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Much Ado about (Practically) Nothing : A History of the Noble Gases

ISBN: 9780195393965 | 0195393961

Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Pub. Date: 9/16/2010

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Summary Table of Contents Author Biography

The six noble gases--so-called because, like the nobility, they do no work--are the rarest elements on Earth. Comprising helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, they are colorless, odorless, invisible gases that do not react with anything and were thought to be unimportant until the early 1960s. Even though research on the noble gases has since resulted in a wide range of scientific advances--even revolutions--this is the first book ever to tell the entire story. David E. Fisher, who has spent fifty years doing research on these gases, ... MOREinterweaves his own work with the breakthroughs of other eminent scientists to show how the noble gases have changed our ideas about the universe, the sun, and our own planet. Fisher, who is also an accomplished novelist, offers a lively account that ranges from the intricacies of the atomic nucleus and the tiniest of elementary particles, the neutrino, to the energy source of the stars; from the age of the earth to its future energies; and from life on Mars to cancer here on earth.

Much Ado about (Practically) Nothing: A History of the Noble Gases is an engaging look at what the recent research on the noble gases can teach us about the composition and history of the earth and our cosmos.

There are eight columns in the Periodic Table. The eighth column is comprised of the rare gases, so-called because they are the rarest elements on earth. They are also called the inert or noble gases because, like nobility, they do no work. They are colorless, odorless, invisible gases which do not react with anything, and were thought to be unimportant until the early 1960s. Starting in that era, David Fisher has spent roughly fifty years doing research on these gases, publishing nearly a hundred papers in the scientific journals, applying them to problems in geophysics and cosmochemistry, and learning how other scientists have utilized them to change our ideas about the universe, the sun, and our own planet.

Much Ado about (Practically) Nothing will cover this spectrum of ideas, interspersed with the author's own work which will serve to introduce each gas and the important work others have done with them. The rare gases have participated in a wide range of scientific advances-even revolutions-but no book has ever recorded the entire story. Fisher will range from the intricacies of the atomic nucleus and the tiniest of elementary particles, the neutrino, to the energy source of the stars; from the age of the earth to its future energies; from life on Mars to cancer here on earth. A whole panoply that has never before been told as an entity.

... MORE

Philosophy and Apology	p. 1
In the Beginning	p. 4
Helium	p. 9
Argon and the Rest	p. 18
Helium and the Age of the Earth	p. 33
The Strange Case of Helium and the Nuclear Atom	p. 48
Interlude: Helium, Argon, and Creationism	p. 59
Meanwhile, Back at Brookhaven	p. 66
Cornell, the Ten-Minute Experiment, and Back to Argon	p. 77
K/Ar and the Irons	p. 90
Interlude: The Spreading Oceans	p. 100
Dating the Spreading Seafloor	p. 112
The Argon Surprise	p. 124
Primvordial Helium and Argon and the Evolution of the Earth	p. 136
Xenology	p. 144
The Coldest Place on Earth	p. 158
Back to the Stars	p. 178
The Neutrino Revolution	p. 193
Life and Death on Mars and Earth	p. 209
Radon and You	p. 229
L'Envoi	p. 241
Notes	p. 245
Index	p. 261
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

David E. Fisher is Professor Emeritus of Geological Science at The University of Miami. He is the author of nine novels and fourteen works of non-fiction.

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