History & Alchemists
The ancient Greek word meaning "indivisible,"
Atom!
This dense, positively charged central core of an atom was discovered using gold foil.
What is the nucleus?
The modern periodic table sequences elements strictly in order of their number of these.
What are protons / atomic numbers?
The total number of natural and lab-created elements currently on the periodic table as mentioned in the video.
118
This French chemist famously identified the role of oxygen in combustion while smoking.
Lavoisier
Ernest Rutherford shot alpha particles through this specific type of hammered metal foil.
What is gold?
Neil deGrasse Tyson jokingly compares this unreactive group of elements to a British class-system "gated community" or "snobs."
Noble Gases
Instead of tabletop chemical reactions, scientists use these high-tech machines to smash open nuclei and create new elements.
What are particle accelerators?
The historical group of experimenters who bet on turning base metals into gold, but kept surprisingly good lab notes.
Who are the alchemists?
Chemical properties are not determined by the hidden nucleus, but rather by the behavior of these outer particles.
What are electrons?
In quantum physics, elements repeat their properties because their outer shells are built by fitting these mathematical shapes into orbitals.
What are waves / wave dualities
The year the New York Knicks last won a championship, which is NDT's favorite historical marker for when new elements were discovered.
1973
The four ancient elements imagined by the Greeks that didn't make it into classic rock music.
Earth, Wind, Fire & Water
The approximate percentage of alpha particles that passed straight through the gold foil without any interaction.
99%
The 92nd natural element on the periodic table, marking the end of naturally occurring elements found on Earth
Uranium
The scientific term for why rows repeat across the table, reflecting the repeating nature of electron configurations.
What is periodic