1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 248 The periodic table is wrong! Sodi becomes a god with one article! Bruce's prediction comes true again!
The year 1910 was extremely important for physics.

In the first year after the Bruce Conference, there was an explosion of new achievements in physics, which overwhelmed everyone.

Moreover, each of these achievements is almost Nobel Prize-level and is enough to shock the physics community.

Many young physicists sighed: This turns out to be the golden age of physics.

It's almost unstoppable.

Everyone wants to be that lucky person, to make a big splash and leave his or her name in the history of physics.

Just when people thought that the achievements in 1910 were enough, another major discovery instantly detonated the scientific community.

University College London, Department of Chemistry.

Ramsey, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, is talking to a young man.

"Soddy, have you thought about it? This paper of yours is bound to cause a stir."

"Although you have worked with Rutherford before, this theory is still too bold."

Soddy smiled and said, "Professor Bruce has already raised this question at the Bruce Conference. I just found a suitable theory."

“It’s time to revise the periodic table!”

Although he already knew the result, Ramsay couldn't help but be shocked.

That's the periodic table!
It is the Bible in the minds of all chemists.

Now it is going to be proven wrong.

Sodhi seemed in high spirits.

He had previously worked in Canada with Rutherford before returning to England to work with Ramsay.

After his return, Soddy continued to work with radioactivity.

Since the publication of the element transmutation hypothesis proposed by him and Rutherford, people have continued to prepare new radioactive elements using various methods.

The main method is to separate new radioactive elements from radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium and actinium.

To date, more than 30 new elements have been isolated.

There are so many new elements that there simply aren't enough places in the periodic table to hold them all.

Ramsey exclaimed: "Since Mendeleev published the periodic table in 1869, it has dominated the entire chemistry."

"The elements are arranged according to atomic weight, which is clear and concise."

“I didn’t expect it to be wrong.”

Soddy also exclaimed: "This is the golden age of physics."

“There are so many theories that will be changed.”

“Those who stick to the old ways will be eliminated.”

"I now have great respect for Professor Bruce."

“He had never studied radioactivity before, but he could intuitively discover the irrationality of the periodic table.”

“This is unbelievable.”

"I've also read Bohr's notes. Professor Bruce's words on radioactivity are extremely crucial."

"He said that the moment Rutherford explained the nature of radioactivity, he thought of the periodic table."

"He also discussed it privately with Professor Rutherford."

At this point, Sodi suddenly smiled bitterly.

"Unfortunately, Professor Rutherford has always looked down on chemistry. He is too lazy to study the periodic table."

"Otherwise, there would be nothing for me to do."

Ramsey also laughed and said, "That little guy Rutherford is even more arrogant than Bruce."

"I will find a time to let Lord Rayleigh take care of his apprentice."

After saying that, the two laughed.

On October 1910, 10, Nature published another blockbuster paper: "On the Position of Radioactive Elements in the Periodic Table"

In the paper, Soddy first describes the current chaos of the periodic table.

For example, after uranium becomes radioactive, it becomes a new element called uranium X.

After a series of radioactivity, radium also became a new element called radium D.

Chemists discovered that uranium X and thorium have the same chemical properties but different atomic weights.

The relative atomic weight of uranium X is 232 and that of thorium is 234.

Radium D and lead have the same chemical properties but different atomic weights.

Radium D is 210 and lead is 207.

At this point, there are many other similar examples given in the paper.

According to the rules of the existing periodic table, the position of an element in the table is only related to its weight.

Then these new elements cannot be placed in the appropriate position.

Therefore, Soddy boldly put forward a hypothesis: isotopes.

In his paper, Soddy believed that elements with the same chemical properties should be placed in the same position in the periodic table.

This is the concept of isotopes.

That is, a group of elements that have the same position in the periodic table.

For example, uranium X and thorium should occupy the same position in the periodic table.

But this creates a new problem.

This was also the question raised by Ridgway at the Bruce conference.

Since the elements are not arranged according to atomic weight, what rules are they based on?

To explain this problem.

Soddy proposed two more concepts in his paper: element ordinal number and displacement law.

The so-called element ordinal number means that the arrangement of the periodic table is not based on atomic weight, but on the number of charges in the nucleus.

For example, the hydrogen nucleus of a hydrogen atom has a positive charge, so it ranks first.

The helium nucleus has two positive charges, so it comes second.

And so on
And the chemical properties of an element are only related to the number of electrons outside the nucleus.

In this way, the problem is solved.

Uranium-X is actually thorium-232.

Thorium 232 and thorium 234 only differ in weight, but their nuclear charge and number of electrons outside the nucleus are exactly the same, so they have the same properties.

So in the periodic table it is a position.

To distinguish them in the future, just add the atomic weight after the element.

The displacement law states that after an element undergoes radioactive decay, such as emitting an alpha particle, the newly generated element moves forward two places in the element period.

Because alpha particles are helium nuclei.

This is equivalent to the element's element number minus 2 and its atomic weight minus 4.

Based on the concept of isotopes and the law of displacement, Soddy classified natural radioactive elements into three radioactive series.

They are: uranium-radium series, thorium series, and actinium series.

The concept of isotopes explains the position of these dozens of series of elements.

The displacement law explains the changing relationship between them. According to the displacement law, the final product of the three radiation series is lead, but the atomic weight of lead produced in each series is different.

At this point, Soddy's improvement of the periodic table was completed.

Once the paper was published, it instantly caused a huge sensation in the chemical community!
The periodic table is wrong?
Countless chemists felt like the sky was falling.

The theory they have regarded as the golden rule for decades is now wrong.

No one can accept this fact.

“Oh my God, physics and biology have undergone tremendous changes, and now it’s finally chemistry’s turn?”

"My PhD thesis is about the periodic table, so I have to start all over again, right?"

"It's hard to imagine that the periodic table will be overturned one day."

After Mendeleev published the periodic table, scientists at the time placed it in the highest position.

It is believed that this, like the discovery of Neptune with a pen, is the highest manifestation of human wisdom.

It shows mankind's conquest of the laws of nature.

How could such a great theory be wrong?
It's okay to have a problem.

Soddy's thesis is so well-founded that it is impossible to refute it.

It can be said that it is the development of physics that has led to various problems in the periodic table.

Now it is just a concentrated outbreak.

All the bigwigs who attended the first Solvay Chemistry Conference congratulated Soddy on his discovery.

From then on, chemists truly had their own theories.

Instead of relying on the charity of physicists.

And Sodi also became a god with this achievement!
He became a super boss in the field of chemistry.

In real history, the concept of element ordinal numbers and the law of displacement were actually first discovered by Bohr.

But at the time he was working under Rutherford.

Therefore, publication of the paper requires Rutherford's consent.

After Bohr showed his conjecture to Rutherford, the latter said: Don't make groundless conjectures.

Moreover, Rutherford himself always looked down on chemistry, and he did not want his students to be stuck in chemistry all day long.

Therefore, Bohr's paper was never published.

Later, Sodi got there first.

As a result, Bohr lost the opportunity to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

However, all this is not important to Bohr.

Unlike the shock in the chemical community, the physics community seemed relatively calm about this matter.

Soddy's achievements, after all, are the derivative of physics in chemistry.

He did not discover any new physical phenomena or laws; he simply applied his findings on radioactivity to the periodic table.

Then he added his own two conjectures and completed the periodic table.

In the eyes of top physicists such as Ridgway, Planck, and Thomson, this result is mediocre.

It was far from enough to shock them.

In other words, this kind of result is the type that even if Soddy does not publish it, someone else will publish it.

But in the field of chemistry, it's completely different.

Just as creationism means a lot to biologists.

The year 1910 brought too many shocks to people.

Physics, chemistry, and biology, the three most important disciplines in natural sciences, have all produced the most important results.

When people carefully sorted out these results, they discovered a surprising fact.

That is, all the achievements are more or less related to Bruce.

Even Soddy’s work was one of the holdovers from the first Bruce Conference.

At that time, Bruce also clearly pointed out that there were problems with the atomic weight ordering.

Once again, Soddy proved Bruce right.

That man can never make mistakes!

It’s chilling to think about it.

It seems like everyone lives in Bruce's shadow.

He alone represents the entire natural science.

In King's College, Ridgway was walking and chatting with Bohr.

Bohr looked at Ridgway in adoration.

No matter how turbulent the outside world is, it cannot bring up the slightest emotion on the mentor's face.

He is the god in the field of natural science, looking down on all living beings.

Li Qiwei suddenly sighed: "Heroes in the world are like carp swimming across the river."

"This great era has finally begun."

Bohr flattered him: "If Laue, Bragg and others are the actors of the drama, then you, professor, are the director of the drama."

"Everything was done according to your instructions."

Li Qiwei suddenly smiled and said, "Bohr, you have learned to flatter people."

Bohr chuckled.

Seeing Bohr in a good mood, Li Qiwei suddenly asked, "Bohr, how is your work going?"

Bohr smiled and said, “I have just discovered a paper that is most important to me.”

"If nothing goes wrong, my theory should be complete within a year."

"But there are still many details that I need to consult with you, Professor."

Li Qiwei said: "Bohr, don't worry."

“The great era has begun, but the real protagonist has not yet appeared.”

"Do you want to be the protagonist?"

After hearing this, Bohr trembled all over and was so excited that he almost lost his composure.

"Instructor, what do you mean by that? What is a protagonist?"

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "He is the one who leads all the geniuses."

"He will be at the center of the future of physics."

Bohr's mouth was dry and he could not help asking, "Isn't this you, my mentor?"

"The development of physics today is proceeding in an orderly manner under your planning."

“All the achievements are inseparable from your influence.”

Li Qiwei smiled knowingly, looked up at the sky and muttered to himself.

"My goal has never been to be the protagonist on stage."

(End of this chapter)