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.
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