Boron, the 20-Mule Team, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery

Boron equals boring? Maybe, but it’s ubiquitous and is literally the backbone element of hundreds of other chemicals in use today—from bleach to rocket fuel. You only thought that it was about the 20-mule team out of Death Valley days? Well, take a seat by the cracker barrel and I’ll tell you a tale...

Phosphorus, which means "light bringer” in Greek, is the “morning star” god of the planet Venus. Mass manufacturing of friction matches using phosphorous ramped up after the 1830s, and factory-manufactured matches were literally made by hand—thousands and thousands per day—the tips dipped into a chemical soup of sulfur and antimony, baked to dry, and finally coated in white phosphorus for the quick strike. But conditions in the match factories were horrible. Which led to the matchgirl strike, which led to unions. All bought to you by the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery Podcast.

In this episode of the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery, we will initially immerse ourselves in 12th-century urine (sorry), then “hops” (beer will be involved) forward to 1669 and the Alchemist, Hennig Brant, who was searching for the philosopher’s stone using urine from a biergarten, and accidentally discovered the element phosphorus (P), which he THOUGHT was the philosopher’s stone because it glowed in the dark and caught fire a lot when exposed to air.

A long-ago family history. Whispers about a man who was also a monster—not the serial-killer kind. But the explosive at-the-drop-of-the-hat temper kind whose wife probably took the brunt of his rage. Then he dies after accidentally consuming a toxic Sulfur-containing chemical that just happened to be in the medicine cabinet at a time when poisoning was an easy way to commit murder.

Rhenium is one of the rarest elements on earth with a very, very high melting point which makes it perfect to strengthen metals used in high heat situation, like jet engines. The problem is that certain fashion choices like capes can get the wearer into difficulties near Rhenium-infused spinning turbines of aircraft engines. Right, Stratogirl?

Pockets are actually a European invention found as far back as the 5000-year-old Neolithic mummy, Otzi, in the Alps. Yet there is an ELEPHANT in the Strontium elemental image that accompanies this podcast. It turns out pockets, Strontium, and elephants are linked by a fashion trend that ended ~1400 years ago. And this connection opened another mystery to be solved…

They are all retired now, some for years, this group of men. Yet because of their long-standing friendship and interests, they still meet Friday nights at the local pub for a pint and to reminisce about the good old days. All that excitement. The adulation of their criminal peers. How ‘bout one more caper for old time’s sake? One that would net them millions of dollars in gold, silver, precious stones, and platinum.

Platinum. “Rare, pure, eternal.” And expensive. A jeweler’s slogan that perfectly describes this periodic table element. Perfect for coins—or so you’d think. But platinum is actually too hard and rare. It is used for wedding rings because it doesn’t wear away as easily as silver and gold. Which brings us back to those jewelers and to a heist that netted everything but the kitchen sink—including a plethora of platinum bars.

What started out as the search for the origin of the police slang, “copper” (Copper badges?), ended up as a poignant reminder of historical pain and resilience of enslaved people during a Charleston, South Carolina archaeological dig.

Research about Titanium dioxide and a lawsuit over the candy Skittles turned out to be less than tongue-in-cheek cute. Instead, let’s stamp a disclaimer warning right up front: the information extracted from extensive reading on this topic is … concerning. Or is it?