Writes Melissa Knight, Chemistry Teacher
As part of Junior Chemistry Club this year, we decided to set our regular attendees a challenge to read and review a non-fiction science book. We hoped that this task would inspire curiosity and help to develop a lasting love of Chemistry. Through reading, the students encountered real-world applications, discoveries, and stories of scientists, which has allowed them to see Chemistry as dynamic and relevant rather than just a school subject. Two of our Third Form students were awarded Headmaster’s Commendations for their efforts, and we are delighted to be able to share their book reviews with you.
Writes Eissa Z. (3rds)
Elementary by James M. Russell
Elementary, written by James M. Russell is a book that talks about and explains the history of each element, its uses in everyday life, and the unique properties that each element has.
The book starts off by giving context into how the periodic table was made. It explains how Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev recognised the patterns that the 62 elements that had been discovered at the time displayed when set out in order of their atomic mass number. The crucial insight came when he found that similar elements would repeat at specific ‘periods. By re-organising the elements into a table where the similar elements were placed in rows, Mendeleev had created the first version of the periodic table. The book goes on to explain how he developed his idea and also developed atomic theory: that atoms of an element are identical and have a fixed mass.
The rest of the book mostly talks about the individual elements. Usually, the section will start by talking about the scientist who discovered that element, or if it was already found naturally, where it is usually found. Then it goes on to talk about all the aspects of the element: where it is used in modern life and any particularly unique chemical properties. There is also smaller section devoted to the Actinides, which talks about their instability and how they can only really be created by firing already existing elements with particles.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The accessible language meant that even though the book was probably intended for an older age group, I could understand it without any issue. What I loved most about this book was that through showing the real life uses for these elements, it made Chemistry feel less distant and important as something that contributes to my everyday life, and l would definitely recommend this to anyone my age interested in Chemistry.
Writes Milan P. (3rds)
Periodic Table a Visual Guide to the Elements by Tom Jackson
This book is the best nonfiction book I have ever read. When I looked just at the contents online, I immediately knew that it was going to be great. The book was split into four parts and so I am going to split this review into four parts.
Part 1: The Periodic Table
This chapter was very detailed – for some of the small letters, I needed a microscope! I thought this was going to be quick, but I was mistaken. The first page had a full periodic table that explained the element categories. It also explained that the rows add electrons to the right, and going down adds shells. At this time, I was trying to memorise the whole table and was up to Lawrencium (103 electrons) and this helped me finish it. The next page was about how an ancient philosophy created the idea of atoms, and also talked about sub-atomic particles, quarks, leptons and bosons. The next page followed on about size comparison and explained that a penny resting on the moon is like an atom resting on a penny. It then explained how the table works with the adding electrons on shells and how the transition metals are used to fill the previous shell. The next eight pages covered each group, explaining about what they share in common before discussing the transition metals and Lanthanides and Actinides. It then had a timeline of when each atom was discovered and other forms of periodic table.
Part 2: The Big Picture
This chapter was about different stats of elements, ranging from size to density, to percentage on earth and in your body. It did this for every atom except new ones, because of their rarity. One thing that we covered in Chemistry Club was reactivity, and there was a page on reactivity in this section, which I liked. Other stats were conductivity, strength, hardness and magnetism. One of my favourite pages used the spectrum it produced when lit on fire – it looked cool.
Part 3: Inside Chemistry
This content was like what we do at school but more detailed. It had states of matter and the processes to change them, including ionization and recombination into plasma and the temperature scale such as Kelvin scale, ºC and ºF. Metallic bonds, ionic bonds and size of after 1+/2- etc, covalent bonds and the shapes of the compounds. This page showed six different reactions listed here:
- Neutralisation
- Combustion
- Decomposition
- Reduction
- Oxidation
- Displacement
This was followed by a diagram of how to bombard an element with another to create a new one. I also learnt a lot from this section. For example, 90% of all organic compound contain carbon, and some say that lead is very abundant because it is at the end of a few radioactive decay lines. The last page of this chapter was about gems and the impurities that create the colours.
Part 4: Directory of Elements
This chapter offered a one-by-one guide to all elements up to Fermium (100th) and explained the facts and other stats including electrons, crystal structure and year of discovery. This really gave me a lot of knowledge.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love for Chemistry. It explains theory in a really easy way. I will read this book all the time – I read 140 pages on just the first day and aim to remember most of the facts. This is a relatively large book review, but I could
have written a lot more. Awarded 5*
