DR Caroline Oprandi: It’s elemental

Science & technology at Portslade Aldridge Community Academy

The periodic table is fascinating. Although the elements in the periodic table are few in number, they act just like the alphabet. By joining together in different combinations, the elements make up all the matter in the known universe. Every element in the periodic table, aside from hydrogen, is essentially created when a star explodes. It is therefore very fitting that most of the elements in the periodic table are silvery/grey in colour.

We really should stop a while and celebrate how far we have come …

The main composition of stars is hydrogen, carbon oxygen and nitrogen, and by no coincidence, so is ours! We are made from stardust. We really should stop a while and celebrate how far we have come in science and technology. Our understanding of the elements is entering a new era, especially as the dividing line between physics and chemistry gets more blurred with the advances in quantum chemistry. If we take the element oxygen, we know that it combines with hydrogen to make water, with carbon to make carbon dioxide, and that carbon, hydrogen and oxygen together make alcohol.

But back in 1774, Joseph Priestley, after warming nitre – potassium nitrate – described what we now know to be oxygen in the following way: “The feeling of it in my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air, but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. Who can tell but that in time, this pure air may become a fashionable article in luxury. Hitherto only two mice and myself have had the privilege of breathing it.”

Here at the STEM centre, we are working on a very exciting project with Dr Kate Howland from the University of Sussex, and with her MSc students. I can’t say too much about it, but our aim is to ensure that no one under our roof ever yawns again when we mention the periodic table!

Follow me: @CarolineOprandi