Radioactive, long-lived; small traces in nature, no uses, radwaste
November 7, 2016 8:34 AM Subscribe
Periodic Videos is a crazy haired YouTube channel with lots of explosions and fires and fun experiments along this line. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go play with the table for a while.
posted by Bee'sWing at 8:43 AM on November 7, 2016
posted by Bee'sWing at 8:43 AM on November 7, 2016
Tom Lehrer would approve.
posted by Melismata at 8:50 AM on November 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 8:50 AM on November 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
dat font tho
posted by Cosine at 9:02 AM on November 7, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Cosine at 9:02 AM on November 7, 2016 [6 favorites]
It would work a lot better if the details weren't tied to the small area at the top of the screen. Perhaps a floating miniwindow, because, as soon as I hit the lanthanides and actinides, I can't see the use case any more.
Not a web guy, but I have seen it around enough places it can't be THAT impossible, right?
posted by Samizdata at 9:36 AM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not a web guy, but I have seen it around enough places it can't be THAT impossible, right?
posted by Samizdata at 9:36 AM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not a web guy, but I have seen it around enough places it can't be THAT impossible, right?
Everything in web dev is about ten times harder than you'd think.
(But, yes, it should technically be doable. I'm guessing this was put together by a bunch of random chemists or physicists, though, rather than professional web designers.)
posted by tobascodagama at 9:45 AM on November 7, 2016 [4 favorites]
Everything in web dev is about ten times harder than you'd think.
(But, yes, it should technically be doable. I'm guessing this was put together by a bunch of random chemists or physicists, though, rather than professional web designers.)
posted by tobascodagama at 9:45 AM on November 7, 2016 [4 favorites]
They've got 'air' down as the illustration for oxygen rather than nitrogen? Wut?
The uses lists are pretty cool, but the illustrative example picture with each element is hit-and-miss at best.
posted by Dysk at 10:25 AM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
The uses lists are pretty cool, but the illustrative example picture with each element is hit-and-miss at best.
posted by Dysk at 10:25 AM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is great EXCEPT FOR THE COMIC SANS.
posted by slogger at 10:53 AM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by slogger at 10:53 AM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
The uses lists are pretty cool, but the illustrative example picture with each element is hit-and-miss at best.
I think the problem is that they're not really consistent with any scheme (e.g. protein and radioactive diagnosis don't seem to be in the same category of anything) which is confusing in the context of this sort of schematisation. Agree that they're pretty good once you open then up, but I would enjoy it more as a chart if there were a bit more consistent on surface impression.
posted by howfar at 12:27 PM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think the problem is that they're not really consistent with any scheme (e.g. protein and radioactive diagnosis don't seem to be in the same category of anything) which is confusing in the context of this sort of schematisation. Agree that they're pretty good once you open then up, but I would enjoy it more as a chart if there were a bit more consistent on surface impression.
posted by howfar at 12:27 PM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
You can tell I was never cut out for the STEM fields despite aptitude for math and science because though I love this, my brain started writing the story of how Chlorine Girl and Nitrogen Guy when on a coffee date (with a Neon) sign until they got attacked by a Phosphorous Skeleton.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:51 PM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:51 PM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
(seriously though this is great)
posted by comealongpole at 1:04 PM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's fun how when you get down to the super-heavy elements, like 100% of the uses are either lasers, nuclear-something, or things that analyze other things.
Lawrencium will turn out to be very useful in devices that analyze nuclear lasers, and in nothing else.
posted by radicalawyer at 1:39 PM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Lawrencium will turn out to be very useful in devices that analyze nuclear lasers, and in nothing else.
posted by radicalawyer at 1:39 PM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is great EXCEPT FOR THE COMIC SANS.
One would almost think it was made for children.
posted by Emma May Smith at 2:55 PM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
One would almost think it was made for children.
posted by Emma May Smith at 2:55 PM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
This really is great, and somehow the pictures are (at least temporarily) making it easier to remember the sequence of the transitional elements that I get mixed up about so much of the time.
I think it would be worth adding some detail about a few of the more exotic properties and uses of some of the individual elements though; such as that Tin has the most stable isotopes (ten); Sulfur is the best insulator by orders of magnitude; Helium becomes superfluid near absolute zero; Xenon is a remarkably non-toxic anesthetic for unknown reasons; Gallium is liquid at body temperature; Selenium is the last element essential to humans (as far as I know); lead is the last element with at least one stable isotope; and etc.
posted by jamjam at 3:28 PM on November 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
I think it would be worth adding some detail about a few of the more exotic properties and uses of some of the individual elements though; such as that Tin has the most stable isotopes (ten); Sulfur is the best insulator by orders of magnitude; Helium becomes superfluid near absolute zero; Xenon is a remarkably non-toxic anesthetic for unknown reasons; Gallium is liquid at body temperature; Selenium is the last element essential to humans (as far as I know); lead is the last element with at least one stable isotope; and etc.
posted by jamjam at 3:28 PM on November 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
Selenium is the last element essential to humans
Oops, forgot about Iodine; I always do that.
posted by jamjam at 3:47 PM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oops, forgot about Iodine; I always do that.
posted by jamjam at 3:47 PM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you like this, The Disappearing Spoon is all about elements and how they were discovered and what they are used for.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:52 PM on November 7, 2016
posted by ChuraChura at 5:52 PM on November 7, 2016
Uh, I think we killed it.
posted by Dr Dracator at 3:45 AM on November 8, 2016
posted by Dr Dracator at 3:45 AM on November 8, 2016
1) We killed the site.
2) The MSI in Chicago has a wonderful wall of elements with a sample of each one of them, wherever possible. As a lapsed ChE, that was my favorite part of the museum. That and the Tornado generator.
3) The Periodic Table is the best, most useful and downright beautiful categorization template ever created. It is a g*ddamn disgrace that Mendeleev (and for that matter GN Lewis) never got a Nobel Prize. Chemists are really terrible of taking care our history and pioneers. Physicists are much better at this.
posted by indianbadger1 at 12:27 PM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
2) The MSI in Chicago has a wonderful wall of elements with a sample of each one of them, wherever possible. As a lapsed ChE, that was my favorite part of the museum. That and the Tornado generator.
3) The Periodic Table is the best, most useful and downright beautiful categorization template ever created. It is a g*ddamn disgrace that Mendeleev (and for that matter GN Lewis) never got a Nobel Prize. Chemists are really terrible of taking care our history and pioneers. Physicists are much better at this.
posted by indianbadger1 at 12:27 PM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by kozad at 8:37 AM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]