Much ado about (practically) nothing : a history of the noble gases / David E. Fisher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fisher, David E., 1932-

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gases, Rare.

Gases.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

There are eight columns in the Periodic Table. The eighth column is comprised of the rare gases, so-called because they are the rarest elements on earth. They are also called the inert or noble gases because, like nobility, they do no work. They are colourless, odourless, invisible gases which do not react with anything, and were thought to be unimportant until the early 1960s. Much Ado about (Practically) Nothing introduces each gas and the important work that has been done with them.

Contents:

Contents; 1. Philosophy and Apology; 2. In the Beginning; 3. Helium; 4. Argon and the Rest; 5. Helium and the Age of the Earth; 6. The Strange Case of Helium and the Nuclear Atom; 7. Interlude: Helium, Argon, and Creationism; 8. Meanwhile, Back at Brookhaven; 9. Cornell, the Ten-Minute Experiment, and Back to Argon; 10. K/Ar and the Irons; 11. Interlude: The Spreading Oceans; 12. Dating the Spreading Seafloor; A photo gallery; 13. The Argon Surprise; 14. Primvordial Helium and Argon and the Evolution of the Earth; 15. Xenology; 16. The Coldest Place on Earth; 17. Back to the Stars

18. The Neutrino Revolution19. Life and Death on Mars and Earth; 20. Radon and You; 21. L'Envoi; Notes; Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2010.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-977988-0

0-19-756279-5

1-282-76333-4

9786612763335

0-19-975084-X

OCLC:

664573276