He took a chisel and broke off a few grains of it.
He put these in an empty pickle jar
into which he poured a cup of used battery acid.
Derf read some science fiction,
had been excited by the prospect of cold fusion,
and believed in extraterrestial visits to Earth.
He knew that unexpected discoveries
could be made in the oddest places
and could have big consequences for mankind.
If he could have anything he wished,
was anything too much to hope for?
Wealth? World peace? Flying cars?
An emerald gas evanesced from the pickle jar.
Could this be volatile oxides of osmium?
Derf thought he should name it L. Frank Baumium.
But maybe it was primordial gasium.
Put a gram of gasium in your car
and you’ll never have to fill it up again.
Derf felt an acrid taste in his throat. If he died of it,
he would never know what killed him. But as it was,
he opened his garage door and stood well back.
After this near-death delusional experience,
Prash Derf tested not another stone.
His desire to discover new elements was over.
You cannot measure the melting point of a metal
unless you can put two or more of them together
long enough to heat them up. This has not been accomplished for hassium.
However, some chemical properties have been confirmed by gas-phase experiments.
You cannot measure the melting point of a metal unless you can put two or more of them together long enough to heat them up. This has not been accomplished for hassium. However, some chemical properties have been confirmed by gas-phase experiments.
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