Friday, December 2, 2011
Science Two More at the Table: New Chemical Elements Named
Posted by George Prentice on Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 9:35 AM
In June, we told you how two new elements were about to be added to the already-difficult-to-understand periodic table. Following a three-year review process, an international committee of chemists and physicists introduced the elements, only known as numbers 114 and 116. But before high-school science teachers change their curriculum, the elements need a new name.
Today, the same group of scientists proposed to name element 114 Flerovium (Fl) in honor of physicist Georgi Flerov. Element 116 is expected to become Livermorium (Lv), named for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., where it was discovered.
The periodic table's governing body is expected to officially endorse the names in five months. Even more elements, numbered 113, 115 and 118, are still under review.
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"Difficult to understand periodic table"? What exactly does the author find difficult to understand about the periodic table? Every school kid in America learns how to use the periodic table before they finish high school, and in many schools the periodic table is introduced to students in middle school. I personally have never spoken to any child who had any serious confusion about how to use the periodic table. And how does adding a few new elements make the periodic table harder to understand?
The author is playing into the steriotype of Idaho (and other low population density states) having less intelligent or knowledgeable people than east and west coast state. We all know that the average child from Idaho is every bit as smart as the average kid in NYC, but I bet the New York Times doesn't call the periodic table hard to understand.
Yes, it is so difficult to understand - and now they want to ADD MORE to it??
LMFAO! George Prentice, you are a fucking moron. You probably don't even know what purpose periodic table serves.
Yeah like why do they have to have like so many elements? why not do like about 10 and give them like easy to remember names like maybe cartoon characters!! It's really really hard!
It's an interesting phenomena. Very often right wing mainstream media would look at changes to a well-grounded scientific artifact and proclaim, "Science has been turned on its ear! Everything you know is wrong! The 'liberal' education system has been lying to you for decades!"
So far I have yet to see any Republican-centric news outlet or religious kook issue a proclamation pointing at this update of the Table and screaming "It's all lies!" like they do when the various interlinked theories of evolution are updated.
Any way, it's amusing in some ways.
http://www.skeptictank.org/
To say that every high school kid knows how to "use" the periodic table is nonsense. The amount of information communicated by the table goes FAR beyond what is taught in high school courses. Even after having studied the table extensively at a university level, I would never venture so far as to say that it is easy to understand. It is, however, easy to understand some very basic (mostly useless) facts about it
I am going to agree with tardvark, George Prentice, you sir are a fucking moron. Hard to read, are you fucking serious??? When was the last time you looked at it. You should try sometime. I take that back, don't just look at it, study it. Study the organization of the chart. It is simplistic. Have a question about an element or the family its in, goto the little box and read. I can't believe you are paid to write articles. MORON.
DCW what school did you go to, Iwant to make sure not to send my kids there. Useless information??? Another moron.
Chuck Norris only recognizes the element of surprise (Sp). He will not be pleased.
There are less elements and groupings of them on the periodic table than the number contained in most high schoolers contact lists on their phones or Facebook. What's so hard to understand. I used to weep for the future; now I just weep for the present.
Are people who read the Boise weekly just *meaner* than other people, or what? If you met the author at a BBQ or some such would you say "You, sir, are a fucking moron" ? I hope not. Please have a little common civility. If you can do better, please start your own newspaper or blog, etc.
I think what the author refers to is that for those that "accept Jesus into their life" as an excuse to avoid basic knowledge, this is "difficult to understand."
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
The table is easy to understand. In about 5 minutes of training you can learn a HUGE amount about the elements and their properties, get a pretty good idea how most of the elements will tend to bond to other elements, and even which atoms are larger and which are smaller.
The table is very intelligently laid out for a purpose. However, like anything, without a little training it is confusing.
Try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7XWqwgZII0…
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHcD_But7dU…
or
http://periodic.lanl.gov/about.shtml
lastly: http://www.khanacademy.org/video/groups-of…
George, if you still don't get it after those links then I guess you just need to move on and not pen anymore articles that involve science and misleading readers to think that science is difficult rather than fun.
For anyone scoffing at George's assertion that the Periodic Table is difficult to understand, I challenge you to accurately explain the Lanthanides and Actinides (which is where these new elements are being placed). In case you don't know what these are (in which case you already failed) these are the two rows of elements listed separately at the bottom of the table. Haha, caught you looking it up, and if you looked into it enough you will have discovered there is debate even among the most eminent physicists on how to classify these elements. So if the experts disagree, then how can you blithely claim the PT is "easy to understand by every schoolkid in America"? It just show how truly ignorant you are in this matter.
In the Good Old Days we only had 4 Elements and a Spare (Quintessence - Ether).
More than in the Other Indo-European Languages - in Slavic languages these Four Elements RHYME
TVRDA, VODA(r), VÍTR, VATRA & VEDER-VEDA-vETER (in Czech and very similar) in all of the other Slavic Languages. For much more such information see www.jandacek.com
"For anyone scoffing at George's assertion that the Periodic Table is difficult to understand, I challenge you to accurately explain the Lanthanides and Actinides (which is where these new elements are being placed). "
Head shaker:
That is just stupid. Of the many things in the world that are easy to understand we can pick out a specific part of it that is more difficult to understand.
Secondly "Haha, caught you looking it up". The only thing that statement says is that everyone does not have everything memorized AND looking something up does not mean one does not understand it. Maybe someone just is not sure how to explain it well. Ever had a math teacher that sucked at teaching math? Them sucking did not mean they did not understand what they were doing as a college instructor needs at least a Masters and usually a Phd to teach.
"So if the experts disagree, then how can you blithely claim the PT is "easy to understand by every schoolkid in America"? It just show how truly ignorant you are in this matter."
Ok, so apparently we did not use specific enough language for you. Obviously in 5 minutes someone is not going to be able to understand every aspect of the table but the arguments here were based on a more general understanding, and you know it Head Shaker. You are simply trying to read into the conversation to make a point and sound smart just as you are implying everyone else is doing here. Your not projecting, are you.
Clearly the PT is full of information but in 5 minutes one can be taught enough about it to see that it is a very usefull tool and even the lay person can understand quite alot about the elements just by seeing that the table is laid out in such a manner with purpose. Splitting hairs or taking general statements from our posts and then trying to specifically pin-point some specific was clearly done by you, intentionally, to make some point that was not applicable to the conversation in the first place.
See, the Periodic Table is the overall layout and structure of the subject while Lanthanides and Actinides was to address a very specific detail. Is it impossible to understand a car in general without understanding how an automatic transmission works? Clearly yes. Nobody here needs to be able to tell you how to engineer a transmission to be able to understand many things about a car and other aspects of its design, materials, and engineering.
"Is it impossible to understand a car in general without understanding how an automatic transmission works? Clearly yes."
Miss stated my answer. Clearly the answer is no, not yes. I thought I typed "possible" rather than "impossible"
Who "studies the periodic table extensively at a university level"? I have a bachelors degree in chemistry and used it quite a bit yes, but never "studied it". Also, they are not being placed in the lanthanides or actinides, which are filling "f" orbitals. There cannot be any more than 14 lanthanides or actinides. They are being placed in the area that is filling "p" orbitals. So you fail.
Darn elitists making chemistry hard! (Or was it God who did it?)
FYI: I came here because it was the top story on google news for this topic. It is pretty clear that Boise Weekly is an alternative weekly, (besides the fact that it uses exactly the same software that Portland's alt weekly uses.) The author therefore is probably a journalism school drop out who was ordered by his boss, (also a journalism school drop out,) to "cover that science thingee". He did, in the standards of which they operate.
The local trolls, plus us not so local trolls then got baited by his snark, had to fight about it, and they now have 25 comments on this thread, on what was going to be a throw away piece. Now life is good at Boise Weekly, the staff is probably out drinking cheap beer to celebrate.
" I have a bachelors degree in chemistry and used it quite a bit yes, but never "studied it". "
I'd hate to see your GPA.
I work for a company that makes periodic tables. They haven't updated their posters yet but I just updated the free A4 color periodic table download they have with these new names on it. You can download it here:
http://www.science-story.com/periodic-tabl…
Enjoy!
you can download a totally free A4 periodic table with these new names on it and the ones from a month ago as well...i just updated it this weekend to show the new names...you can get it here:
http://www.science-story.com/periodic-tabl…
at the bottom of the page you will see the A4 periodic table download...
Enjoy!
actually I think it was pretty good. 3.69 in the 14 chemistry courses i took.
sounds to me like the pre curser to full ufo disclosure, as from what i have read and studied about the anti gravity/propulsion system used in the crafts for one thing is said to be element 115 that is bombarded with high energy positive and /.or negativve bursts possibly pulsating and changing positive and negative bursts, but here is the catch 22, , the ufos r said to be steered and/or controled by a mutually agreed upon /group effort of one kind or another mentally governing the controls per say, as if the pilot and co pilot mutually decide where to steer the craft and because they have been tuned to the enerrgy vibrational frequency of element 115 and the craft once bombbarded by the energy bursts is caused to open a portal /worm hole if u will and the ufo tilts and is basically sucked through the portal to the placce the entities want to bring the craft to, as if the ufo had no other choise but to be compelled to be steered to the desination as if working in mutal harmony with the universe as if it makes only prefect sence for the crafft to work in harmony with the ETs , so back to the issue at hand, once the element is named then the reason it has been brought forward is sure to follow as from what i have read element 115 and 116 r not even found on this planet, so how were they discovered??????????????????????????? lol this is gonna be intertesting to follow, is anyone is interested in discussing this with me, feel free to mail me at yehimslimshady78@yahoo.c o m .......... peace.d
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