Disappearing Spoon-Chapters 13 and 14

Chapter thirteen's theme was money and how elements relate to it. We all know the story of Midas, the greedy king whose touch turned things into gold. Naturally humans wanted to replicate this insane power so some scientists looked into it and assumed that the "touch" was just zinc in the soil. So they loaded a furnace up with ores; melted them, molded them, and let them cool. It hardened into gold. That's when the city of gold stories came into light and then the gold rushes. A man named Hannan found a place where gold was everywhere. Boom. GOld rush, panic and chaos in an attmept to get rich. This only escalated when it was discovered that gold can be formed inside rocks when it's mixed with tellurium. Now any rock anywhere had a chance of containg gold. After another story or two the topic changes to light,electrons and aluminum. Charles Hall ran an electric current from homemade batteries through a liquid and dissolved aluminum, creating an energry source that was fast and simple. This idea made him quite famous and the chapter ending with talks of the different ways to spell aluminum.
Chapter Fourteen talked about colors of elements on the periodic table. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe challenged Isaac Newton's theory of how colors work in poem which made him scientific credibility limited. And as the write he was, he wrote a novel about marriages are like chemical reactions, which was moderately hilarious sounding. It talks about AB + CD —> AD + BC in that if one couple comes in contact with another couple, the couples will split up and become in a relationship with a person from the other relationship. The lesson I got here was to never double date and to assume everyone is a backstabber. When Kenneth Parker tried to get his family business to make pens is really when the asthetics really came into play. Through trial and error the Parker 51 pen came out in 1941. The pen basically dissolved fibers of the paper which means it would dry faster. I found that kinda odd.  The tip was ruthenium instead of gold, which made it way cooler than all other pens as well. I felt like 14 was a little obsessed with their pen idea but It was not my least favorite chapter so I guess that's a bonus. Five chapters left!