Letter to the NSF (WAC) - Mira Pinto

Dear friends of the National Science Foundation,


I have heard that you are having difficulties understanding my friend, Dmitri Mendeleev's work with the periodic table of elements. In this letter, I will help you understand and learn about Mendeleev and his findings. I can try to help explain how various different patterns and different proof to show you why Dmitri Mendeleev is accurate, and his findings are correct. At the end of this letter, I hope you will make the best decision whether to shut him down.

First, I will give you a little background about his life so that you can see how much trouble has gone into his work. Dmitri Mendeleev was born in 1834. He was the youngest in his family. When he was young, his father went blind. His mother's glass factory burned down. Even with all of these misfortunes, his mother was determined that he had to get the best education, so they traveled to St. Petersburg. Just a little bit later, his mother died of tuberculosis, and more of his family had also got this disease. As you can see, his family has faced many problems, but this has not caused Mendeleev to stop learning.

My friend has put a lot of thought and time into his periodic table. He carried around a deck of cards with the element atomic weight and properties. Wherever he went, he brought them with him and kept moving them around to see patterns in the data. Looking at his cards, he noticed that there were some gaps and spaces between the atomic mass. Another story states that he fell asleep on a train from exhaustion. In his dream, he saw that all of the elements were in their places. When he woke up, he wrote everything on a piece of paper. He named it the periodic table of elements.

In this letter, I will try to increase your understanding of the Periodic Table. The rows of the periodic table are called periods. They are arranged by the increasing atomic number (or the number of protons.) This changes the size because there are more protons, neutrons, or electrons in the atom. Periods have different chemical properties, but they have the same energy levels or shells with electrons. The columns are called families or groups. These have similar physical and chemical properties because they have the same number of outer electrons, or valence electrons. They are also called families because they are all similar, but they are not all the same element and atomic number. The periodic table is also organized by metals and non-metals to make it easier to understand.

I assure you that Dmitri Mendeleev is accurate and has been proven before. When Mendeleev created his periodic table, he predicted empty spaces where elements are yet to be discovered would fit in. He also predicted the atomic weight and chemical properties. A while later, the elements Gallium and Germanium were found by scientists Émile Lecoq and Clemens Winkler. These elements fit perfectly into Mendeleev's periodic table, and the information about the element was accurate.

I hope this letter has helped you understand Dmitri Mendeleev's work and that you take this letter into the decision whether you want to shut him down. I know that his periodic table is accurate because the table is constructed in and understanding way. We can figure out where an element belongs on the periodic table by learning more about its properties and features. His work has also been proven when two elements were found. I trust that you will make the best decision.

Sincerely,

Mira
(friend and follower of Dmitri Mendeleev)