The middle school science teacher was quick to point out that the demonstration was one of the most interesting and effective chemistry lessons that had ever been presented in class.
When your 13 year old daughter came to ask you if she could go through your tools in the garage you did not really thing much of the request. When you later found her looking on the internet for matching pictures of many of the tools that she had collected, however, you had to ask her a few questions. She explained that her middle school chemistry unit had given her the opportunity for an extra credit assignment that involved bringing in items that represented the elements of the periodic table. Obviously, she explained you simply could not find some of the elements. Some of the other more common elements, she continued, were so lame that finding them had not even been a challenge. Instead, for her project she started researching the elements that were neither impossible to find nor too common. She landed on an interesting article about beryllium copper tools.
She wanted to know if your tool box included any of these, but she was unfortunately discovering that the beryllium copper tools were not what was commonly found in the typical home toolbox. Once you started researching with her, however, you realized that you had some friends who were more than weekend repair warriors who might actually have some of the things that she was looking for. The end result was heavy and cumbersome, but the selection of tools that you helped her find had turned into a pretty intriguing scavenger hunt. In fact, your daughter’s intrigue with tools that were scientifically proven to be stronger and more effective because they used elements from the periodic table has turned into an interest that she wants to pursue this summer. On her own, with no prompting from either yourself or your wife, your daughter has found an engineering summer class that she wants to register for.
In the process of comparing beryllium copper tools to aluminum bronze tools your daughter developed an interest in a career that is screaming for young girls right now, and it all started as an extra credit assignment for a middle school chemistry unit!
Some of the Strongest Tools in the Industry Rely on the Basic Elements Found on the Periodic Table
From plate clamps to purging equipment for welding, the vast array of tools that are used by professional welders, licensed construction workers, and certified electricians rely on the strength of elements that many of us first learned about in our middle and high school science classes. For instance, you may have at one time learned that beryllium copper is the hardest and strongest of any copper alloy, but today many professionals know that this combination of elements creates a tensile strength of 1280 to 1480 MPa. Knowledge about how the elements from the periodic table are applied in our world, however, is not limited to construction sites. For instance, non-magnetic titanium is 100% safe for use with bio-medical or diagnostic imaging machines like MRIs, and has become a standard in this health sciences industry.
We live in a time when the professional skill of welding does not always attract as many interested workers as are needed, but maybe if the engineering majors in this country continue to peak the interest of young science students that can change. From purge monitors to non magnetic tools, a variety of careers and industries make use of the technology and tools that are developed from the knowledge of the periodic table.