Chapter 13

Chapter 13

      The thirteenth chapter begins with Kean reinforcing history's importance to chemistry, but also explaining that money has continuously dictated science in nearly every way. He starts talking about myths. He focuses on the Midas' touch, or the golden touch, and the lost city of gold. The myth of Midas' touch was likely a misunderstanding that resulted from Midas' kingdom use of brass, which appears more golden then the bronze that was in use at the time. The lost city of gold is used as a jumping point to describe humanity's odd obsession with gold and the measures they will take to find it. Hannah's Find was the site of a gold rush that, like many gold rushes, was hectic and dangerous. It is viewed as the first gold rush instigated by "fool's fool's gold." Cavalrite was seen as a useless mineral until they learned that could extract the gold from it rather easily. The chemical formula for fool's gold, or pyrite, is FeS2.
     Kean begins to detail the history of counterfeiting, from the 6th century BC to the present day. Isaac Newton himself became the master of the Royal Mint of England in the late 1600s and prosecuted many counterfeiters. The introsuction of paper money made it far more difficult for people to counterfeit money, as knowledge of metalworking was far more widespread in that era. Kean admits that the reverse is true today, as there are many people that could make a passable dollar bill but not many who could make a coin. Kean begins to explain how electron behavior has been instrumental in the euro's security from counterfeiting. A special laser shows images on the euro (which contains europium) that show whether or not the bill was created by the European Union. An interesting thing that Kean notes is that aluminum was far more valuable than gold, despite being the most common metal in the earth's crust. Having the Washington Monument capped with aluminum is a bit anachronistic because aluminum no longer holds the value that it once had.
      I liked that Kean tied fiction to chemistry and explained it like so. As a child, I have always found myself mesmerized by such legends as the lost city of gold and the golden touch, and this chapter really opened my eyes to the human condition and views on chemistry from less scientifically developed societies. I liked how Kean was brutally honest regarding the hilarity of the gold rush at Hannah's Find. I also particularly enjoyed the section about aluminum and found it funny that such a cheap metal was Inc considered glorious and a sign of wealth.
      I learned that at some point in time, the material that conspiracy theorists use for protective hats was a highly prized metal. I also learned that the counterfeiting of currency isn't something new, but something that has persisted since the early days of currency. I would tell my bae that we should learn the secret to counterfeiting euros, move to Germany, and live out our days, happily swimming in our wealth. Then, when somebody gets close to catching us, we will move to an obscure southeast Asian island and live off of our trust fund on a small rice farm.