic by inserting iron oxide hydrate, that braces the arsenic in the blood, and then drags it out. His experiments made him lose the vision of one of his eyes, but his love for these type of reactions especially explosions arose. He invented the spectroscope, which allows on to study the elements using light. The elements produce a strand of light through the spectroscope when heated. Now he needed flames hot enough to see, and that is why he perfected the burner. The invention of the spectroscope helped discover new elements, and even categorize them.

Dmitry Mendeleev, was inspired by Bunsen. Mendeleev, with the help of six others,  was responsible for arranging the elements, and creating the Periodic Table. He was not in a good economic condition as a child, especially after his father died, but his mom supported him and took him to a university where he became an excellent student, and after being enrolled, she died. Julius Lothar Meyer, who studied with Bunsen, discovered that red blood cells have oxygen on them. Both Mendeleev and Meyer arranged the periodic table in a similar pattern and both shared the Davy Medal. Mendeleev later on became very close minded about the parts of chemistry he could not see such as atoms and their subatomic particles. But Mendeleev, in contrast with Meyer, had hope for future chemists, for those spaces in the periodic table that were left empty.

Paul Emile François de Boisbaudran, a french master of the spectroscope discovered a new element, Gallium. This element will melt at a eighty four degree room temperature. Mendeleev tried to take credit since he had predicted the eka-aluminum. Mendeleev then stated that the information about the density and weight were wrong; Mendeleev was right. Mendeleev asides from being empowered by the fame and knowledge made plenty prediction to which not many were actually true. He got lucky with the Gallium scheme. For example he believed there were more elements before Hydrogen, and it wasn’t for other scientists that proved him wrong, he would have continued with this theory. The Lanthanides, became a puzzle, for scientists including Mendelev. He even admitted his loss and his need for help, as he could not uncover their buried electrons.

A teen by the name of Johann Friedrich Bottger, was magician-like, though many believed he was an alchemist including the king. The king wanted him to make gold, and because Bottger could not, he was to be hanged. The king spared his life only because he said he knew how to make porcelain, and together with the king’s porcelain man, Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, the began to look for the secret ingredients to make porcelain. Tschirnhaus had just created an oven that reached the 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. When they melted the ingredients to find the white clay and a rock that shines called feldspar. After making porcelain, the king would not let them go as they were more valuable. The process spread and the mining of the shining rock did so too. The coastal town called Ytterby, there there was a lot of porcelain ore. Johan Gadolin heard from this, and he decided to study this phenomenon (of plenty rocks) and several new elements made it to the periodic table (elements ending with “ium”).

Reflection

This chapter had more drama than in other chapters. I would have said chapter two did, but this chapter had everything, from inventions, from selfishness, to encouragement, and to new discoveries. This is the basis of how it all began, since the periodic table is the base for most sciences specifically chemistry.

This chapter contained new scientists and with a more profound life. Mendeleev, for example. On my Honors Chemistry class I had only learned that he was the one that put together the periodic table, but instead, there is more to it. In this book I have learned more of his private life, and accomplishments, but also of his selfishness, and his ego. For a person who had humble origins, he became very egocentric, and a know-it-all. I thought he was the only one who put together the periodic table, but now I know that there were more people involved. He did encourage people to go find out more of the elements, and that is noble of him to encourage knowledge in other people. I like him as a scientist, but I dislike him as a person.

On the contrary, I really liked Bunsen. I like how after a failure, and after nearly losing his eye, he maintains the love for chemistry and discovery, and even grows stronger. He liked explosions, to see reactions occur in front of his eyes, and although he lived his life of the edge, I admire him for his valor following his curiosity.

The Disappearing Spoon Ch. 2

Summary

Proteins are usually made out of Carbon the sixth element. Carbon is vital for amino acids, which made up the proteins of living organisms. Carbon is a very vital, and “friendly” element that easily allows other elements to bond with it, even many at the time and stable. Carbon has a resemblance with Silicon, the element below it. Element could be the alternative to Carbon-based life in other galaxies. But although they are similar, Carbon and Silicon have their differences as they make different compounds. Silicon found in sand and glass can cause diseases such as pneumonia, and other variants such as p45 and P16. Sometimes Silicon Dioxide, that comes from the volcanoes and can be fatal for one’s health, mimins Carbon Dioxide and gets into one’s lungs leading to fatal results. Silicon Dioxide is also a solid, not a gas, solids stay with solids, and if there was a life based on silicon, it will be a life based on solids which are hard to mix and dissolve. Carbon also produces sugars in one’s body that store energy. Carbon keeps life, Silicon and the element below it Germanium are encharged of modern electronics, the following under is Tin that we use to preserve food, and then Lead, which can have some negative effects to the planet and its organisms inhabiting it.

William Shockley and electrical engineer and physicist, was trying to make a Silicon amplifier since tubes in the computers were delicate and prone to overheating. All his attempts to make the amplifier so it would not produce signals that would go both ways, or would faint, failed. As a result, he let John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain finish this task. Both men were the best team since they seemed to have great teamwork by letting one, Bardeen be the head, and Brattain, be the hands. Instead of using Silicon as the transistor since it was difficult to purify, they decided to use Germanium and with this, the built the first solid-state amplifier calling it the transistor. Stockley stole the credit of this invention. Barleen left to do another work later on. Then Gordon Teal made a speech of the better Silicon transistor. At first it did not work, but as he continued, it ended up throwing Germanium off the window. The three Bardeen, Brattain, and undeserved Shockley, won the Nobel prize for their ingenuity.

Jack Kilby started working on problems of the Texas Instruments company. He was hired to solve a computer hardware problem because the silicon transistors were cheap, good, but they needed  a bunch of them. He had the idea of the integrated circuit. He had to maneuver the wires to make everything fit in the system. He, not trusting silicon, decided to use germanium once again. The pieces were all together, and the pieces did not have the need of soldering it together. He technically created the computer chip. He won the Nobel prize and are still used fifty-years after he created them. The only thing that did not survive of his prototype is the use of Germanium.

Reflection

This chapter had a mixture of chemistry, biochemistry, and even technology. Focused on the group number fourteen from the most vital element Carbon, to the harmful Lead. It described why and how Carbon is important to all organisms. It also described why Silicon cannot be used for living and why the the fan fiction of aliens cannot be a possibility.

I found it very interesting that many organisms use it for coating themselves. They cannot use it for breathing, and their systems are not made up of it, since it can be very dangerous. But instead, they use if for coating that can actually be very effective for protection. The thing I disliked about this chapter, was Shockley. At first I thought he was very smart trying to find a way to facilitate the computer systems and everything, but I found out that he is an opportunist, only taking advantage of the people who actually did the work. That is not all, when he decided to change his career path, he wanted the minorities to stop having offspring, and that is honestly how it works. He wanted a society of intelligent people, but there are intelligent people even within minorities. He is just a racist that resembles Hitler, and contemporary Donald Trump. One thing I learned, is that Silicon can be a conductor of electricity whereas I thought only the metals could do so.

The Disappearing Spoon Ch.1

SUMMARY

The periodic table is indeed like a map since it is highly organized, and contains elements that make up matter in the universe, like a castle with distorted materials. Eighteen columns and seven horizontal rows, one hundred and twelve elements.  Most elements are metals, and a few on the right are nonmetals. Elements are substances that cannot be divided into smaller substances by normal chemical means. Table is like a map from east to west. Noble gasses, they are in the farther right, the east. The alkaline metals are on the far left. There is always a missing half even in science. Elements interact with each other making bonds. All atoms have electrons and each element needs a certain number of electrons to complement their outer shells. As they share electrons, they form ions, and they do this in order to fill in the outermost level of their shells and form ionic compounds. With this, electrons are the particles that determine the radioactivity of an element. Helium all the other Noble gases are independent and cannot react with anything under normal conditions. “West” of the Halogens, are the ones that can interact. The electrons are the smallest subatomic particle of an atom. Most of an atom is filled of empty space. One can know how the elements can combine by looking at the Periodic Table, and knowing the components of the elements.

Acids contain Hydrogen and pH+ means that a proton is left over. Bases are the electron donors. Acids, the receivers. Acidity measured by the pH scale to which there are fourteen levels seven being neutral water. From six to one, the substance will be an acid. From eight to fourteen, the substance will then be a base. Dropping from one to three boosts an acid ten times. Strongest and gentlest acid is made out of Boron, has a pH of eighteen, and it is one of the most stable substances that nearly becomes Helium without taking away electrons from other elements. Columns three to twelve are the transition metals. Elements always have one more electron than the element to the left. Elements store electrons in a very specific way. The first shell is called the “S” shell (spherical), and has two electrons on it. Then “P” shell, with six electrons adding up to the “S” shell to form eight electrons in total. The transition metals then have “D” shells having ten electrons. Adding electrons affects the reactions and transition metals sometimes hide their electrons not allowing other elements to react with them. The two rows on the bottom, the Lanthanides,  have “F” shells.

The nucleus makes up for more of the atom’s mass. Unpaid woman professor, Dr. Meyer, studied the nucleus of an atoms, and found out that there are not always the same number of neutrons as they were protons or electrons. The difference of neutrons, which in combination are the mass of an element, are called isotopes. After experiments, she found the Magic nuclei in which there were shells inside the nucleus forming its shape. She found out how some nuclei are perfectly spherical and stable, like Oxygen, which relates to their abundance, and how we humans even have these minerals. Elements are more similar within columns, than in rows.

REFLECTION

Chapter one is a very descriptive, metaphorical, and easy to learn introduction to the world of chemistry. The way it is told, is more casual, personal, and interesting. It makes connections with human feelings as it involves comedy, action, passion and excludes science until the end. It is interesting to see the periodic table and the elements personalized, instead of simple substances that one must learn.

As I heard the audio, it made it interesting and fun, but even rewind after rewind, and reading after reading, I found the part of the acids quite confusing. There were some random facts that I found to be intriguing and that if I had a “bae” (which gladly I don’t), I would tell; I can still tell it to my friends anyway! The cooling of a phone to extreme temperatures and an ever-lasting battery, seems very promising, since, let’s be realistic, phones and other electronic devices have become a necessity now a day. Just look at this, I am doing homework on an electronic device instead of paper. We have evolved. Science has limits. When I was small, like my niece, I would love to believe in magic. When I discovered science, I thought everything was possible and that there were no limits. Now after hearing the joke of the acid, I believe that limits upon science are necessary, since we can bring about our own destruction with it. The fact that called my attention the most in the book, was that when Helium is cooled down to extreme temperatures, it becomes a liquid that defies gravity (now I know how they did it in the movie “Now You See Me 2”). In my imagination, that is very imposible, but science can be both unpredictable and surprising!