The History of Chemistry
The History of Chemistry
Steve Cohen
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21: The Periodic Prophet
25 minutes Posted Aug 5, 2022 at 1:00 pm.
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We learn about the development of spectroscopy by Bunsen and Kirchhoff, and its ramifications, like remote sensing of materials--including heavenly bodies. We also learn about new elements discovered by spectroscopy, which boosted Mendeleev's periodic table and earned him accolades. Mendeleev, however, also predicted elements that don't exist, and failed to anticipate an entire classification of elements found in the 1890s by William Ramsey. Writer H.G. Wells even included one of these elements in a world-famous sci-fi novel.

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