Table of Contents
Part 1: Adam in the Lab
Part 2: Adam and the Atoms
Part 3: Adam’s New Career
Glossary
Part 1: Adam in the Lab
Adam Dalton Bohr-Rutherford the third tended to his zebras night
and day. Those stripes were his life. Ponita, his favorite Zebra, however
was not so keen on him. At every possible opportunity, Ponita would try
to escape the captivity that he hated. Adam realized this and kept extra
close watch on Ponita, even down to sleeping in her pen.
It was a warm night in June when Adam’s world was turned upside
down. It seemed to him nothing was out of the ordinary, but a storm
was brewing inside Ponita’s mind. Ponita stood deathly still until there
was nothing to watch for Adam but the back of his eyelids. The last
signs of consciousness faded from Adam, and that is when Ponita made
her break. Bursting through her enclosure, she made a break for the
freeway. Who knows where she was going? All Adam knew when he
awoke with a start and found his prized zebra AWOL was that she was
headed for freedom. Adam flew out of the confines of the zoo like a
bullet from a gun. He knew he had to find her soon. Otherwise, she
would be gone forever.
Luckily for Adam, Ponita was never hard to track. Ponita
just happened to shed hair like a barber. All Adam needed to look for
was a black hair, followed by a white hair, followed by a black hair
again. Easy enough, or so he thought.
After what felt like hours, Adam picked up the trail. It led him
straight to a darkened alleyway in the sketchy part of town. He was
nervous, but the risk would be worth it. He crept down the alley to the
very end, where he discovered a small, red bricked building with a
single light coming from a basement window well.
He crept into the building and found the first stairwell going down.
What he saw when he entered the basement shocked him. It was a full
on chemistry lab that looked like it came straight out of the pages of the
early 1900’s. Surrounding him were pictures of scientists he
remembered seeing in his high school chemistry books, but he could not
recall what they were famous for. On a cluttered table, there lay a dusty
Holt Chemistry textbook. Casually, he flipped through the pages until a
picture caught his eye. It was identical to a large framed picture in the
front of the lab. The caption said Dmitri Mendeleev.
Mendeleev sounded familiar! He remembered that Mendeleev was
considered the father of the periodic table of elements, which he recalled
is a table that organizes elements by certain properties as a reference.
The version of the table he saw in the book was labeled “original
version,” and did not look very similar to the one he remembered from
class. There were more elements and different orders. He read on to
find out that Johann Dobereiner was the first to separate elements into
families by atomic weight. What was atomic weight? John Newlands,
he read, first ordered the periodic table by the law of octets. Adam
desperately searched to find out what the Law of Octets was. Flipping
to the glossary, he discovered that the Law of Octets was a pattern
discovered by Newlands that stated elements with similar chemical and
physical properties can be found eight places away on the periodic table.
Moseley, he read on, was a brilliant scientist who rearranged the
periodic table into atomic order. The most recent groundbreaking
scientist in the book was Glen Seaborg, who named the heaviest
elements the actinide series, which allowed them to be put in their
proper place on the periodic table. Adam did not know where the
actinide series was. He did know that snooping in this lab was sketchy
business, though. He decided he had picked up a false trail and began to
leave.
As he was leaving, he noticed a large periodic table on a desk with
a small dot on it, but before he could investigate, Adam was given the
biggest shock in his life when he heard Ponita cry loudly. It startled him
so much, he backed straight into a large switch. He tried to turn the
switch back off but it would not budge. Lights started filling the room.
A strange whirring sound filled the air, drowning out Ponita’s cries.
Adam looked to the left and saw a giant shrink ray staring him down and
glowing.
Part 2: Adam and the Atoms
By then it was too late. An enormous red beam shot out of the ray
hitting Adam square in the chest. It hit with such a force that it knocked
Adam back onto the table with the large periodic table. As the beam
poured into his body, he became numb to everything. It was a strange
sensation of shrinking. The world seemed to pass in epochs, though it
was only a minute or two. Adam felt himself diminish compared to the
world, but it was too much. Adam faded out of consciousness.
When he awoke, he had no recollection of where he was. He
rolled over to find a wiry haired scientist staring at him through thick,
circular, wire framed glasses. He donned a white lab coat, and it looked
like he had not seen a good shower in a long time. He grinned at Adam,
which revealed his stained, fragmented teeth. He looked to be a man
with very little influence of anywhere but this small, secluded, basement
lab.
“I have a guest!” cried the ‘mad’ scientist. He rushed to and fro as
if looking for something. Adam rolled over to see the surface he was on.
It was filled with what seemed to be deep crevices, but he realized he
was just on the table he landed on. Except he was very, very, very tiny.
“What happened to me?!?” Adam shouted. He knew full well, but
denial had set in.
“You stumbled into my little lab, son. For what purpose you felt it
necessary to break into my home is beyond even my knowledge.
However, I thank you. I too, in my experimentation with atomic theory
shrunk myself and--”
“Whoa whoa whoa,” Adam interrupted, “I was not doing anything
scientific here. I am just a lonely zoo keeper who stumbled in here
chasing a zebra!”
The scientist shot Adam a strange glance, as if he wasn’t strange
himself. “A zebra you say?”
“Yes a zebra. Her name is Ponita.”
“Well I have no intention of letting a wild animal run loose in my
laboratory. However we have no choice.”
“No choice?” Adam questioned. “You mean to say you can’t bring
us back to full size?”
The scientist replied, “About two months ago, I had a brilliant idea.
I would construct a very small periodic table made of the elements
themselves, each of microscopic proportions. I decided on finding just
barely enough to be seen with the naked eye. To do this, I would have
to be microscopic myself. I fired up the shrink ray. However, in my
haste, I forgot to make provisions to return to normal size.”
“So we’re stuck?”
“Yep.”
“This is awesome,” said Adam.
“It certainly is,” replied the scientist. “I have something to show
you. Follow me.”
It felt as if the two walked for an eternity. They traversed the table
top until they reached the periodic table Adam had noticed laying on the
table prior to shrinking.
It was entirely different when small. He had not noticed the
collection of the certain element on each square of the table. Adam was
amazed at the painstaking work it must have taken the scientist to collect
all of this.
“Would you like to learn more about the periodic table and its
everlasting fountain of knowledge?” asked the scientist.
“Does it look like I have anything better to do?” asked Adam.
“Good. First, I must ask you, do you know the types of elements?”
“Nope.”
“Well, there are three main types of elements: Nonmetals, Metals,
and Metalloids.” The scientist pulled out a map of sorts that he presented
to Adam to better explain the location of the groups. It looked like this:
“These types of elements are based on their physical properties, or
how they act physically. For instance, metals usually conduct
electricity, have some luster, are malleable, and are dense. Non-metals
usually aren’t solids and are just the opposite. Metalloids have
characteristics pertaining to both groups.”
“That is some impressive organization,” said Adam.
“Ah, young man, that is only scratching the surface. The periodic
table is also organized by atomic number, or how many protons one
atom of the element has. It is organized into periods and groups.
Periods are the rows. Groups are the columns. Elements in the same
group have the same number of valence electrons.”
“Valence eh what a wha?”
“Valence electrons are the electrons in the outer shell of the atom.
For instance, each element in group one has one valence electron, group
two has two, group thirteen has three, fourteen four, and so forth until
eighteen. The Transition Metals, groups three through twelve are
different and do not follow the Octet rule.”
“What the heck is the octagon rule?”
“Forgive me. I got ahead of myself. The Octet rule states that the
maximum number of valence electrons is eight, which would make the
atom fat and happy. Atoms try to combine to become fat and happy, or
in other words to gather eight electrons. This is what makes compounds.
The Octet rule states that the fewer electrons an atom has, the more
reactive it becomes. So this means that the more reactive elements come
in the…?”
“Lower numbered groups!”
“Precisely my dear boy. This is also why certain elements are in
that group. For instance group one is named the Alkali metals, and are
very reactive. They react very aggressively with group 17, or the
halogens. Do you know why this could be?”
“Is it because group 17 has 7 electrons and only needs that one to
become full?”
“Correct. When halogens and alkali metals combine, they form
what are called ionic salts.”
“Is table salt an ionic salt?” asked Adam.
“Good question. Table salt is denoted as NaCl, or Sodium
Chloride. This means it is a combination of Sodium and Chlorine.
Sodium is an Alkali Metal and Chlorine is a Halogen.”
“Sweet salt!” cried Adam ironically.
The scientist gave Adam a strange look, but the strange look faded
into a crescent smile, for he knew he had Adam hooked on atomic
science. He went onto explain to Adam about how naturally full
elements were called noble gasses and were in the final group, and how
unreactive they are. He also told Adam how we could predict the charge
of an ion, whether the element is more likely to lose or gain an electron,
whether it is naturally closer to empty or full respectively. This is called
an ionic charge. Adam was instantly hooked on the Octet rule. He
explained how the metals were useful for everything and why carbon
was so useful.
“This is all fine and dandy,” said Adam, but what about the
periods?”
“Ah yes, the periods. The periods are numbered one through
seven. This denotes how many energy levels there are, or in what
energy level the valence electrons are in. You can tell where the valence
electrons are by the period number.”
“This is amazing,” cried Adam, “but how do you keep track of all
of this information.”
“We have a system in the scientific world called electron
configurations,” stated the scientist. “There are four types of orbitals,
which are the shapes the electrons could be in. They are denoted as
S, P, D, and F. An S orbital can have two electrons, P can have 6, D 10,
and F 14.”
“How can you tell?” asked Adam.
The scientist turned to the periodic table and pointed out that the
blue on the table was the S block. It could only hold two electrons
because it occupied two groups. P block was the same, where it could
hold only hold 6 electrons because it only occupies 6 periods. It was the
same pattern with the greed D block and yellow F block.
“Okay, but what does that have to do with electron
configurations?” asked Adam.
“Well, we name the energy block and how many electrons there
are which tells us which element it is. For instance Iron is 1s^2 2s^2
2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^6.”
“Alright,” smiled Adam. “I think I understand that, but isn’t there
an easier way?”
“Delighted you asked,” said the scientist. “We have what we call
noble gas configuration. You name the noble gas before the element and
proceed until you hit the element. Iron, therefore would be [Ar]4s^2
3d^6.”
“Much simpler.”
“Yes,” said the scientist. “Now you are ready for the complicated
stuff.”
“Oh no.”
“Let me explain to you how we determine the size of the atom.
We use atomic radius. Atomic radius is measured fusing half the
distance between the centers of two atoms of a certain element that are
just touching each other. The farther you go across to the left, the
atomic radius decreases. As you go down, the atomic radius tends to
increase. Patterns like this are called trends.”
Curious as all get out, Adam asked what some other trends were.
“Another trend is Ionization energy, which is how much energy
needs to be supplied to take away an electron. The farther you go right,
the more energy it takes because it is closer to being full. As you go
down however it decreases.”
“Wow.”
“For shizzle. Electronegativity is also a basic trend. It describes
how much an atom wants to bond. As you go farther right, it increases
because it is closer to being full, so it wants to bond more, even though
they are less violently reactive. As you go down on the table, however it
decreases.”
“I repeat myself…wow.”
“My favorite trend,” continued the scientist with barely a breath,
“is called metallic character. Can you guess what that means?”
Adam thought deeply until he came to the obvious conclusion. “Is
it how much an element is like a metal?”
“You have learned so much. And can you guess the trend?”
Adam said without missing a beat, “It must decrease as we go to
the right because the metals groups are on the left and the gasses and
metalloids are to the right.”
“Your progression is remarkable,” beamed the scientist. “It is time
for you to fill my shoes, for my time is short. The true reason I have not
returned to full size is because in my old age I cannot handle the
physical stress of the process. I have been biding my time until someone
bright enough came to take the place of this aging scientist.”
Part 3: Adam’s New Career
The scientist removed his labcoat and placed it upon Adam’s
shoulders. Adam just looked at him. A sense of finally finding his place
in the world overcame him.
“When you return to full size, you will know what to do. Continue
my research. Find out more about what this universe is made of.”
Before Adam could muster one sentiment of thank you, the
scientist pulled from under his suspenders, out of a pocket of his
melancholy, tattered collared shirt, a small, grey remote of sorts.
“Thank you. To you I owe my new life,” Adam said.
“And to you mine,” grinned the scientist. “Now go. It is your
time.” His trembling fingers sought out a red button on the remote and
rested upon it, as if at peace knowing his scientific legacy would live on
through Adam. As the button sunk into the depths of the remote he
chuckled, “Feel free to keep Ponita around. Every scientist needs an
assistant.”
These were the last words Adam would hear from the scientist. As
the world began to fade again, he saw a shining glimmer in the corner of
his new friend’s eye which could only be recognized as a tear. Adam at
first felt remorse, but he realized it was not a tear of sadness, but of joy.
Adam awoke with a nudge from Ponita. He was full size again,
and the sun was gently rising over the city. It looked down through the
wells of this basement lab’s window with hope and promise. He
wrapped his arms around his zebra with great joy. The zoo would have
to do without one keeper and one zebra.
Adam immediately set to work. He would set out to find every
periodic trend and property an element could have. Chemistry had
replace a good old son with a new one.
Somewhere deep inside, Adam knew the scientist had given him a
rebirth in science. Somewhere deep inside, the scientist knew that Adam
would soon hear, “And the Nobel Prize goes too…”
FIN