Most people remember the periodic table of the elements for its fusty iconography - a lopsided grid of abbreviations that symbolizes all the matter in the universe while evoking the aroma of chalk dust. Philip Stewart, an Oxford ecology professor, thinks that’s because despite the power of its contents, the venerable table is too utilitarian. "It has no beauty, nothing to stir the imagination," he says. And it has errors: Why is hydrogen mixed in with reactive metals like sodium? So Stewart has joined the long line of scientists who’ve tried to improve on Dmitri Mendeleev’s original 1869 design. The British prof’s Chemical Galaxy - modeled after Andromeda - is a colorful, counterclockwise spiral. Each arm charts a group of chemically similar elements, and at its center sits neutronium, which is so heavy it exists only in neutron stars and Star Trek. Why should you care about the elements again? Because these 100-odd ingredients account for everything in our galaxy - from Hummers to McGriddles to this magazine. Besides, Stewart’s take is darn pretty.
- Greta Lorge
credit é P. J. Stewart 2004/Graphics by Born Digital, Published by sciencemall-usa.com
credit (clockwise from top left): Mehau Kulyk / Photo Researchers, Inc.; joseph donahue; deskTopper version of the Alexander Arrangement of the Elements, periodictable.com; Purvi Shah/NYC, www.purvidesign.com
Clockwise from top left: the colorized classic; Fernando Dufourés 1990 ElemenTree; the 1994 Alexander Arrangement; a 2004 design by Purvi Shah.
START
Why’s Everyone Standing Around?
6 Factory Tours to Write Home About
The Elements Get Some Style
