{"id":38134,"date":"2024-10-19T04:34:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T09:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=38134"},"modified":"2024-10-19T04:34:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T09:34:54","slug":"periodic-table-rabbit-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=38134","title":{"rendered":"Periodic Table Rabbit Hole"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Today we go down the Periodic Table rabbit hole. Many of today’s screen shots are from the excellent web site Periodic Tables.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PeriodicTable.Com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Human Abundance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What exactly are you full of? https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/HumanAbundance.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q:<\/strong> Did you hear about the boy that ate uranium?
A: <\/strong>He got an atomic ache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice how uranium is present in the human body. We need Elder G<\/strong> to explain this to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That’s a fascinating find! Uranium is indeed a surprising element to appear on the list of elements that make up the human body, but its presence can be explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uranium is naturally occurring in the Earth’s crust, and trace amounts of it can be found in the environment\u2014air, water, soil, and even food. As a result, small quantities of uranium can enter the human body through ingestion of food and water, and, to a lesser extent, through inhalation of dust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the amounts of uranium in the human body are incredibly tiny\u2014typically in the microgram range\u2014and it\u2019s usually not harmful in such low concentrations. The body doesn’t use uranium for any biological function, and most of it is excreted through the kidneys. Only a small amount might be stored in bones, due to its chemical similarity to calcium, but this poses little risk under normal environmental conditions.
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The presence of uranium in the human body is more a reflection of our environment than any physiological need. It’s fascinating how trace elements, even those not essential for life, make their way into us!<\/p>\nElder G<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Density<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Will it float? https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/Density.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting that the densest elements don’t appear at the very bottom of the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Universe Abundance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Important when establishing trade relationships with our galactic comrades. https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/UniverseAbundance.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ocean Abundance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What are the fish swimming in? https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/OceanAbundance.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Solar Abundance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What’s going on with our neighborhood star? https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/SolarAbundance.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Radioactive?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I like the way they plot a binary property. https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/Radioactive.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Do Their Friends Call Them?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This table makes me a little sad, like thallium<\/strong> may feel unloved and lonely. Not only does thallium<\/strong> not have a nickname, but it is not found free in nature. https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/AlternateStandardNames.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thallium, from Greek \u03b8\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03cc\u03c2<\/strong>, thall\u00f3s, meaning “green shoot” or “twig”, was named by Crookes. – https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thallium<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I propose we rename thallium “little twig.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I think we’ve just made Little Twig’s day!
You are loved, Thallium!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the way, in Victorian England, thallium was considered the poisoner’s poison. Fun fact!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Half Life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We’re on a schedule here, people. How long do we have to wait for you to break down? https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/HalfLife.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The half life of Bismuth <\/strong>is 1.902587519026\u00d71019<\/sup> years. The age of the universe is 1.38 x 1010<\/sup> years. The age of the Earth is 4.6 x 109<\/sup> years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research published in 2015 estimates the earliest stages of the universe’s existence as taking place 13.8 billion years ago, with an uncertainty of around 21 million years at the 68% confidence level.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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Why?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Sean Carroll … concluded that “any attempt to account for the existence of something rather than nothing must ultimately bottom out in a set of brute facts<\/strong>; the universe simply is, without ultimate cause or explanation.”<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps this will shed some light on the subject….<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is something<\/strong>
No experiment could support the hypothesis “There is nothing” because any observation obviously implies the existence of an observer.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At WLBOTT<\/strong>, we take existence very seriously. We spend several hours each day contemplating our own set of brute facts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is joy in our contemplation of existence!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Os. Big O.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anyhow….This circuitous journey leads us to OSMIUM<\/strong>. The Os. Big O.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the densest element on the planet, at 22.587 g\/cm3<\/sup>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Manufacturers use its alloys with platinum, iridium, and other platinum-group metals to make fountain pen nib tipping, electrical contacts, and in other applications that require extreme durability and hardness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osmium is among the rarest elements in the Earth’s crust, making up only 50 parts per trillion (ppt).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Osmium has] very high melting point [3033 \u00b0C, 5491 \u00b0F] (the fourth highest of all elements, after carbon, tungsten, and rhenium).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimates of annual worldwide osmium production are on the order of several hundred to a few thousand kilograms. Production and consumption figures for osmium are not well reported because demand for the metal is limited and can be fulfilled with the byproducts of other refining processes…. US imports of osmium from 2014 to 2021 averaged 155 kg annually.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let’s Go Shopping!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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For the budget-minded osmium consumer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And here you have it….
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Today we go down the Periodic Table rabbit hole. Many of today’s screen shots are from the excellent web site Periodic Tables.com Human Abundance What exactly are you full of? https:\/\/periodictable.com\/Properties\/A\/HumanAbundance.html Q: Did you hear about the boy that ate uranium?A: He got an atomic ache. Notice how uranium is present in the human body. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,100,37,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mildly-interesting","category-nature","category-scholarship-erudition","category-technoblott"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38134"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38205,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38134\/revisions\/38205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}