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Chemical Elements D.N. Trifonov and V D. Trifonov CHEMICAL ELEMENTS HOW THEY WERE DISCOVERED Moscow Period* A I B MENDELEEV'S PERIODIC OF TH E ELE MEN 1 H A II B A III B A IV B A Vl 3 Li 4 Be sB eC 7 N " 6.94 9.01218 10.81 12.011 2s2 2pJ 14.0067 2 2l' 2p' ta Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen 11 Na 12 Mg 13 Al 14 Si 15 P 1 22.98977 24.305 26 98,54 30.9737 » 3 3s1 3i* 3.'V Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phoaphorui 19 K 20 Ca 21 Sc 22 Ti 4790 3 j 39.09, 4i, 40.08 , , 44.9559 Jd, W * 30 4S Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Van! 4 29 CU 30 Zn 31 Ga 32 Ge 33 AS J 63 54 65.38 69.72 , , 725» *.24p' 74.9216 | «. , • 3d*°4»2 Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic ,] 37 Rb 38 Sr 39 Y 40 Zr 4| 85.467s 87.62 < 2 88.9059 9,22 5s1 j(> w Ss 4dw Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium 5 4 47 Ag 48 Cd 49 In so Sn 51 Sb i H2.40 mM H8.69 121.7 |j 5..5P- 5.' 5p2 S Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony 55 CS 56 Ba 57 La* 72 Hf 132.9054 137.34 6V _ . 138.905s 5di«.» Hatnium Cesium Barium Lanthanum 6 79 AU so Hg 81 Tl 82 Pb 83 Bi I 20059 207.2 196.9665 «28p2 208.9804 J M'06*' Gold Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth | 87 Fr 88 Ra 89 AC** 104 Ku 105 ff 7 (223J 226.0254 6dW 122') sa.7,2 [2611 Francium Radium Actinium Kurchatovium (NilStKH * LANTHANIDES 58Ce6>! 59 Pr 60 Nd 61 Pm 62 Sm 63 Eu 64& 140.12 so' 140.907 144.24 , , (145) 1504 . 2 151.96 , . 1S/J> 4t36®2 41 6s 41*63 41 6s » Cerium 4r' Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium GadoWi ACTINIDES 2 90 Th 91 Pa 7s 92 U 93Np7l! 94 PU 95 Am 96CI 231.0359 12441 12431 232.0381 238.02 *»' 237.0482 12471 5l3 J Thorium Protactinium Uranium 4 Plutonium Ameridum Neptunium sr Curium > TABLE A VII B A VIII B -s 1 H 2 He 1.0079 „i 4.00260 „; A VI B 3 Hydrogen Helium 80 9 F 10 Ne 1S999< 18.99840 , 20.17. ,j , 20 3 2i>2p< 2sJJp 2 2p Oxygen Fluorine Neon 16 S 17 CI 18 Ar 39M. , 3P3 32.06 3s; 3p4 35.453 3«>3p9 3iJ3p Sulphur Chlorine Argon V 24 Cr 25 Mn 26 Fe 27 CO 28 Ni 5 r 2 589332 z 5870 41 3d 4s' 51996 MU,' 54.9380 M«4tJ 55.84, 3d 4s 3d*4s ium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel 34 Se 35 Br 36 Kr 79904 4p3 78.9, 4>J4p. 4.»4p. 83.80 4(3 4»« Selenium Bromine Krypton lb 42 MO 43 Tc 44 RU 45 Rh 46 Pd 364 4ds5s1 95.94 Ad 5 5a 2 98 9062 4d'5«' 10107 4d'Ss' 102.9055 «»5»° 106.4 Ium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium 52 Te 53 I 54 Xe Sp3 127.6o 5p4 1269045 5,J5(|1 131.30 5,3 5p« Tellurium Iodine Xenon ra 74 W 75 Re 76 OS 77 lr 78 Pt •47, UV 1838s MSg.2 186.207 M*es2 »0-2 5d'ft»2 19222 sd^t' »5.0« Ium Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum 84 PO 85 At 86 Rn 8pj I2<»1 Ss'«p4 (210] s.'«p> (222) Ss>Sp» Polonium Astatine Radon Is 106 107 Atomic number- (601 92 U 7S, -Distribution ot electron* Atomic mass — 236.02 Mi by untitled and following um) completed sublevels 1, 65 Tb 66 Dy 67 Ho 68 Er 69 Tm 70 Yb 71 Lli 6s2 158.9254 162.5o 1649304 168.9342 '74.97 , „ a'41' 2 167.2, 1730 M 4f»8s' 4I"«« VS.' m Dysprosium Thulium Ytterbium 5<1 4f Terbium Holmium Erbium Lutetium n 97Bkr,> 98 Cf 99 ES 100 Fm 10125811 Md 102 — 103(Lr) 7s' 247 125,1 (254] , (256) , , ' > 6d<5," n 12571 (255) 5(„v ' St' 5,»7.' 51 7S? 5I°7.' 5!" saw BerKelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium (Lawrenclum) D.N. Trifonov VD, Trifonov CHEMICAL ELEMENTS HOW THEY WERE DISCOVERED Translated from the Russian by O.A. Glebov and I.V. Poluyan MIR PUBLISHERS MOSCOW /],. H. Tpn<j>0H0B, B. fl. TpmJioHoB KAK EWJ1H OTKPblTLI XMMOTECKHE 3JIEMEHTH Il3AaTejibCTB0 «IIpocBein;eHHe» MocKBa First published 1982 Revised from the 1980 Russian edition Second printing, 1985 Ha anzAuucKOM a.n,ine TO THE READER Mir Publishers would be grateful for your comments on the content, translation, and design of this book. We would also be pleased to receive any other suggestions you may wish to make. Our address is: Mir Publishers 2 Pervy Rizhsky Pereulok 1-110, GSP, Moscow, 129820 USSR Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics c) Il3AaTejibCTBo «npocBeiuPHiie», 1980 c.i English translation, Mir Publishers, 1982 Contents Notice to the reader 9 Introduction 11 Part One Elements Discovered in Nature Chapter 1 Elements Known in Antiquity Carbon 23. Sulphur 25. Gold 26. Silver 28. Copper 29. Iron 30. Lead 32. Tin 33. Mercury 34. Chapter 2 Elements Discovered in the Middle Ages Phosphorus 36. Arsenic 38. Antimony 39. Bismuth 40. Zinc 41. Chapter 3 Elements of Air and Water Hydrogen 47. Nitrogen 50. Oxygen 53. Chapter 4 Elements Discovered by Chemical Analysis Cobalt 61. Nickcl 62. Manganese 63. Barium 65. Molybdenum 66. Tungsten 67. Tellurium 68. Strontium 69. Zirconium 70. Uranium 71. Titanium 73. Chromium 75. Beryllium 76. Niobium and Tantalum 79. Platinum Metals Platinum 82. Palladium 84. Bhodium 85. Osmium and Iridium 85. Ruthenium 87. Halogens Fluorine 80. Chlorine 93. Iodine 95. Bromine 97. Significance of Ha- logen? for the Development of Chemistry 99. Boron 100. Cadmium 101. Lithium 102. Selenium 104. Silicon 105. Aluminium 107. Thorium 109, vanadium HO. 6 Contentt Chapter 5 Elements Discovered by the Electrochemical Method Sodium and Potassium 113. Magnesium 116. Calcium 116. Chapter 6 Elements Discovered by the Spectroscopic Method Cesium 118. Rubidium 120. Thallium 121. Indium 123. Chapter 7 Rare Earths REEs Early History 127. Lanthanum and Didymium, Terbium and Erbium 128. "Ytterbium", Scandium, "Holmium", Thulium 129. The End of "Didymium", "Samarium". Neodymium, and Praseodymium 131. Gadolinium and Dysprosium 134. "Time of Confusion" in the Histo- ry of REEs 135.Ytterbium and Lutetium 137. Lessons of REEs History 138. Chapter 8 Helium and Other Inert Gases Helium 145. Argon 145. Krypton, Neon, and Xenon 149. Inert Gases as Food for Thought 152. Chapter 9 Elements Predicted from the Periodic System Gallium 156. Scandium 160. Germanium 161. Prediction of Unknown Chemical Elements 163. Chapter 10 Hafnium and Rhenium—Two Stable Elements Which Were the Last to Be Discovered Hafnium 167. Rhenium 169. Chapter 11 Radioactive Elements Polonium 174. Radium 179. Actinium 180. Radon 183. Radioelements and Their Families 184. Protactinium 193. Francium 196. Contents 7 Part Two Synthesized Elements Chapter 12 Discoveries of Synthesized Elements Within the Old Boundaries of the Periodic System Technetium 200. Promethium 208. Astatine and Francium 217. Chapter 13 Transuranium Elements Neptunium 233. Plutonium235. Americium and Curium'236. Berklium 238. Californium 239. Einsteinium and Fermium 240. Mendelevium 241. Element 102 244. Element 103 246. Kurchatovium 246. Nielsbohrium248. Elements 106 and 107 249. What Next? 249. Conclusion 252 Notice to the reader The language of chemistry has its own alphabet. Its letters are symbols of chemical elements; the number of combinations of letters, words composed of them, is infinite— the endless variety of chemical compounds. More than four million chemical compounds are known at present and this number increases each week by six thousand. Appar- ently, . this "word-building" in chemistry is a non-stop process. Individual letters or elements are much fewer in number: today there are only one hundred and seven of them. Several thousand years were required to compile the alphabet of the language of chemistry but most of the letters were deciphered only during the last two hundred years. It was during this short span of time that chemistry emerged as a science. All chemical compounds that constitute living and inorganic matter are diverse combinations of eighty-odd elements. The remaining known elements are practically not found in nature. Scientists created them artificially by means of nuclear reactions. More new elements can be obtained in this manner and we do not know how many of them. But it is quite clear that the chemical alphabet is not complete yet. In this book we shall describe how the alphabet of chemistry has been designed and how the inquisitive mind of the researchers discovered new chemical elements, one after another. Books have been written about practically all chemical elements—enough to stock a great library. They describe minerals and ores containing chemical elements, processes of their extraction, physical and chemical properties of the elements, and their uses. Many elements are surprisingly abundant.: they can be used in the widely disparate and unexpected fields for the good of mankind. Almost every element has an important role to plav in today's advanced science and technology. 10 The history of chemical elements begins with their discovery. Although hefty volumes in which elements are described in detail pay very little attention to their dis- coveries, they are a major part of the history of human knowledge. Each element has its own "biography", interesting in its own way. The history of the discovery of many elements has not yet been exhaustively studied and quite a number of unclear issues should be cleared by historians of chemistry.
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