This is a tour through the periodic table. The author is blowing me away with interesting trivia while teaching me chemistry.
Today I learned about the world's most powerful acid, a super acid with a pH of -31, 1032-times more powerful than stomach acid. He then dazzled me describing the properties of boron based carborone (HCB11Cl11) which is simultaneously the most powerful and gentlest acid. Crazy stuff. The book takes the best anecdotes that professors add to lessons to give context or spice, but its just one anecdote after another, none of the dry, difficult and boring stuff. A perfect string of pearls.
From The Dynamic Periodic Table |