Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Disappearing Spoon, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling and Science
Experimentation, Accidents, and Discovery
Nature vs. Culture
Science for Good vs. for Evil
The Expansion and Limits of Human Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
At the edge of the periodic table lie the highly unstable radioactive elements, including francium, which is so reactive that it only ever appears for a moment. There is an even rarer element, though, and finding it requires understanding the “island of stability” and perhaps revising the periodic table completely. Because some elements turn into astatine while undergoing radioactive decay, scientists can guess how much astatine exists in the universe. Strangely, astatine is actually more stable than francium, which is “so fragile it’s basically useless.” While scientists could never produce a visible study of astatine, a team led by Emilio Segrè did managed to observe it by injecting some into a guinea pig and studying what happened.
Rare elements conjure a certain amount of intrigue in and of themselves, but what makes an element truly exciting or noteworthy to scientists are its properties. In the case of astatine, scientists find it fascinating because it defies how it is logically “supposed” to act based on the laws of the periodic table: instead of being extra fragile, it is extra stable.
Themes
One would expect astatine to be even more unstable than francium, but in fact the opposite is true. This is due to the fact that astatine is one of the “magic elements” identified by Maria Goeppert-Mayer—elements that have extra protons or neurons and are therefore much more stable than one would expect. The part of the periodic table that contains these counterintuitive elements is called the island of stability. Scientists believe it is unlikely that they will be able to synthesize every element into a magic number by adding particles to the nucleus, but it is definitely possible to do so with at least some. This means that many new elements have yet to be discovered and the periodic table may get a whole lot bigger.
By mentioning Maria Goeppert-Mayer and the magic elements, Kean draws the reader back to where the book began. This journey through many different tangents and tales back to the fundamentals of the periodic table serves as a reminder that everything begins and ends with the elements—they are the foundation of life itself, and of everything in the universe.
Themes
These new elements also seem likely to have totally new, unanticipated properties that deviate from the existing rules of the periodic table. Over time, Einstein came to distrust quantum mechanics because of its “probabilistic nature.” He also failed to coherently unite quantum mechanics with the theory of relativity, despite spending his whole career trying to do so. At the same time, the two theories work well together, and were both needed to discover the element named after Einstein, einsteinium. In other contexts, however, the theories clash. This could place a cap on what is discoverable via the framework of the periodic table.
Einstein is far from the only scientist Kean mentions who changes his mind over the course of his career. Some scientists, like Crookes, come to realize the error of their previous beliefs (i.e., embracing spiritualism) whereas others, like Mendeleev, give up a rational understanding of the world for illogical superstition (refusing to believe in the reality of atoms).
Themes
Scientists believe the last element will be 137 (it is provisionally called feynmanium after the physicist Richard Feynman). If elements beyond 137 exist, their electrons would necessarily have to be traveling faster than the speed of light, and the theory of relativity tells us that this isn’t possible. Some scientists believe that there is a “loophole” within relativity that allows special particles called tachyons to travel faster than the speed of light. This seems unlikely, though. At the same time, just because element 137 might be the last discovered element doesn’t mean that the periodic table is simply going to become “fixed and frozen” with no more information added.
The possibility that there are elements past 137—and that there are particles inside atoms traveling at the speed of light—is thrilling. It is suitable that this set of speculative possibilities comes at the end of the book, when Kean can remind the reader of the vast amount of knowledge that still lies waiting to be discovered.
Themes
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If humans ever come into contact with aliens, the mode of communication most likely to be successful is the “language” of math and physics. At the same time, the version of the periodic table humans use now may not correspond to how aliens view the elements. Even from a human perspective, the table is somewhat arbitrary—it could be organized according to a totally different principle, perhaps one much better than the current system. In fact, there are infinite possibilities of what shape the table could take. Scientists have become very creative with these possible shapes, suggesting a solar system-style structure, a double helix, or even a Rubik’s Cube. The table could even become three dimensional, with anti-elements represented as well.
The reader has probably already gathered thus far that the periodic table is not a fixed, universal truth, but rather an invented framework for describing things that are true in the universe. Yet just because it responds to physical reality doesn’t mean that the periodic table is the only way to represent that reality. There are countless other possible ways, most of which have not even been thought of yet.
Themes
Even the ordinary periodic table might be drastically expanded, with new categories of element included. One of these new categories might be elements made of “superatoms.” This term refers to the fact that eight to 100 atoms of an element grouped together tend to behave like a single atom, imitating everything a normal, single atom would do to the point that they can be essentially “indistinguishable” from a sole atom. This also means that a superatom made up of one element can act like a totally different element. Matter that does this has been christened “jellium.”
Research about superatoms and jellium is at the very cutting edge of the field at the time Kean is writing. For this reason, it still produces more questions than answers, yet it indicates the exciting directions in which the science of the periodic table may be imminently moving.
Themes
The periodic table will likely also be revolutionized by quantum dots, which are also called “pancake atoms” because they are completely flat. The pancake periodic table looks very different to the ordinary one, because the atoms inside it behave very differently. Understanding of this phenomenon remains at a very early stage. The important thing to note is that the current iteration of the periodic table is still relevant and will likely be used far into the future. Yet Kean can’t help but wish he could fund research into the invention of all kinds of wacky tables. Who knows if one of them would correspond to what a hypothetical alien species has created in order to understand the elements—maybe it could even impress them.
Kean ends on something of a mild paradox. He notes that the current table is still important and relevant and will be useful to scientists long into the future. At the same time, he feels impatient about the other kinds of tables that could be invented to represent the elements. Perhaps soon there will be multiple tables coexisting at once, each serving a different purpose—and one of those purposes could even be trying to impress aliens.
Themes
