Chapter 2

Summary: 

          In chapter 2 of the book, The Disappearing Spoon, writer Sam Kean begins speaking about the longest words in the world. At first I am not surprised cause I knew both of the words he brought up because my third grade teacher taught them. He then moves on to the fact that if words can just be put together, then there are words in chemistry that are pact with words. The first words he brings up is the name of a protein, and the name is a lengthy 1,185 letters. After that he moves onto a word that has 189,819 letters and I was just flabbergasted. From talking about the longest words he goes back down to a word that contains forty-five letters. This word has another words inside it that means a lung disease. People acquire this lung disease by inhaling SiO2, or silicon dioxide, which is a key component of glass. 

          Then, while talking about silicon, he brings up two scientists: Bardeen and Brattain. These two men found silicon too brittle and difficult to purify to work as an amp. They decided to use a much better germanium that was loser fit. When talking about these, Kean goes into detail that all of the elements in a column, or group, were similar in properties, but they were very different physically. Bardeen and Brattain end up making a transistor and their co-worker, who was in Paris at the time, rushed home and began taking all the credit. Shockley, the credit thief, ended up winning the Nobel prize with both of the scientists in 1956. In the end, silicon was too cheap and too available and germanium lost its place. 

Reflection:

          This chapter was full of knowledge that was up for grabs. The thing I honestly like the most was how the chapter just flowed. Sam Kean went from long words to silicon to scientists using germanium and then later going back to silicon. I disliked that the chapter was very run-on and I became bored at times. I learned that even doctors will take credit for something they did not take part in and that saddens me. If I was going to tell bae one interesting fact it would probably be that there was a word that contained 189, 819 letters because then I would crack a cheesy joke like "The word feels eternal, like our love."