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The Magic of the Periodic Table 理性之美－周期表

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What makes silicon so useful in computers? Why is it that balloons filled with helium can float up to the sky, while those you blow up yourself fall to the ground? There are no easy answers to those questions, but one magical document can make finding the answers less difficult – the periodic table of the elements!

什么东西让硅在计算机里这么有用？为什么充满氦气的气球会飞上天，而我们自己吹的气球却掉到地上？这些问题的答案不太简单，但有个神奇的文件可让我们较容易找到答案，那就是「元素周期表」。

For most of human history, scientists had tried to seek a simple way to organize information about the Earth’s elements.Prior to the 19^th century, the most common way to sort the elements was by atomic weight. During the 1860s, Russian chemist Dmitri I. Mendeleev theorized that other properties, like the number of valence electrons, were also important. To find similarities among the elements, he wrote the properties of each on a card and lined those cards up on his floor. Ignoring their atomic weight, he chose instead to focus on the atomic structure of each element. The resulting table was organized by columns known as “groups,” and rows known as “periods.” It is the latter classification that gives the famous table its name.

在大半部人类历史中，科学家试图寻求一个简单方法来组织地球所有元素的数据。十九世纪前，最常见的元素分类方式是依据原子量。1860年代期间，俄国化学家门得列夫（Dmitri I. Mendeleev）提出理论，认为其他特性，例如价电子的数量，同样也很重要。为找出元素间的相似性，门得列夫将每一个元素的特性写在一张卡片上，然后将这些卡片排列在地板上。他忽略这些元素的原子量，反而着重于每个元素的原子架构。这个方法所产生的分类结果便是一张表格，纵列的部分称为「族」，而横列的部分便称为「周期」。此表格也因为「周期」分类方式，称为元素周期表。

Although there were only about 60 confirmed elements during Mendeleev’s time, compared with 117 today, the chemist’s table is timeless. That is due in part to Mendeleev’s sharp foresight. Recognizing that there were gaps in the atomic weight between some elements, he left spaces in his table for elements that hadn’t been discovered yet. Mendeleev was able to predict the weights and properties of those elements before the world even knew they existed! Scientists and chemistry students can agree: Mendeleev’s beautiful little chart brings order to a seemingly random universe!

相较于目前的117种元素，虽然在门得列夫时代已确定的化学元素只有60种，但门得列夫这张元素表经得起时间考验，一部分是归功于他的远见。他认为在某些元素的原子量间还有落差，因此在这张元素周期表里预留一些空间给尚未被发现的元素。在全世界对未被发现的元素一无所知的时候，门得列夫已可预测元素的重量及特性。科学家及修化学的学生都会同意：门得列夫的出色周期表为看似随意的宇宙带来了秩序之美。

−by Michael Karanicolas

Vocabulary

单词发音

prior to 在...之前

atomic [əˋtɑmɪk] adj. 原子的

similarity [͵sɪməˋlærətɪ] n. 相似; 相似性

focus on 集中(于焦点)

confirm [kənˋfɝm] v. 证实

gap [gæp] n. 缺口

predict [prɪˋdɪkt] v. 预测

chemistry [ˋkɛmɪstrɪ] n. 化学

random [ˋrændəm] adj.【物】无规则的

More Information

单词发音

silicon [ˋsɪlɪkən] n. 硅

helium [ˋhilɪəm] n. 氦

blow up   给…充气﹐ 打气 to fill with air; inflate

theorize [ˋθɪə͵raɪz] v. 使理论化, 推理

valence [ˋveləns] n. 原子价

latter [ˋlætɚ] adj. 最近的；现今的

timeless [ˋtaɪmlɪs] adj. 永恒的

foresight [ˋfor͵saɪt] n. 远见，先见之明