I wish I had a book like this when first taking chemistry in high school or even during my five semesters of college chemistry. This book is entertaining, clearly written, and profusely illustrated (there are illustrations on every page) and it’s big: 9.25″ by 11.2″ 144 pages plus a 24 page foldout.

The book is much more than the title implies. It is a history book tracing man’s discovery and use of the natural elements. The Periodic Table is just a method of classification that allows one to predict an element’s properties. The book deals with science, scientists and discovery. “Knowledge does not arrive fully formed. We have to work at it, taking it in turns to consider the evidence and offer our take on it.”

The book begins with Stone age chemistry (“Fire, paints, and bread making are all examples of chemistry in action”) and finishes with the probable discovery of the Higgs boson in 2011. In between, the book deals with “100 breakthroughs that changed the world” and “who did what, when.”

The second to last chapter gives a concise tutorial in the basics of chemistry, which includes subjects such as atomic structure and chemical bonding. The book finishes with very brief biographies of the great chemists of history.

The Elements presents a concise history of scientific discovery which gives you an appreciation of how ideas evolved, how “magic” turned to alchemy, then to chemistry. It traces the thoughts of philosophers as they pondered the natural world. A pocket in the back of the book contains an 8-foot-long foldout which shows the history on the front and a chart of the elements on the back. The Elements would serve as a good reference book.

The author, Tom Jackson, is a science writer with over 80 books to his credit. He studied zoology at the University of Bristol, U.K. where he resides.

Adults with an interest in science and science history would enjoy this book. I think the book would be valuable to Junior High and High School students, as well as college students, especially those studying the Philosophy of Science.

The book is published by Shelter Harbor Press, New York and can be found on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The Elements is one of the publisher’s “Ponderables” series. Other books in this series (which I have not seen) are:

An Illustrated History of Numbers. Editor: Tom Jackson

An Illustrated History of Astronomy By Tom Jackson

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This book is fun and informative. It is about science, scientists, and the scientific concepts behind common activities, and the author, Len Fisher, tells his stories without burdening the reader with mathematical formulas (except for the one on the cover).

Some of you may be old enough to remember the “Mr. Wizard” TV program in which the “Wizard” used everyday objects to conduct sometimes explosive experiments demonstrating a scientific principle. This book is reminiscent that program.

The book is structured so that each chapter stands alone, so you can read it in any order according to your interest.

Here is a very brief summary of the nine chapters.

Chapter 1: The Art and Science of Dunking

This chapter is about dunking doughnuts and cookies and introduces the concepts of diffusion and capillary action. After extensive laboratory tests, Fisher concludes that cookies should not be dunked for more than five seconds or you will risk having a soggy mess drop to the bottom of your drink. He also notes that chocolate-covered cookies are much sturdier that plain cookies. In a later chapter he notes that cookies taste better when dunked in milk rather than the British habit of dunking them in tea. That’s because the fat in milk can dissolve molecules that produce aroma while water cannot.

Chapter 2: How does a scientist boil an egg?

This chapter is about heat transfer. Fisher explains the difference between heat and temperature. In the case of a soft-boiled egg, one must apply just the right amount of heat to cause the string-like albumin molecules in the white to become entangled while assuring similar molecules in the yolk to remain untangled. Fisher also explains why you should let a roast rest before carving it.

Chapter 3: The Tao of tools

This chapter deals with the physics of hand tools and provides some suggestions for efficient use. Fisher classifies tools as levers, wedges, or percussive instruments (hammers). He notes that some of these tools don’t just make work easier, they make work possible. He also has a story of a machine invented by Archimedes that would pluck enemy ships out of the sea. It was just a simple lever. There are many little tidbits. For instance, Fisher explains why a nail driven into wood with a pre-drilled hole is much harder to extract than a nail driven without a hole.

Chapter 4: How to add up your supermarket bill

This one is about math tricks at the supermarket and pricing strategies used by the store. If you want to figure what the total will be without using a calculator: add just the dollar amounts, forget the cents. To that number add two-thirds the number of items. That will get a number surprisingly close to the actual total. Fisher explains why.

Chapter 5: How to throw a boomerang

Aerodynamics, design, and precession of gyroscopes or tops are covered in this chapter. If you are really into this subject, then within notes at the end of the book you can learn some of the rules for the Mudgeeraba Creek Emu Racing and Boomerang Throwing Association.

Chapter 6: Catch as catch can

This chapter is about catching a ball. It deals with Newton’s first law of motion, Newton’s law of gravity, and the study of parabolas (the curve described by a tossed ball). Here’s a short quiz. If you are riding a bicycle and toss a ball vertically, where will the ball fall? Behind you or back in your hand? Here’s a hint: “Suppose a marksman fires a rifle bullet horizontally, and simultaneously drops a second bullet from the hand supporting the rifle. Both bullets will hit the ground at the same time. Horizontal speed is independent of vertical speed.

Chapter 7: Bath foam, beer foam, and the meaning of life

This chapter examines the properties of colloids, which are suspensions of small particles in a medium. Examples of colloids include milk, paint, smoke, and blood. Fisher also examines why oil and water don’t mix.

Chapter 8: A matter of taste

We are back to food again. This chapter deals with taste, flavors, and aromas… and pain. Fisher notes that bitter foods are pharmacologically active and the bitter taste a warning. He notes that a little salt can reduce the bitter perception of tannin in red wine and can also enhance your perception of sweetness. Does your chewing gum lose its flavor? Take a sip of something sweet. That will reset your sweetness receptors and restore the gum’s flavor.

Chapter 9: The physics of sex

I will leave the content of this chapter to your imagination. Fisher does claim, however, that there is no real aphrodisiac substance, the only aphrodisiac is in your mind.

You can have fun with this book and perhaps learn a thing or two.

Len Fisher, an Australian, is a research fellow in the Department of Physics, University of Bristol, England. 

The cover mentions that Fisher is a recipient of the Ignobel Prize in physics. This is a tongue-in-cheek award for “science that cannot, or should not, be reproduced” or for projects that “spark the public interest in science.”

The book is published by Arcade Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing. The book is also available at Amazon.

This is a re-post of an article I published about 18 months ago. I know it works because I’ve tried it. I offer an explanation of why I think it works, but if any chemists can offer a better explanation, please post a reply below. From the previous post, people are interested in a similar method to clean copper. Is there one?

The Procedure for silver:

Place aluminum foil (shiny side up) in the bottom of a non-metallic container big enough to hold the piece to be cleaned. Add a few teaspoons of salt and baking soda, then fill with hot water – the hotter, the better. Make sure the salt and baking soda are dissolved.

Place the object to be cleaned in the container so that it touches the aluminum foil. Most tarnish will disappear in a few seconds. Leave the piece in the solution for one or two minutes for stubborn tarnish. No rubbing required.

Why it works (I think):

Tarnish on silver is principally silver sulfide or silver sulfate. The sulfur comes from the atmosphere and slowly combines with the silver. This method of removing tarnish relies on the fact that silver and aluminum have different standard electron potentials. When the two metals are in an electrolytic solution (salt water) and are connected electrically (touching), electrons can travel between the two. The silver will be reduced (gain electrons) to form pure silver (which plates out on the silver piece) and the aluminum will be oxidized (lose electrons). This causes the sulfur in the tarnish to transfer to the aluminum. In this situation salty water acts as the electrolyte that allows the electrons to flow and the baking soda forms a weak acid which also aids electron flow. The reaction is: silver sulfide + aluminum > silver + aluminum sulfide or 3Ag₂S + 2Al > 6Ag + Al₂S₃. (If the piece is very heavily tarnished the baking soda may take up some sulfur to form H₂S, rotten egg gas.)