World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
news.st-andrews.ac.uk
World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
1–10 of 24 posts
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#2I hope once it's restored they put it on a wall somewhere beside a modern table so people can see the progress that's been made since.
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#3I hope once it's restored they put it on a wall somewhere beside a modern table so people can see the progress that's been made since.
The chart is essentially the same as in https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Periodic_table_by_Me..., except that there are some more elements filled in. Specifically, gallium was added, and the lanthanides (particularly cerium/lanthanum/didymium) seem really confused.
(Yes, this is before chemists realized that didymium wasn't an element but a mixture of rare earths. Rare earths confused the hell out of chemists at the time, because they are so chemically similar that it's difficult to extract them from another, and they don't sit well in the standard grouping because f orbitals don't play meaningful roles in bonding--hence the chemical similarity).
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#4I hope once it's restored they put it on a wall somewhere beside a modern table so people can see the progress that's been made since.
There are some slides explaining the restoration process:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/school-of-chemistry/event...
If you want to print a copy, I would recommend fetching the high resolution scan of a later edition stored in Library of Kyoto University:
https://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit/kakezu/page/0653.htm...
https://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit/kakezu/large/A207.jp...
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#5Brady Haran (of numberphile/sixty symbols/lots of other channels fame) made a video about this periodic table some months ago, it goes into how it is getting preserved as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eRLeS1UdPo
He also made a video discussing what is on the the table
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#6Anyone know what typeface is used in this table (or modern equivalent)?
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#7I hope once it's restored they put it on a wall somewhere beside a modern table so people can see the progress that's been made since.
There are some slides explaining the restoration process: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/school-of-chemistry/event... If you want to print a copy, I would recommend fetching the high resolution scan of a later edition stored in Library of Kyoto University: https://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit/kakezu/page/0653.htm... https://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit/kakezu/large/A207.jp...
Here is another High Res Version of the St. Andrews Chart.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/scotland/1656624/r...
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2...
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#8Brady Haran (of numberphile/sixty symbols/lots of other channels fame) made a video about this periodic table some months ago, it goes into how it is getting preserved as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eRLeS1UdPo He also made a video discussing what is on the the table https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfC4OGbbHLc
Is there an update on this? I watched the first video and it was fascinating.
Edit: found this updated image after restoration
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2...
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#9> "Treatment to the chart included: brushing to remove loose surface dirt and debris, separating the chart from its heavy linen backing, washing the chart in de-ionised water adjusted to a neutral pH with calcium hydroxide to remove the soluble discolouration and some of the acidity, a ‘de-acidification’ treatment by immersion in a bath of magnesium hydrogen carbonate to deposit an alkaline reserve in the paper, and finally repairing tears and losses using a Japanese kozo paper and wheat starch paste. "
That's a really cool process.
Re: World's oldest periodic table chart found in St. Andrews
#10Still looks better than the $1 million potato photograph
¯\_(ツ)_/¯