The Lost Elements: the Periodic Table's Shadow Side

摘要

Chalk, salt, and sugar are all white powders, yet very different from one another. What makes them different? Many great minds have pondered the ultimate constitution of matter. Aristotle pointed out in Metaphysics that most philosophers agree that matter consists of some primary principles, elements, but they do not all agree as to the number and the nature of these principles. Aristotle believed that all bodies are made of four principles, earth, water, air, fire, whereas European alchemists, such as Paracelsus, considered all bodies to be made of three principles--sulfur, mercury, salt. The modern concept of the chemical element was articulated by Antoine Lavoisier in 1789 and chemists have been wondering how many elements there are ever since. The hunt to discover new elements has become an integral part of chemistry, and it continues even to this day. Remembering the names of all known elements has become increasingly more difficult over the years: in 1789 Lavoisier gave a list of 33 elements, Mendeleev's first Table featured almost twice that number, and today we have official names for 114.