

Ideas of Eric R. Scerri, by Text


2007 The Periodic Table
Intro 'Elem' p.-6 How can poisonous elements survive in the nutritious compound they compose?
Intro 'Evol' p.-3 Scientists eventually seek underlying explanations for every pattern
Intro 'Evol' p.-1 Natural kinds are what are differentiated by nature, and not just by us
Intro 'Per' p.-9 Periodicity and bonding are the two big ideas in chemistry
01 'React' p.19 Elements were ordered by equivalent weight; later by atomic weight; finally by atomic number
01 'Under' p.24 The colour of gold is best explained by relativistic effects due to fast-moving inner-shell electrons
03 'Rapid' p.67 The periodic system is the big counterexample to Kuhn's theory of revolutionary science
04 'Nature' p.114 19th C views said elements survived abstractly in compounds, but also as 'material ingredients'
05 'Intro' p.124 The periodic table suggests accommodation to facts rates above prediction
05 'Mendel' p.142 Chemistry does not work from general principles, but by careful induction from large amounts of data
05 'Power' p.150 If a theory can be fudged, so can observations
06 'Henry' p.173 Moseley showed the elements progress in units, and thereby clearly identified the gaps
06 'Intro' p.159 Moseley, using X-rays, showed that atomic number ordered better than atomic weight
06 'Intro' p.160 Some suggested basing the new periodic table on isotopes, not elements
06 'Intro' p.160 The electron is the main source of chemical properties
06 'Philos' p.175 If all elements are multiples of one (of hydrogen), that suggests once again that matter is unified
06 'Radio' p.163 Does radioactivity show that only physics can explain chemistry?
07 'Models' p.187 Elements are placed in the table by the number of positive charges - the atomic number
07 'Pauli' p.203 Pauli explained the electron shells, but not the lengths of the periods in the table
07 'Quantum' p.192 Elements in the table are grouped by having the same number of outer-shell electrons
08 'Concl' p.224 Orthodoxy says the periodic table is explained by quantum mechanics
08 'Intro' p.207 A big chemistry idea is that covalent bonds are shared electrons, not transfer of electrons
09 'From' p.229 To explain the table, quantum mechanics still needs to explain order of shell filling
10 'Astro' p.258 Since 99.96% of the universe is hydrogen and helium, the periodic table hardly matters
10 'Continuum' p.285 The best classification needs the deepest and most general principles of the atoms
10 'Elements' p.280 If elements are natural kinds, might the groups of the periodic table also be natural kinds?
10 'Evol p.250 It is now thought that all the elements have literally evolved from hydrogen
10 'Stabil' p.259 The stability of nuclei can be estimated through their binding energy