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Periodic Table Table

Posted by chrisd on from the and-soon-settees-for-science dept.

Ed Pegg Jr writes "Theo Gray, a co-creator of Mathematica, was originally a chemist. Needing a conference table, he created a Periodic Table using a variety of woods." It seems Theo is missing some elements for the table, in case you have any spare europium (in a proper container, of course) lying about. This isn't Theo's first piece of furniture. It looks like he has left a few spots for new elements, and it is nicely modular, in the event an element is found not to exist.

6 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Should sell these... by rockwellpa · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This would be great for science class.

  2. I hope this thing stands up to the elements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No, not those elements.

    I hope he has a humidity /temperature controled place to store this thing. Pieces that combine dissimaler woods don't tend to last very long due to diffrent rates of expansion/contraction when they are exposed to temperature and humidity changes. They tend to break along the seems.

    That's why you never securely bolt down butcher-block. You just drill an oversized hole and let it float on the stand.

  3. He needs a Lanthanide & Actinide drop leaf by Wee · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It would have been really cool to have the Lanthanides and Actinides come out as part of a "drop leaf" thing. Hell, I don't know what you call it... like the TV tray thing for lazy people attached by articulated arms to the underside on some tables. You could have these sets of elements on such an arm so that you could move them up and out.

    You could also have them make a bi-level sort of table. Just take the two rows and attach them on little dowels to the top of the table at a 45 degree angle so they come up and out. You could set plants on that part maybe. Put some glowing Thinkgeek light strips (or flourescent lights) in the little cubbies, pretend there are rare earths in there, and scare the neighborhood kids. Be a real safe place to hide your stash I bet. Every neighborhood has the haunted house/spooky old man thing. This guy has the glowing radioactive table. "Trick or Treat? Reach in there for your candy Billy..."

    'Course the table is incredibly cool without my Monday morning engineering. Well done.

    -B

    --

    Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

  4. Other periodic tables... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From a recent posting on memepool by urog. I don't think I could have said it any better myself.

    By adulthood, Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements is firmly planted in a typical mind either as a tool for study or proof of mystical forces at work in nature. There are alternative structures: some clever and others using alternate media, extensions to the table providing nuclear structure, fermi surfaces, and line spectra.

    Still others are extraordinarily cross-thematic, merging chemistry with comic books, poetry or haiku. But only the grouping-nature of the columns is retained in rejected elements, condiments and beer. Eventually the elements and the periodic qualities have been lost entirely, reducing the periodic table to a design template for topical lists of funk and rock music, comedy and TV shows, famous mathematicians and presidents, even SGI products. Soon a complete breakdown of the scientific aspect yields no similarity to the original, becoming a glorified table, a marketing tool, or hype itself. There is mounting evidence of a conspiracy.


    1. Re:Other periodic tables... by TheodoreGray · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Funny you should mention Uncle Tungsten.... I built the table under discussion because I mis-read the first paragraph of the chapter where he discusses the "table" in the museum. For about 10 seconds while reading I though he was talking about a horizontal table, not a vertical frame on the wall. By the time I figured out I was confused, it was too late, I knew I had to build such a table. Theodore

  5. Bulk samples of Wierd Elements by Catmeat · · Score: 2, Interesting
    A while back I was looking around for a kilo of Tungsten for a paperweight/curiosity as it seems to be the densest stuff you can get that's neither radioactive nor hyper-expensive. It's 19.25g/cc which is a lot considering lead is 11.34g/cc. A 1 kg block is going to be about 3x4x4 cm. It seems to worth about US$200 a kg.

    Anybody got any ideas where to get some from?