[Clayart] Elements, isotopes, molecules, compounds

[David Finkelnburg]

Larry,
   You asked about alkalis versus alkaline earths. Here are three different
but simple ways I think about them.
   Potters deal with a total of seven elements from the groups you mention.
Here they are with their chemical shorthand  symbols in parentheses.
Alkalis are lithium (Li), sodium (Na), and potassium (K). Alkaline earths
are magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), and barium (Ba).
   It takes two atoms of an alkali to bond with a single oxygen (O) atom to
form oxides of the alkalis,, while a single alkaline earth atom will bond
with an oxygen atom. Chemically the alkali oxides are thus Li2O, Na2O and
K2O. The alkaline earths are MgO, CaO, SrO and BaO.
   I remember best what I can see. To keep alkalis and alkaline earths
sorted out, I like to look at a Periodic Table of the Elements. In the
first column on the far left are the alkalis. In the next column to the
right are the alkaline earths. Each column has the lightest element at the
top, with elements of increasingly larger mass below it.
   The above groups these elements but does not tell you about their
important physical properties like their melting point, how they affect
thermal expansion in the solid state or viscosity in the molten state.
These and other physical properties are complex and do not necessarily vary
with their position on the Periodic Table.
    Regards,
                   Dave

On Sun, Jul 14, 2024 at 5:48 AM Larry Miller via Clayart <
clayart at lists.clayartforum.com> wrote:

> Thanks for that.  But can you get me to understand alkali vs alkaline
> earths?
> Larry
>
> On Sat, Jul 13, 2024 at 5:42 PM Joseph Herbert via Clayart <
> clayart at lists.clayartforum.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > What follows ignores most of subatomic physics, quantum mechanics, etc.
> and
> > you should too.
> >
> > Chemistry is the science and practice of combinations of whole atoms.
> When
> > we mix up a glaze powder and melt it, we are doing chemistry. Actually,
> the
> > melting is the chemistry; the powder would just sit there unchanged
> > forever.
> >
> > The world, as we perceive it, is composed of tiny particles called atoms.
> > We have found the natural world is composed of 92 different kinds of
> atoms,
> > each of the 92 different from all the others in measurable ways. Some are
> > very light, others extremely heavy.  On an assigned scale the lightest is
> > 1; the heaviest is around 238.  We call the group “elements” and give
> each
> > of the 92 a name.
> >
> > Clearly, we see more than 92 different things when we see the world; the
> > different atoms combine with themselves and each other to make all the
> > kinds of material things we see. The details of how they combine is
> > Chemistry.
> >
> > Aristotle, a Greek person of olden times, had an idea of elements as
> basic
> > things that made up all other things; he said there were 4 elements:
> fire,
> > water, earth, and wind; everything else was combustions of those. That
> was
> > wrong but we kept the idea of a few simple things combining to make
> > everything else. So we have 92 names for “elements” that combine to make
> > the universe.
> >
> > When a couple or a few atoms combine in a particular persistent way, we
> see
> > that combination as a separate thing and give it a name as well. When
> > Hydrogen and Oxygen combine, we call that water, if it is liquid, steam
> or
> > vapor if a gas, and ice if solid. This kind of naming gets us through the
> > day but tells us nothing about the chemistry of water; what is water made
> > of?
> >
> > You can do many things to water and have it remain water but if you pass
> an
> > electric current through it, two gasses, different from each other,
> bubble
> > off the electrodes. Hydrogen and oxygen.
> >
> > We call combinations of elements compounds and the smallest part of a
> > compound is a molecule. Less common combinations don’t have names like
> > “Water”, so a chemical naming scheme, usually intended to convey the
> > presence of all the elements involved, was devised. The combination of
> two
> > hydrogens and one oxygen (water) could be called “hydrogen oxide”. (It
> > could also be called “Oxygen dihydrate” but hydrogen is chemically
> > classified as a metal and the compound would be named by the metal oxide
> > convention.)
> >
> > There are lots of naming conventions about what exactly to call a
> compound
> > to convey as much chemical information as possible. A large portion of
> the
> > elements are classified as metals, having characteristics most people
> > understand from everyday experience with iron, aluminum, and the like,
> and
> > their compounds with other nonmetal elements are named in specific ways:
> a
> > combination of a metal element with oxygen is called “XXXXXXX oxide”.
> That
> > name means the compound contains both the metal and oxygen. Any so named
> > compound contains both (or all) the elements that make up the name: iron
> > oxide, manganese oxide, uranium oxide all contain both the named metal
> and
> > oxygen.
> >
> > Generally, when a metal forms an oxide it becomes less chemically active.
> > Most metals are not chemically stable in the presence of oxygen and so
> will
> > combine. Many ores mined for metal production are oxides of metals,
> stable
> > in nature. However, inside the human body chemical processes occur (we
> are
> > mobile chemical reactors ingesting, inhaling, absorbing chemicals that
> are
> > altered to produce energy) and if inappropriate compounds enter the body
> > they may be processed too, with bad result. Some heavier metals are
> > processed chemically similarly to lighter (normal) metals with sometimes
> > horrible consequences. (Radium is one example)
> >
> > So ends this brief look into the systematic name calling of chemistry.
> >
> > I just put ”isotope” in the title to scare you.
> >
> > Joe
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