Hunting the Elements Part 1

Hunting the Elements Pt 1

https://weta.org/watch/shows/nova/hunting-elements

Multiple Choice

What was David Pogue's quest?

• To understand the basic building blocks of everyday matter

• To collect a sample of every available element

• To see a gold mine for the first time

Multiple Choice

According to David, how are the 118 unique substances arranged?

• By atomic mass

• In stacks, in a vault

• On an amazing chart

Multiple Choice

According to David, what was one of humanity's first elemental loves?

• Hydrogen

• Gold

• Uranium

Multiple Choice

How are neutrons different from protons and electrons?

• Positive charge

• Negative charge

• No charge

Multiple Select

All of the gold ever mined would...

• entirely fill the Great Pyramid

• collapse under its own weight

• fit into a single cube, about 60' on a side

Multiple Choice

Why is gold unique among the metals?

• It doesn't rust or tarnish

• It is not very common

• It is very reactive

Multiple Select

The gold in the Cortez Mine is...

• found as big nuggets

• mixed with quartz & silver

• microscopic

Multiple Choice

What 500-year-old process did Gayle Fitzwater and her team perform using a furnace?

• A fire assay

• The lost wax method

• A sand cast

Multiple Choice

According to Gayle, about how much gold is found in 1 ton of rock?

• 1/2 mg

• 1 oz.

• 1 kg

Multiple Choice

As a group, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium are...

• the "noble metals"

• the metals of civilization

• very reactive

Multiple Choice

According to David, 40,000 gallons of sludge will result in how many bars of gold?

• A bar-and-a-half

• 3 bars

• Enough to fill a cube, 60' on a side

Multiple Choice

Each "deceptively" heavy gold bar weighs ____, and has a value of about $1.5 million.

• about 60 lbs.

• 2.7 kg

• 805 g

Multiple Choice

Each bar also represents how many lbs. of rock that had to be moved and processed?

• 1 million

• 10 million

• 100 million

The Sound of Bronze ~ 13 Min Mark

Multiple Choice

When did the ancients first learn how to heat rocks to extract copper?

• 7,000 yrs.

• 5,000 yrs.

• 3,200 yrs.

Multiple Choice

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, a vital hub in the global metals market, what is bought and sold?

• Scrap copper

• Copper & bronze artifacts

• Copper "futures"

Multiple Choice

According to Harriet Hunnable, why is copper king?

• It is valuable

• It is used for "everything"

• It is malleable, & a good conductor

Multiple Choice

According to David, when times are bad, copper prices tumble, when good, they...

• soar

• climb

• rise

Multiple Choice

According to David, why has copper been prized for millennia?

• It is attractive & creates verdigris

• It conducts electricity, is malleable, & has a moderate melting temperature

• It forges strong implements

Multiple Choice

Which element, added in small amounts to copper, makes bronze?

• Gold

• Tin

• Zinc

Multiple Choice

____ Bronze, the first man-made metal alloy, helped to create global trade, and once forged into tools and weapons, played a defining role in...

• A) peacemaking efforts

• B) alchemy

• C) the empires of antiquity

Multiple Choice

Why does the Verdin Company of Cincinnati still choose bronze for casting bells?

• It doesn’t rust

• No modern materials are available

• The sound, the lasting ring

Multiple Choice

Which feature of metals allows conductivity and flexible metallic bonds?

• Hardness & resistance

• A “sea” of randomly moving electrons

• Atoms arranged in orderly rows & columns

Multiple Choice

Why aren’t Verdin Co. bells made just out of copper?

• The bells would be too expensive

• The bell would be too soft, & wouldn’t give off the desired sound

• Tradition demands bronze, not copper

Multiple Choice

Although no one is certain why the Liberty Bell cracked, what did a chemical analysis indicate?

• There was too much tin

• The arrangement of atoms

• Aluminum was used in the bell

Multiple Choice

What is the proper temperature for pouring bronze?

• 450° F

• 1,984° F

• 2,200° F

Multiple Choice

According to David, bells can fail because bronze remains…

• resonant

• unpredictable

• inflexible

Atomic Zoom ~26 Min Mark

Multiple Choice

To understand the scale of the microscope, imagine floating in space 2,000 mi above the earth looking down at the United States. Zooming in 100 million times would allow you to pick out not just a car, but…

• an alien surface

• a bug crawling in the grass next to it

• a little sign saying “Welcome to Whoville”

Multiple Choice

What does the bronze reveal under the microscope?

• Molecules

• Sediments

• Grains

Multiple Choice

How did scientists discover that metals are crystals with an orderly arrangement of atoms?

• Super-sensitive assays

• Immersion in liquid metal mercury

• By bombarding with x-rays

Multiple Choice

To David, what was “amazing” about the microscope?

• It was able to show actual atoms

• It filled a room

• It was super-sensitive to vibrations

Multiple Choice

According to David, Muller’s lab has successfully captured other atoms in gold, computer chips, oxygen, powerful magnets, and even…

• hydrogen

• glass

• graphite

The Periodic Table ~32 Min Mark

Multiple Choice

The interior of an atom is ____ times smaller than the outer boundary.

• 2,000

• 10,000

• 100 million

Multiple Choice

If a hydrogen atom were enlarged to be 2 mi wide, what size would the single proton in its nucleus be?

• About the size of a city block

• About the size of a stadium

• About the size of a golf ball

Multiple Choice

The number of ____ determines what element an atom is.

• protons

• electrons

• neutrons

Multiple Choice

How is author Theo Gray’s version of the periodic table unique?

• It has 118 elements

• It’s a periodic “table table”

• It is made of elements

Multiple Choice

What is Au, the symbol for gold, based on?

• The gold tint of the aurora

• Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar

• The Latin name aurum

Multiple Choice

How much of the table are metals?

• 30%

• 70%

• 100%

Match

Match each element to its familiar form: Calcium, Bismuth, Bromine, Uranium

• Bone

• Orange Fiesta ware

• Soda

• Stomach medicine

Calcium

Uranium

Bromine

Bismuth

• Calcium

• Uranium

• Bromine

• Bismuth

Multiple Choice

From about 90 elements, nature and humans have derived millions of substances.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Mendeleev distinguished elements by...

• atomic number

• atomic weight

• property

Multiple Choice

When 19th century scientists labeled oxygen as 16, what were they comparing it to?

• Hydrogen

• Elements of similar properties

• Other even numbered substances

Multiple Choice

Mendeleev also arranged elements by...

• atomic number

• atomic weight

• family

Match

Match the elements with their descriptions:

• Explode in water
• Less metallic, some conduct electricity
• More volatile
• Safe to handle
• React with water

Lithium, sodium potassium

Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen

Oxygen, Fluorine

Nickle, iron, zinc, gold

Calcium, magnesium

• Lithium, sodium potassium

• Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen

• Oxygen, Fluorine

• Nickle, iron, zinc, gold

• Calcium, magnesium

Multiple Choice

What did the gaps in Mendeleev’s chart represent?

• Areas inaccessible to laboratory techniques

• Extremely radioactive substances of short half-lives

• Bold predictions of elements yet to be discovered

Properties of Elements ~40 Min Mark

Multiple Choice

Which group, discovered after Mendeleev’s death, fits neatly onto the end of the table?

• Alkali earth metals

• Semiconductors

• Noble gases

Multiple Choice

What sets gases such as argon and neon apart from other elements?

• They are unwilling to mix or react with other elements

• They can be used to make signs

• They are difficult to store in a container

Multiple Choice

In the noble gases, how are these shells unique?

• They need just 1 more electron to be full

• All the shells are completely filled

• The electrons are in random orbits

Multiple Choice

Elements in the column just before the noble gases, called the halogens, have an outer shell that needs...

• to lose an electron

• just 1 more electron

• more attention

Multiple Choice

How was chlorine gas used in World War I?

• As a deadly poison

• As an agent to purify water

• As an artificial fertilizer

Multiple Choice

According to Theo, chlorine will steal an electron off of the water in your lungs and turn it into...

• effluvia

• edema

• hydrochloric acid

Multiple Choice

How are electrons positioned in the alkali metals, the first column of the periodic table (and which includes lithium, sodium, and potassium)?

• They need just 1 more electron to be full

• All the shells are completely filled

• They have full shells, plus 1 extra electron in a new outer shell

Multiple Choice

Which soft, silvery metal can be sliced like cheese?

• Aluminum

• Sodium

• Natron

Multiple Choice

Sodium plus another lethal element, chlorine, creates which crystal compound that we can’t live without?

• Table salt

• Baking soda

• Sucrose

Multiple Choice

What crucial insight did David get from Theo’s backyard reactions?

• How elements form compounds is all about electrons

• Proper safety gear must be used when working with dangerous elements

• A mad scientist must have a remote lair

Explosively Reactive ~48 Min Mark

Multiple Choice

Which “notorious electron hound” has only 6 electrons in its outer shell?

• Nitrogen

• Chlorine

• Oxygen

Multiple Choice

What is Tim Collister’s job at the EMRTC?

• Blow stuff up for fun

• Demonstrate the explosive capability of common elements

• Train law enforcement & fire professionals in how to deal with dangerous weapons

Multiple Choice

What is one of the most powerful off-the-shelf explosives?

• ANFO

• C-4

• CHNOPS

Multiple Choice

What is the most notorious “fertilizer bomb” ever detonated?

• World Trade Center

• Oklahoma City

• Tavistock Square

Multiple Choice

What does Christa Hockensmith use to do “good work” finding out what causes explosions?

• Spectrograph

• De-ionized water

• “Magic swabs”

Multiple Choice

Christa and David found that “oxygen was at work” in which molecules from the car explosion?

• Carbonates

• Nitrates

• Ammoniac

Multiple Choice

A candle flame, rust, and food burning in our cells are examples of which type of reaction, with the only difference being speed?

• Combustion

• Ignition

• Incineration

Multiple Choice

What is a “relatively slow” explosive?

• A) Gunpowder

• B) Ammonium nitrate

• C) C-4

Multiple Choice

Which type of explosive is C-4?

• Relatively slow

• Military-grade high explosive

• High explosive

Multiple Choice

At 21% of the earth’s atmosphere, oxygen is also the most abundant element in…

• outer space nebulae

• the oceans

• the earth’s crust