Introduction When I was a little girl I would sit at the kitchen table and watch my father work After dinner he would write equations on graph paper I knew he was a scientist but the exquisite handwritten equations were all I knew about what my father did in his career as a physicist At that time I was intrigued but science seemed mysterious and complicated to me It wasn’t until I became an elementary school teacher in my early twenties and began teaching various science subjects to my students that science came to life for me I loved learning with my students about the elements that make up the universe Years later I am no longer a teacher but a professional artist and making this book is a way for me to use my interest in science and my love for drawing pictures to bring the elements of the periodic table to life for kids and adults alike Both art and science are enormously creative fields Both require openness to innovation and rigorous discipline Both force us to experiment with our ideas in the zone where our minds and hands come together Artists and scientists dive deep into their subject matter and study things such as people culture history religion and mythology From these investigations we have the opportunity to transform information into something new The periodic table is a catalog of everything tangible in our world Everything we touch eat drink and breathe is made up of the elements Some elements are so common that they are part of our everyday vocabulary such as oxygen aluminum and silver Conversely some elements such as yttrium antimony and moscovium are so obscure that their names and uses are unknown to many of us At first glance the periodic table of elements might look like a boring uninspiring chart And if you look at it simply as a series of boxes it will be pretty boring However if you dive into the table you will begin to understand that it is not boring at all nor is it mysterious or random as I once thought It is a chart that is organized by predictable truths about the way everything on Earth is built starting with tiny atoms and even tinier protons neutrons and electrons With a few exceptions nearly every element on the periodic table has a purpose in our world Even some of the most poisonous or dangerous elements have compelling roles in our lives Some elements keep our bodies working efficiently Others kill deadly cancer cells and help us detect harmful diseases Still others are mined from rocks for bridges buildings and airplanes We are constantly finding new ways to use the elements in technology health care and the generation of energy to fuel our world If you are a person who likes to ask why and how you might already be a scientist In this book I will introduce you to the dynamic and fascinating elements the roles they play in our lives and how they function in the world as well as some of the compelling stories about the people who discovered them Dmitri Mendeleev the guy who organized the periodic table back in 1869 was a curious young person just like you Every discovery starts with curiosity 8
What is an Element Everything in the world that you see and feel your body the ground you are standing on the book you are holding the stars in the sky is made of elements There are 118 known elements in the universe More than 90 are naturally occurring on Earth and the remainder are human-made In turn the elements are made up of gazillions of tiny atoms A single element is a pure substance that is made from one kind of atom and can’t be broken down into any smaller simpler substances For example the element hydrogen contains only hydrogen atoms and the element silver contains only silver atoms WHAT IS AN ELEMENT 9
All About Atoms 2 Atomic Number He 4 Atomic Mass Number Protons Electrons Neutrons A helium He atom has two protons so its atomic number is 2 The atomic mass the weight of helium is 4 and is measured by the sum of the protons and neutrons in the atom The number of electrons in an atom doesn’t affect either measurement Small Wonder Atoms are so tiny that they are too small to see except with extremely powerful microscopes Every atom has a dense center called a nucleus Forming the nucleus are two kinds of particles protons which have a positive electrical charge and neutrons which have no charge Bound to the nucleus are one or more electrons which are particles with a negative charge Scientists used to describe atoms as tiny solar systems with the electrons orbiting around the nucleus like planets around the sun but atoms are a lot hazier than that If you imagined the tiny nucleus as a pea it would be centered in a football stadium size cloud that includes the electrons We can’t be sure where the electrons are because they are impossible to pin down Protons We’ve Got Your Number All atoms have at least one proton in their core And protons determine an atom’s uniqueness The number of protons determines the element For example hydrogen has just one proton No other element is made up of atoms that contain one proton For this reason we list the different elements by their number of protons This is called the atomic number The atomic number determines where the element sits on the periodic table of elements the organized chart of all of the elements that have been discovered Neither Here nor There Neutrons have neither a positive nor a negative charge No matter how many neutrons are in an atom they do not affect the charge However neutrons do affect the mass the weight of an atom The atomic mass is the sum of all the protons and neutrons in the element 10
Electrons in Orbit In addition to protons and neutrons all atoms have electrons Electrons are negatively charged particles that orbit the space surrounding the positively charged nuclear core These orbits are called electron shells Each electron shell has a different energy level with the electron shells farthest from the nucleus having the highest energy levels This outermost shell is known as the valence shell and the electrons found in it are called valence electrons The number of electrons in the valence shell determines the atom’s reactivity or tendency to form chemical bonds with other atoms Atoms are most stable and least likely to be reactive when their valence shell is full of all the electrons it can hold In Balance Neutral atoms have an equal number of protons and electrons and the number of protons and neutrons is usually the same but sometimes not Adding or removing neutrons to an atom makes an isotope a heavier or lighter version of that same element with the same chemical properties Changing the number of electrons in an atom also does not change the type of element it is but it does change its chemical behavior the atom is no longer neutral in charge and is now called an ion But adding a proton Suddenly you’ve got an entirely new element with you guessed it a new atomic number An atom is about one angstrom in diameter which is about 100,000 times smaller than a red blood cell Electrons travel at a speed of 1,367 miles 2,200 kilometres per second and at this speed they could orbit Earth in 18 seconds 99 99999999999 percent of an atom is empty space A single human hair is about as thick as one hundred thou sand atoms Make a fist It contains about 15,000,000,000,000,000,000 000,000 that’s 15 septillion atoms If each atom in your fist were the size of a marble your fist would be the size of Earth Nucleus Valence Electrons Protium Deuerium Tritium Hydrogen Isotopes ALL ABOUT ATOMS 11
