TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Lou Serico: The genius of Mendeleev's periodic table

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The piideroc tblae is ilnttansy recognizable. It's not just in every cmishtrey lab worldwide, it's found on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and shower curtains. But the periodic table isn't just another trendy icon. It's a massive slab of human genius, up there with the Taj Mahal, the Mona Lisa, and the ice cream sandwich — and the table's creator, Dmitri Mendeleev, is a bonafide science hall-of-famer. But why? What's so graet about him and his table? Is it because he made a comprehensive list of the known elements? Nah, you don't earn a spot in science Valhalla just for making a list. Besides, Mendeleev was far from the first pesron to do that. Is it because Mendeleev arranged elements with siilamr properties together? Not really, that had already been done too. So what was Mendeleev's genius? Let's look at one of the first vsirneos of the periodic table from around 1870. Here we see eteemlns dtenisegad by their two-letter symbols arranged in a table. Check out the entry of the third column, fifth row. There's a dash there. From that unassuming placeholder springs the raw brilliance of Mendeleev. That dash is science. By ptuitng that dash there, Dmitri was making a bold statement. He said — and I'm pisaarnhrpag here — Y'all haven't discovered this enmelet yet. In the meantime, I'm going to give it a name. It's one step away from aluminum, so we'll call it eka-aluminum, "eka" being Sanskrit for one. Nobody's found eka-aluminum yet, so we don't know anything about it, right? Wrong! Based on where it's located, I can tell you all about it. First of all, an atom of eka-aluminum has an atomic weight of 68, about 68 tmeis heavier than a hydrogen atom. When eka-aluminum is isolated, you'll see it's a solid metal at room temperature. It's sinhy, it conducts heat really well, it can be flattened into a sheet, stretched into a wire, but its melting point is low. Like, freakishly low. Oh, and a cubic centimeter of it will wegih six grmas. Mendeleev could predict all of these things simply from where the blank spot was, and his understanding of how the elements surrounding it behave. A few years after this prediction, a French guy named Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran dscoreeivd a new element in ore samples and named it gallium after Gaul, the historical name for France. Gallium is one step away from anluuimm on the periodic table. It's eka-aluminum. So were Mendeleev's predictions right? Gallium's amotic wgieht is 69.72. A cubic centimeter of it weighs 5.9 grams. it's a sloid metal at room temperature, but it melts at a paltry 30 degrees Celcius, 85 deerges Fahrenheit. It melts in your mouth and in your hand. Not only did Mendeleev completely nail gallium, he predicted other elements that were unknown at the time: scandium, germanium, rhenium. The element he called eka-manganese is now called ttehencuim. Technetium is so rare it couldn't be isolated until it was synthesized in a cyclotron in 1937, almost 70 years after Dmitri predicted its existence, 30 years after he died. Dmitri died without a Nobel pizre in 1907, but he wound up receiving a much more exclusive hoonr. In 1955, scientists at UC Berkeley successfully created 17 atoms of a previously undiscovered element. This element filled an empty spot in the perodic table at number 101, and was officially named mnelieduevm in 1963. There have been well over 800 Nobel Prize winners, but only 15 scientists have an element named after them. So the next time you satre at a periodic table, whether it's on the wall of a university classroom or on a five-dollar coffee mug, Dmitri mdeelenev, the architect of the periodic table, will be staring back.

Open Cloze

The ________ _____ is _________ recognizable. It's not just in every _________ lab worldwide, it's found on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and shower curtains. But the periodic table isn't just another trendy icon. It's a massive slab of human genius, up there with the Taj Mahal, the Mona Lisa, and the ice cream sandwich — and the table's creator, Dmitri Mendeleev, is a bonafide science hall-of-famer. But why? What's so _____ about him and his table? Is it because he made a comprehensive list of the known elements? Nah, you don't earn a spot in science Valhalla just for making a list. Besides, Mendeleev was far from the first ______ to do that. Is it because Mendeleev arranged elements with _______ properties together? Not really, that had already been done too. So what was Mendeleev's genius? Let's look at one of the first ________ of the periodic table from around 1870. Here we see ________ __________ by their two-letter symbols arranged in a table. Check out the entry of the third column, fifth row. There's a dash there. From that unassuming placeholder springs the raw brilliance of Mendeleev. That dash is science. By _______ that dash there, Dmitri was making a bold statement. He said — and I'm ____________ here — Y'all haven't discovered this _______ yet. In the meantime, I'm going to give it a name. It's one step away from aluminum, so we'll call it eka-aluminum, "eka" being Sanskrit for one. Nobody's found eka-aluminum yet, so we don't know anything about it, right? Wrong! Based on where it's located, I can tell you all about it. First of all, an atom of eka-aluminum has an atomic weight of 68, about 68 _____ heavier than a hydrogen atom. When eka-aluminum is isolated, you'll see it's a solid metal at room temperature. It's _____, it conducts heat really well, it can be flattened into a sheet, stretched into a wire, but its melting point is low. Like, freakishly low. Oh, and a cubic centimeter of it will _____ six _____. Mendeleev could predict all of these things simply from where the blank spot was, and his understanding of how the elements surrounding it behave. A few years after this prediction, a French guy named Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran __________ a new element in ore samples and named it gallium after Gaul, the historical name for France. Gallium is one step away from ________ on the periodic table. It's eka-aluminum. So were Mendeleev's predictions right? Gallium's ______ ______ is 69.72. A cubic centimeter of it weighs 5.9 grams. it's a _____ metal at room temperature, but it melts at a paltry 30 degrees Celcius, 85 _______ Fahrenheit. It melts in your mouth and in your hand. Not only did Mendeleev completely nail gallium, he predicted other elements that were unknown at the time: scandium, germanium, rhenium. The element he called eka-manganese is now called __________. Technetium is so rare it couldn't be isolated until it was synthesized in a cyclotron in 1937, almost 70 years after Dmitri predicted its existence, 30 years after he died. Dmitri died without a Nobel _____ in 1907, but he wound up receiving a much more exclusive _____. In 1955, scientists at UC Berkeley successfully created 17 atoms of a previously undiscovered element. This element filled an empty spot in the perodic table at number 101, and was officially named ___________ in 1963. There have been well over 800 Nobel Prize winners, but only 15 scientists have an element named after them. So the next time you _____ at a periodic table, whether it's on the wall of a university classroom or on a five-dollar coffee mug, Dmitri _________, the architect of the periodic table, will be staring back.

Solution

periodic
weigh
shiny
chemistry
aluminum
weight
paraphrasing
prize
stare
atomic
mendelevium
element
technetium
degrees
grams
versions
table
designated
solid
similar
discovered
honor
great
instantly
times
elements
person
mendeleev
putting

Original Text

The periodic table is instantly recognizable. It's not just in every chemistry lab worldwide, it's found on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and shower curtains. But the periodic table isn't just another trendy icon. It's a massive slab of human genius, up there with the Taj Mahal, the Mona Lisa, and the ice cream sandwich — and the table's creator, Dmitri Mendeleev, is a bonafide science hall-of-famer. But why? What's so great about him and his table? Is it because he made a comprehensive list of the known elements? Nah, you don't earn a spot in science Valhalla just for making a list. Besides, Mendeleev was far from the first person to do that. Is it because Mendeleev arranged elements with similar properties together? Not really, that had already been done too. So what was Mendeleev's genius? Let's look at one of the first versions of the periodic table from around 1870. Here we see elements designated by their two-letter symbols arranged in a table. Check out the entry of the third column, fifth row. There's a dash there. From that unassuming placeholder springs the raw brilliance of Mendeleev. That dash is science. By putting that dash there, Dmitri was making a bold statement. He said — and I'm paraphrasing here — Y'all haven't discovered this element yet. In the meantime, I'm going to give it a name. It's one step away from aluminum, so we'll call it eka-aluminum, "eka" being Sanskrit for one. Nobody's found eka-aluminum yet, so we don't know anything about it, right? Wrong! Based on where it's located, I can tell you all about it. First of all, an atom of eka-aluminum has an atomic weight of 68, about 68 times heavier than a hydrogen atom. When eka-aluminum is isolated, you'll see it's a solid metal at room temperature. It's shiny, it conducts heat really well, it can be flattened into a sheet, stretched into a wire, but its melting point is low. Like, freakishly low. Oh, and a cubic centimeter of it will weigh six grams. Mendeleev could predict all of these things simply from where the blank spot was, and his understanding of how the elements surrounding it behave. A few years after this prediction, a French guy named Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered a new element in ore samples and named it gallium after Gaul, the historical name for France. Gallium is one step away from aluminum on the periodic table. It's eka-aluminum. So were Mendeleev's predictions right? Gallium's atomic weight is 69.72. A cubic centimeter of it weighs 5.9 grams. it's a solid metal at room temperature, but it melts at a paltry 30 degrees Celcius, 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It melts in your mouth and in your hand. Not only did Mendeleev completely nail gallium, he predicted other elements that were unknown at the time: scandium, germanium, rhenium. The element he called eka-manganese is now called technetium. Technetium is so rare it couldn't be isolated until it was synthesized in a cyclotron in 1937, almost 70 years after Dmitri predicted its existence, 30 years after he died. Dmitri died without a Nobel Prize in 1907, but he wound up receiving a much more exclusive honor. In 1955, scientists at UC Berkeley successfully created 17 atoms of a previously undiscovered element. This element filled an empty spot in the perodic table at number 101, and was officially named Mendelevium in 1963. There have been well over 800 Nobel Prize winners, but only 15 scientists have an element named after them. So the next time you stare at a periodic table, whether it's on the wall of a university classroom or on a five-dollar coffee mug, Dmitri Mendeleev, the architect of the periodic table, will be staring back.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
periodic table	4
atomic weight	2
solid metal	2
cubic centimeter	2
nobel prize	2

Important Words

aluminum
architect
arranged
atom
atomic
atoms
based
behave
berkeley
blank
boisbaudran
bold
bonafide
brilliance
call
called
celcius
centimeter
check
chemistry
classroom
coffee
column
completely
comprehensive
conducts
cream
created
creator
cubic
curtains
cyclotron
dash
de
degrees
designated
died
discovered
dmitri
earn
element
elements
emile
empty
entry
exclusive
existence
fahrenheit
filled
flattened
france
freakishly
french
gallium
gaul
genius
germanium
give
grams
great
guy
hand
heat
heavier
historical
honor
human
hydrogen
ice
icon
instantly
isolated
lab
lecoq
lisa
list
located
mahal
making
massive
melting
melts
mendeleev
mendelevium
metal
mona
mouth
mug
mugs
nah
nail
named
nobel
number
officially
ore
paltry
paraphrasing
paul
periodic
perodic
person
placeholder
point
predict
predicted
prediction
predictions
previously
prize
properties
putting
rare
raw
receiving
recognizable
rhenium
room
row
samples
sandwich
sanskrit
scandium
science
scientists
sheet
shiny
shower
similar
simply
slab
solid
spot
springs
stare
staring
statement
step
stretched
successfully
surrounding
symbols
synthesized
table
taj
technetium
temperature
time
times
trendy
uc
unassuming
understanding
undiscovered
university
unknown
valhalla
versions
wall
weigh
weighs
weight
winners
wire
worldwide
wound
years