29 February 2012

The Periodic Table Table - finally!

Back in the day when I was a science geek (my brain has obviously atrophied in that respect) I was in an advanced high school option for chemistry. It allowed me to attend a University of Calgary chemistry class while still in grade 12. Actually, the project was to work with the professor and my science partner, Anne Kondo, to build a physical representation of the periodic table. We studied the different properties of the elements, researched some of the storage issues that would need to be considered and worked on a physical design of the layout to house these elements. And in between working on this, we prepared solutions, cleaned beakers, and attended the first year class. We never did see our display through to fruition - the semester ended and we had had more problems than we could address in the one term but I always remember the fun we had leaving Sir Winston Churchill to "play" at being research assistants and University students.

After high school, I was still thinking about pursuing Chemistry, or Chemical Engineering, as a profession. At least that was until I ended up in my first year Chemistry class at the University of Lethbridge. It ended there. On a broken chair in the largest lecture hall, I lost my love of science. But that is a different story.

Today, as I was going through my Google reader, I came across Theo Gray and his Periodic Table Table. And I remembered how much fun high school chemistry was all over again. Our table was white - we did get it built, and it had tiers. It was "spacey". This one is beautiful. I'm glad I found this. It makes me happy.

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