Surrendering to the Geek Side

or "Why I'm interested in a book about the periodic table"

I know you're thinking that if I'm at all interested in a book about the periodic table then the only reasonable answer to why I am interested must be that I'm a science geek. Possibly, yes. However that is not exactly the whole explanation.

There are several things I used to like about the periodic table and learning the elements in high school.
1) It's actually sort of easy to learn because it's simply memorizing, sure it takes a while, but you get the hang of it after four straight hours of cramming :P
2) It's often colour-coded! This totally fits into my slightly obsessive need to have things organized and colour-coded in my life and therefore must be good. Also you get to colour, which is fun :)
3) Once you understand the groupings of each element you begin to grasp some of the basic relationships required to learn and pass chemistry. It also provides extremely valuable information about each element, without which you'd have to just know when solving chemistry problems. Very helpful information this is indeed.
4) There are unknown and unidentified elements but the only reason we know that there are elements we don't know about is because someone decided the chart looked better with a set of extra blank boxes tacked on the bottom. Obviously this person shared my love of symmetry/asymmetry, or they just miscounted and were too lazy to make a correction. Either way, the mystery of the unknown elements is intriguing.

Which brings me to a book about the elements. The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean (his name is my name too - but that's no reason to read a book, well not in this case anyway) is a collection of weird and wacky and interesting stories that are linked to each element of the periodic table. From how they were named and problems caused by those names to silly and scary superstitions that underlie even scarier truths, the book apparently has it all. The title itself refers to a prank where scientists would create spoons out of Gallium (31GA) and serve them to guests with their tea. Gallium melts under heat and so the spoon would melt into the tea.

@ Amazon.ca

Of course I may put off reading this book until my thesis is well and finished - but it's on The List for sure. For now I just wanted to reminisce about my love for the periodic table and revel in my inner geek for a short spell. On with my day now I suppose...