The Periodic Table of Elements ... Up Close & Personal - Eva Varga

When I was in college, I spent a great deal of time on the campus of the University of Oregon.  While I was not a student here, my boyfriend (now my husband) was and I thereby spent a great deal of time with him in Klamath Hall and the Art Library (he liked the intimacy of this library better than the larger Knight Library).  One of the things I remember most about this part of campus was the visual Periodic Table of Elements.  When we had free time in Eugene recently, I knew this was one venue I wanted to share with my kiddos since we had recently spent some time learning a little chemistry ourselves.

I was delighted to discover that the building was accessible in the summer and open to the public.  Prior to our arrival, my kiddos couldn’t quite understand my desire to show them this when I tried explaining it in words.  Once they saw it in person, however, they were excited and very grateful.  They loved finding their favorite elements:  Au, Po, and Ra.  Can you tell we also read a biography of Marie Curie?

I inquired with thestaff as to the specifics regarding the elements on display but to my surprise, no one seemed to know anything.  If memory serves me correct, however, I believe that one mole of each element is on display. A mole is a chemical mass unit, defined to be 6.022 x 10²³ molecules, atoms, or some other unit. The mass of a mole is the gram formula mass of a substance. For example, 1 mole of copper has 6.022 x 10²³ atoms and weighs about 63.54 grams.