The Disappearing Spoon — Book Report

The title of this book, "The Disappearing Spoon," is a well-known magic trick that I love. The magician uses a teaspoon made of gallium, a metalloid with a low melting point, to astonish the crowds. The gallium spoon will transform into shiny liquid and sink into the hot water if the water temperature is higher than the spoon's melting point. The debunking of this trick attracts lots of readers, including myself.

Here is one of the videos on YouTube which performs this trick.

The book is composed of historical stories that introduce most of the elements of the periodic table, combining history, chemistry, and even physics. It tells readers that chemistry is a part of everyone's daily life.

One of my favorite stories is about a red industrial dye that saved the life of a scientist's daughter. The story took place in the winter of 1935. The daughter tripped down the stairs, and a needle wounded her. She developed a serious streptococcal infection that led to high fever and septicemia. At that time, there was no medication to cure this kind of illness. The scientist, her father, knew that his daughter was about to die, and he tried the only drug that might help — the red dye called Prontosil, a ringed organic compound containing a sulfur atom in that molecule. He had tested Prontosil on mice and found that it really helped kill germs. Then he tried this only drug on his daughter by injection. It was like a miracle — the daughter recovered days after the daily dye shots. This is how the significant medicine, sulfonamide drugs, came to be.

Although I have studied hard in chemistry, I still encounter new and exciting concepts that were once unknown to me. This book not only impresses me but also transports me to a new world beyond belief.