Poisons – Page 2 – The Episodic Table of Elements

19. Potassium: An Undeserved Reputation

August 20, 2018

6:00 am

1 Comment on 19. Potassium: An Undeserved Reputation

Bananas, Biology, Botany, China, Gunpowder, Imperialism, Industrial Revolution, Poisons, Salts, South America

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There’s no avoiding discussing the banana in this episode, even though it really doesn’t deserve its strong association with Element 19.

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17. Chlorine: Too High Or Too Low, There Ain’t No In-Betweens

July 23, 2018

6:00 am

2 Comments on 17. Chlorine: Too High Or Too Low, There Ain’t No In-Betweens

Cholera, Dante Alighieri, DDT, Dorothy Colson, DuPont, Environmentalism, Fritz Haber, John Leal, Malaria, Mosquitoes, Nobel Prizes, Paracelsus, Paul Muller, Poisons, Public Health, Purgatory, Rachel Carson, Satan, Typhoid, Women In Science

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Chlorine is an element that causes some extreme reactions, and occasionally inspires some pretty extreme reactions in humans, too.

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9. Fluorine: Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright

March 19, 2018

6:00 am

4 Comments on 9. Fluorine: Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright

Andre-Marie Ampere, Astronomy, Atomic Structure, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Dmitri Mendeleev, Edmund Fremy, Etymology, Fritz Haber, George Gore, Georgius Agricola, Gilbert Lewis, Henri Moissan, Humphry Davy, Ions, Isaac Newton, Jerome Nickles, Knox Brothers, Mineralogy, Multiple Discovery, NASA, Nobel Prizes, Oxidation, Paulin Louyet, Pharmaceuticals, Pliny the Elder, Poisons, Pollution, Radioactivity

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Just try to tally the body count behind the periodic table’s most reactive element, and learn why you should drink it.

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7. Nitrogen: Taking The Good With The Bad

February 19, 2018

6:00 am

3 Comments on 7. Nitrogen: Taking The Good With The Bad

Adolf Hitler, Agriculture, Alfred Nobel, Belgium, Biology, Clara Immerwahr, Ernest Rutherford, Etymology, Fritz Haber, Germany, Gilbert Lewis, Guano, Pharmaceuticals, Poetry, Poisons, Robert Bunsen, Women In Science, World War I, World War II

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Today we meet one man who’s responsible for the death of millions — and the survival of billions.

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