A Tale of Seven Elements

Plus Another 40 or So Others

Eric R. Scerri (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

320 Seiten

2025 | 2nd Revised edition
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
9780197785324 (ISBN)

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In 1913, English physicist Henry Moseley transformed our understanding of the elements by organizing them by atomic number, from hydrogen to uranium. However, it soon became obvious that researchers had yet to discover seven completely unknown elements.

In this updated and expanded edition of his acclaimed book, Eric Scerri presents the intriguing stories of these elements--protactinium, hafnium, rhenium, technetium, francium, astatine, and promethium. It follows their discoveries through the two world wars, starting with protactinium in 1917 and ending with promethium in 1945. Scerri details the research leading to each discovery, the pivotal experiments, the chemists involved, the properties of each element, and their applications. For example, hafnium alloys, named after Copenhagen (hafnia), have some of the highest boiling points and are used in rocket thrusters like those on the Apollo Lunar Modules. Scerri then examines the integration of twenty-five new elements into the periodic table over the past fifty years and concludes with a new chapter on rare earth elements and the histories of their discoveries.

The Second Edition of A Tale of Seven Elements vividly portrays the journey of chemical research, from missteps and disputes to the thrill of discovery, illuminating the researchers behind the elements, as much as their breakthroughs.

Eric Scerri is founder and editor-in-chief of the Springer journal Foundations of Chemistry. He has authored around 200 journal articles in the history and philosophy of science, chemistry and chemical education, in addition to five books. He has been teaching chemistry as well as history and philosophy of science at UCLA since the year 2000.

Preface
An A-Z of Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. From Dalton to the Discovery of the Periodic System
2. The Invasion of the Periodic Table by Physics
3. Element 91-Protactinium
4. Element 72-Hafnium
5. Element 75-Rhenium
6. Element 43-Technetium
7. Element 87-Francium
8. Element 85-Astatine
9. Element 61-Promethium
10. From Missing Elements to Synthetic Elements
11. The Rare Earth Elements
Notes
Bibliography
Author Index
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	20.07.2025
Zusatzinfo	79 figures
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	144 x 208 mm
Gewicht	367 g
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Chemie ► Physikalische Chemie
ISBN-13	9780197785324 / 9780197785324
Zustand	Neuware