Schools Receive Updated Periodic Tables From Sandia National Lab

LIVERMORE, CA — Students at two Livermore high schools now have larger, custom-designed and updated periodic tables in their classrooms thanks to a donation from Sandia National Laboratories, lab officials said. Livermore and Granada high schools received the periodic tables that now have the city's namesake element Livermorium as well as Lawrencium.

Livermorium is a synthetic element discovered at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia, while Lawrencium is also a synthetic element named in the honor of Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, which has been used to discover numerous artificial radioactive elements. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry adopted Livermorium in 2012.

The idea to create the tables came from conversations between a Sandia National Labs employee and Livermore science teachers who said their current tables were outdated. Lab officials said the employee thought that providing new tables was something the lab could and should do.

"My own chemistry teachers in college had me memorize the table because the information it contains is so crucial for understanding how atoms interact with each other," Sandia National Laboratories employee Madeline Burchard said in a statement.

Burchard worked with a designer at the lab to create 6-by-4-foot tables and surprised teachers with them, drawing positive comments from teachers and students.

"We are fortunate to enjoy a robust partnership with Sandia National Laboratories," school district officials said. "Our science teachers are grateful to be able to teach with these updated Periodic Tables of the Elements. And our students are excited to see Livermorium on the Table!"

Livermore High School life science teacher Elias Fiadoyor said in a statement that the previous periodic table in his classroom was small.

"This one, students all the way in the back will be able to see it," Fiadoyor said. "I will have to find a way to cover it during exams."

By Bay City News

Photo courtesy LVJUSD