Chemistry is Confusing, and Has Been for Centuries
/Did you know chemists in the 1700-1800’s were confused by the elements they were discovering? How are they related? How can they be organized?
Even for chemists, chemistry is a difficult subject! Chemistry is confusing!
Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev grew up in a Siberian household around 16 brothers and sisters, so he knew a thing or two about confusion!
In 1869 Mendeleev sat down and made flash cards of all 65 known elements. Surely there is a way to organize the elements in a pattern or chart!
He sat for hours at his desk moving the flash cards around, until he fell asleep. He awoke with the answer! Here’s what he said:
In a dream I saw a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.
We cannot succeed in school by sleeping on our notes.
Chemistry is hard. Chemistry is tough. Chemistry is a difficult subject.
And, in reality, Mendeleev had been pondering the order of the elements for over 20 years. See, it takes work to learn or create something!