Please click above

to give us a rating

Related Books

Very Large Fixed Price Audio Transfer Service

Very Large Fixed Price Audio Transfer Service£59.99

This is the fixed price £59.99 item to be used when ordering conversion of a 9-14 hour Audio Cassette or MP3 CD title. 

 

A Tale of Seven Elements written by Eric Scerri performed by Barry Campbell on MP3 CD (Unabridged)

A Tale of Seven Elements written by Eric Scerri performed by Barry Campbell on MP3 CD (Unabridged)
  Zoom
Our Price:  £19.99Earn 19 Loyalty Points
+

ISBN:  97815222671176
Genre - Main:  Non-Fiction
Genre - Specific:  Popular Science
Duration:  480 mins
Length:  Unabridged
Author:  Eric Scerri
Performer 1:  Barry Campbell

Availability:  

  


We are currently running a special offer leading to FREE UK postage on all orders of £40 or more


In 1913, English physicist Henry Moseley established an elegant method for "counting" the elements based on atomic number, ranging them from hydrogen (#1) to uranium (#92). It soon became clear, however, that seven elements were mysteriously missing from the line up - seven elements unknown to science.

In his well researched and engagingly narrative, Eric Scerri presents the intriguing stories of these seven elements - protactinium, hafnium, rhenium, technetium, francium, astatine and promethium.

The book follows the historical order of discovery, roughly spanning the two world wars, beginning with the isolation of protactinium in 1917 and ending with that of promethium in 1945.

For each element, Scerri traces the research that preceded the discovery, the pivotal experiments, the personalities of the chemists involved, the chemical nature of the new element, and its applications in science and technology.

We learn for instance that alloys of hafnium - whose name derives from the Latin name for Copenhagen (hafnia) - have some of the highest boiling points on record and are used for the nozzles in rocket thrusters such as the Apollo Lunar Modules.

Scerri also tells the personal tales of researchers overcoming great obstacles. We see how Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn - the pair who later proposed the theory of atomic fission - were struggling to isolate element 91 when World War I intervened, Hahn was drafted into the German army's poison gas unit, and Meitner was forced to press on alone against daunting odds.

The book concludes by examining how and where the 25 new elements have taken their places in the periodic table in the last half century. A Tale of Seven Elements paints a fascinating picture of chemical research - the wrong turns, missed opportunities, bitterly disputed claims, serendipitous findings, accusations of dishonesty - all leading finally to the thrill of discovery.

Be the first to Write a Review for this item!