What is the importance of the Periodic Table in the book, The Disappearing Spoon?

The periodic table and the elements within it are the main subject of this book and thus arguably form the most important objects in its pages. At the time of Kean's writing, there are known 112 elements. The elements after uranium (element 92) are known as transuranic elements, are not stable, and decay into other elements. Seventy-five percent of the elements are metal, a few are gases, and only two are liquid at room temperature. There are also some harder-to-define elements with amorphous natures and interesting properties. Elements are different from other types of matter because they are the primary components of matter. The elements are important because they make up the nature of our universe; they are essential to both physics and chemistry, but they have also played a significant role in various human-interest stories throughout history, as Kean demonstrates in this book. The periodic table itself it important because the organization of the elements into this visual presentation tells us a lot about their properties and how they are likely to interact with one another to form the material structures of our world.