Making the periodic table interesting is a rather tall order, sort of like asking for a crash-proof version of Windows: sure, it sounds reasonable, but just try it, buck-o. The Periodic Table offers an educationally solid introduction to what has to be one of the most boring subjects in the junior high/high school curriculum, handily meeting the core learning objectives in a rapid-fire overview full of relevant vocabulary (alkaline earth metal, valence electron, diamagnetic), history (the contributions of John Newlands, Hennig Brand and Dmitrii Mendeleev), explication of the table containing the 109 known elements and their chemical compositions, and brief demonstrations of a few chemical reactions (if you put potassium metal into water, for instance, it bursts into flames and zips across the water as if someone has lit a chemical fire under its butt). Exciting stuff? Hardly (which is why I chose "biology" over "chemistry" in high school); still, with a good teacher and a few cans of Jolt, this dense (and rather dry) introduction could prove useful and is therefore marginally recommended. Aud: J, H. (R. Pitman)
The Periodic Table
(2000) 20 min. $80 (study guide included). CLEARVUE/eav. PPR. Vol. 16, Issue 1
The Periodic Table
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