Periodic Table Changes

Source - XKCD

See, it's funny because the periodic table isn't the shape it is because of any sort of design sense. There are all sorts of details that would look or seem better if they were changed, but they can't be changed because they're based on properties, electron configurations, and property similarities - not on what would look neat.

See, the periodic table is appropriately periodic meaning there's a repeating pattern in its layout. In this case there's a repeating pattern in the properties of the elements when the elements are placed in order by their atomic number. Lithium is similar to sodium which is similar to potassium and on down with rubidium, cesium, and francium. With those similarities noticed, the elements were placed in columns with a new row (or period) starting every time those properties repeated.

It would be nice to see helium moved above beryllium, and there are some reasons why it maybe should be moved over there, but there are way more reasons why it belongs in column 18 with the noble gases.

Admittedly, changing the element symbols (iron = Fe but maybe should be I...silver = Ag but maybe should be Sv, and so on) is within the powers of a bunch of chemists if they really wanted to do it, but just moving the inner transition metals so they don't look dorky down at the bottom of the table isn't within the powers of those same chemists because it would require those elements to have different properties and different electron configurations. Those aren't things chemists have the power to change.

Maybe next week I'll rant about all the non-periodic periodic tables that I get shown in the course of my job.

This Chemical Cuts Like a Knife

I appreciate the note at the beginning of the video, "Hoping YouTube doesn't flag my video".

The YouTube algorithm is tricky and must be appeased.

The reactions shown, however, aren't all that tricky.

ferric chloride = iron(III) chloride = FeCl₃
sodium fluoride = NaF
potassium thiocyanate = KSCN

The first reaction, the one that produces the 'blood' is this one...

FeCl₃ + 3 KSCN --> Fe(SCN)₃ + 3 KCl

The 'blood' is the iron(III) thiocyanate. The initial reactants here are slightly yellow (FeCl₃) and colorless (KSCN).

The 'healing' reaction then is between the iron(III) thiocyanate and sodium fluoride to produce a complex ions.

Fe(SCN)₃ + 6 NaF --> Na₃[FeF₆] + 3 NaSCN

The Na₃[FeF₆] is a colorless, complex ion called hexafluoroferrate(III).

I'm not sure what the disposal of the thiocyanate compound is, but the complex ion should be mostly fine for easy disposal.

Source of reaction - link

Pop-Pop Boats Are Weirder Than You Think

I've never heard of a Pop-Pop Boat before, so it's really not any weirder than I thought it was because I'd never thought of it at all.

Turns out the science of a pop-pop boat isn't all that different from the drinking bird. There's a contained amount of gas that is warmer than another amount of gas. That warmness causes the gas to expand and pushes liquid blocking that gas. In the case of the drinking bird, that unbalances the bird and makes it tip over. In the case of the pop-pop boat that liquid pushes the boat forward in a halting way.

Steve Mould's see-through model of the pop-pop boat doesn't, sadly, make the same pop-pop sound because there's no metal to snap back and forth, but it is a great way to see the inner workings of the boat.

Increasing intensity of chemical gradiant

See, it's funny because when you're following a smell, you're going from an area of low concentration of some chemical that your nose can register to an area of higher concentration. You're following a chemical gradient in the direction of increasing intensity.

Thanks, SMBC.