Beryllium and the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery: Parts 1 & 2
Beryllium, Criticality, and the Periodic Table of Death & Mystery Part 1 I despaired in finding anything to write about beryllium (Be), and then I saw Oppenheimer (2023). It is a seriously great “middlebrow” (4) movie and I highly recommend it. It also exposed an embarrassing hole in my education of what was probably one of the most profound discoveries in the history of humans*—unlocking the nuclear power of the elements that reside in the Periodic Table. Not only that, but I live in New Mexico, and I have never visited the Trinity Site (only 150 m/250 km from my house) or truly …
Aluminum, Sapphire Glass, and the Periodic Table of DEATH & Mystery
When you saw Aluminum (Al), I bet you figured I’d write about aluminum foil, invented in Switzerland in 1910 and first used in the U.S. to wrap candy in 1913 (1). Or its innovative use in the construction of the Empire State Building in New York City (2). Or I’d write about how the best American Christmas TV special ever, A Charlie Brown Christmas*, pretty much single-handedly killed the Aluminum Christmas tree (3). But you’d be wrong. Instead, I’m going to write about Transparent Aluminum. And yes, it’s a real thing, not just made up for Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home (4) as a bargaining chip for 6-inch …
Copper, Badges, and the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery
One of the periodic table elements should be “rabbit hole” because I always seem to go down one when I’m doing research. This article is particularly weird because I’m going to lead you through the workings of my mind for Copper (Cu) from the Latin cuprum, atomic number 29 and one of only a few metals that occur on earth in a usable metallic form (1). There’s a line in Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols (1974) that I decided to use as the base for this essay on copper: “What are pennies made out of?…Dirty copper!” which is directed at Kyril Montana, an undercover …