Periodic table of elements
From apm
The periodic table of elements is probably out of good reason (minimal complexity?) not much bigger than it needs to be to allow the emergence of life in our universe. The minimalistic and general nature of our set of chemical elements allows us to use it like a construction toy in other more straight foreward ways than life does.
The great things about atoms from an engineering prespective are:
- atoms do not wear ever
- atoms have no tolerances - they are completely indistinguishable (same isotope)
- atoms are soft/comliant - assemblies can be bent a lot
- interatomic bonds are strong - materials can be very strong
One could say that these properties of atoms makes the periodic table like the ultimate construction toy.
Related
[todo: add an image of the periodic table with highlighted elements of interest]
