# 16
The Elements of Life

Wednesday, 10:00 A.M.                           Winter 2012 (14 Weeks)
Coordinator: Harvey Gonick                   Co-coordinator: Henry Carleton

                  
Course Description

The Russian Chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, is credited with creating the periodic table of the chemical elements, which organizes the 118 known chemical elements by selected properties of their atomic structures. It can accurately predict how elements combine into chemical compounds, and thus has many applications in all fields of science.

The elements of the periodic table contribute in different ways to our lives and to the life of the planet, perhaps also to life, if it exists, beyond our planet. This SDG will examine the roles of several of the elements (not the entire 118) in the sustaining of life,  the toxicity and deficiency of major and trace elements, and in the practical uses mankind has made of the elements. Because this SDG will encompass both medical and non-medical applications, there is no core book, but we will rely heavily on Sam Kean’s recent work, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements.

Topics

1. Orientation to the Periodic Table
2. Essential elements of life-carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur. Acid-base considerations
3. Radioactive elements-their uses in war and in the production of nuclear energy. Nuclear fallout. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Japan
4. Bone and muscle minerals-calcium and magnesium.
5. Elements related to mental health-lithium
6. Elements related to neurodegeneration-aluminum, as in dialysis dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
7. Toxic trace elements-lead and cadmium. “Ouch-ouch disease”.
8. Silicon -its use in the electronic industry and toxicity due to silicosis. Asbestosis and mesothelioma
9. Deliberate rat and human poisons-arsenic and thallium
10. Elements related to anemia-iron and copper; their deficiencies and excesses
11. Mercury-its industrial uses and poisoning. Minamata disease. Hat fur  intoxication.  Controversy about dental mercury
12. Sodium and potassium, the major extracellular elements. Their excesses and deficiency
13. Selenium-its extraordinarily variable distribution in the soil and its deficiency syndrome (Keshan syndrome) as well as excess. Zinc-its industrial uses (such as galvanizing steel). Its deficiency and excess syndromes
14. Chromium-its use in industry and its potentiality for causing cancer-viz, the Erin Brockovich case against  Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in Hinkley, California. Tin-its use in

alloys, including bronze, pewter.

Bibliography:

1.  Kean, Sam. The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. Little, Brown, 2010

2)  Schroeder Henry A. The Poisons Around Us. Toxic Metals in Food, Air, Water.  Indiana University Press, 1974.
3)   Kaku, Michio and Trainer, Jennifer, eds . Nuclear Power: Both Sides: The Best Arguments For and Against the Most Controversial Technology. WW Norton & Co, Inc., 1983
4)   Vablokov, Alexey V,, Nesterenko, Vassily B, and Nesterenko, Alexey V. Chernobyl: Consequences For People and the Environment. NY Acad Sci, 2009.
5)   Medvedev, Zhores A. The Legacy of Chernobyl. WW Norton & Co., 1992
6)   Lippman, Morton, ed. Environmental Toxicants. Human Exposures and Their Health Effects. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009.
7)   Wiker, Benjamin and Bendick, Jean. The Mystery of the Periodic Table. Bethlehem Books, 2003.

Pre-meeting: Wednesday, December 14, 2012, 10:00 A.M.