The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Part 1

Reading Check

1. What is Plato’s name for the gaseous elements on the right side of the periodic table?

2. What did Jack Kilby invent that replaced transistors in technology?

3. Which missing element did Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discover?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How are archeologists able to track where Lewis and Clark camped?

2. What is unique about the atoms numbered 57-71?

3. According to Sam Kean, why is it unlikely that life could be silicon-based instead of carbon-based?

4. What was Dmitri Mendeleev’s contribution to the periodic table? Why did he leave blank spaces?

Paired Resource

“How the Periodic Table Organizes the Elements”

• This 4-minute video explains the organization of the periodic table.
• Shared themes include The Wonderous Properties of the Elements and The Endless Search for Knowledge.
• Who developed the periodic table? What is the role of valence electrons in determining how it is organized? Why are groups of elements called families? What are the rows of the periodic table called?

“The Race to Invent the Periodic Table”

• This 6-minute video explains how scientists discovered the elements of the periodic table.
• Shared themes include The Wonderous Properties of the Elements and The Unpredictability of Scientific Success.
• What did John Newlands and Julius Meyer contribute to the periodic table of elements? What did Mendeleev discover, and why is it important? What did the spectroscope enable chemists to do?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. Where did scientists discover the crater that they believe caused the dinosaurs to go extinct?

2. Who is first recorded using chemical warfare in ancient Greece by using noxious bundles of wood, pitch, and sulfur?

3. What did Henry Moseley fire at samples of elements to determine that the number of protons in an atom decide their position on the periodic table?

4. Who discovered more elements than anyone in history?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Where do scientists believe the elements came from? How is this related to the formation of a star?

2. What is the evolution of the use of elements in chemical warfare?

3. What is fission? In which item is this process harnessed?

Paired Resource

“The Transfermium Wars: Scientific Brawling and Name-Calling During the Cold War”

• This article from the Science History Institute explores the transfermium era and its conflicts.
• Why was naming the elements considered a political move? What are elements traditionally named after? Why were the methods for discovering elements a source of conflict between Dubna and Berkeley scientists? What are the Transfermium Wars?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. Which element has been “discovered” more times than any other element?

2. What is the name given to elements that mask themselves as life-giving minerals and micronutrients but instead kill the cell?

3. Which element is considered to be the deadliest?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What did Linus Pauling discover? What was the blemish in his résumé?

2. Which element caused the “ouch-ouch” disease, and what led to its discovery?

3. Which elements on the periodic table possess healing qualities, and what are the benefits?

4. Why does Kean describe some elements as “sneaky”? What are some of the effects of sneaky elements on society?

Paired Resource

“Most Deadly Elements on Earth”

• This 11-minute video explores the most dangerous elements on the periodic table.
• Shared themes include The Wonderous Properties of the Elements and The Endless Search for Knowledge.
• How was mercury used before mankind realized it was truly dangerous? Why do scientists know so little about francium? Why is lead toxic? What can cesium be mistaken for in the body?

Part 4

Reading Check

1. What medical tool was developed because of Irene Curie’s research?

2. Which element is the most expensive?

3. Which element found in soil may drive horses and cattle mad?

4. What is the name of the madness that is specific to scientists?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How have elements been used to deceive others into believing people possess or do not possess gold?

2. How has the study of the elements impacted art?

3. What elements might have driven William Crookes mad, and what alternative theory does Kean offer?

Part 5

Reading Check

1. What can carbon become if put under extreme pressure?

2. Who experimented with glycerin bubbles and formed the beginning of bubble science?

3. Where is the world’s only natural nuclear fission reactor?

4. What is the rarest element on Earth?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What are examples of the impact of extreme winter weather on tin?

2. Why is Lord Kelvin’s estimated age of the planet unlikely based on Ernest Rutherford’s calculations?

3. Why might the official Prototype Kilogram cause inaccuracies, and how have scientists worked to resolve them?

Paired Resource

“The Kilogram has Changed Forever. Here’s Why”

• This 7-minute video describes measurements, including the replacement of the Prototype Kilogram in France.
• Shared themes include The Endless Search for Knowledge and The Unpredictability of Scientific Success.
• How has the measurement of the kilogram changed over time? What is the International Prototype Kilogram made of? What was the International Prototype Kilogram replaced with? How have scales been calibrated up to the point of the prototype’s removal?

Recommended Next Reads

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

• This nonfiction book describes the use of the human cadaver in scientific research and experimentation.
• Shared themes include The Unpredictability of Scientific Success and The Endless Search for Knowledge.
• Shared topics include humor, instruments of war, and the history of science.
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers on SuperSummary

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik

• This nonfiction book explores ordinary objects using history, chemistry, and psychology to take an in-depth look at the materials that make up the physical world.
• Shared themes include The Wonderous Properties of the Elements, The Unpredictability of Scientific Success, and The Endless Search for Knowledge.
• Shared topics include elements, chemicals, and the science of materials.
• Stuff Matters: Exploring the Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World on SuperSummary