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A short history of nearly everythingThe actual number is slightly contentious because the heavy, synthesized elements exist for only millionths of seconds and chemists sometimes argue over whether they have really been detected or not. In MendeleyevБЂ™s day just sixty-three elements were known, but part of his cleverness was to realize that the elements as then known didnБЂ™t make a complete picture, that many pieces were missing. His table predicted, with pleasing accuracy, where new elements would slot in when they were found. No one knows, incidentally, how high the number of elements might go, though anything beyond 168 as an atomic weight is considered БЂњpurely speculative,БЂ«but what is certain is that anything that is found will fit neatly into MendeleyevБЂ™s great scheme. The nineteenth century held one last great surprise for chemists. It began in 1896 when Henri Becquerel in Paris carelessly left a packet of uranium salts on a wrapped photographic plate in a drawer. When he took the plate out some time later, he was surprised to discover that the salts had burned an impression in it, just as if the plate had been exposed to light ...» | Код для вставки книги в блог HTML
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