<![CDATA[Carol Potenza: Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery Podcast]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/s/periodic-table-of-death-and-mystery3b3https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-TQb!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3a56066-8fc9-4d3b-ab6f-3593c208ddba_193x193.pngCarol Potenza: Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery Podcasthttps://www.carolpotenza.com/s/periodic-table-of-death-and-mystery3b3SubstackTue, 21 Jul 2026 15:50:39 GMT<![CDATA[Phosphorus, Alchemy, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery (Part 1)]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/phosphorus-alchemy-and-the-periodic-ed4https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/phosphorus-alchemy-and-the-periodic-ed4Thu, 25 Dec 2025 15:00:00 GMTIn this episode of the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery, we will initially immerse ourselves in 12th-century urine (sorry), then “hops” (beer will be involved) forward to 1669 and the Alchemist, Hennig Brant, who was searching for the philosopher’s stone using urine from a biergarten, and accidentally discovered the element phosphorus (P), which he THOUGHT was the philosopher’s stone because it glowed in the dark and caught fire a lot when exposed to air.

]]><![CDATA[Sulfur, an Accidental Poisoning, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/sulfur-an-accidental-poisoning-and-938https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/sulfur-an-accidental-poisoning-and-938Wed, 26 Nov 2025 03:00:00 GMTA long-ago family history. Whispers about a man who was also a monster—not the serial-killer kind. But the explosive at-the-drop-of-the-hat temper kind whose wife probably took the brunt of his rage. Then he dies after accidentally consuming a toxic Sulfur-containing chemical that just happened to be in the medicine cabinet at a time when poisoning was an easy way to commit murder.

]]><![CDATA[Rhenium, No Capes, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/rhenium-no-capes-and-the-periodic-70ahttps://www.carolpotenza.com/p/rhenium-no-capes-and-the-periodic-70aSat, 25 Oct 2025 14:00:00 GMTRhenium is one of the rarest elements on earth with a very, very high melting point which makes it perfect to strengthen metals used in high heat situation, like jet engines. The problem is that certain fashion choices like capes can get the wearer into difficulties near Rhenium-infused spinning turbines of aircraft engines. Right, Stratogirl?

]]><![CDATA[Strontium, Pockets, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/strontium-pockets-and-the-periodic-110https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/strontium-pockets-and-the-periodic-110Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMTPockets are actually a European invention found as far back as the 5000-year-old Neolithic mummy, Otzi, in the Alps. Yet there is an ELEPHANT in the Strontium elemental image that accompanies this podcast. It turns out pockets, Strontium, and elephants are linked by a fashion trend that ended ~1400 years ago. And this connection opened another mystery to be solved…

]]><![CDATA[Platinum, Golden Years, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery, Part 2]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/platinum-golden-years-and-the-periodic-4edhttps://www.carolpotenza.com/p/platinum-golden-years-and-the-periodic-4edMon, 25 Aug 2025 14:00:00 GMTThey are all retired now, some for years, this group of men. Yet because of their long-standing friendship and interests, they still meet Friday nights at the local pub for a pint and to reminisce about the good old days. All that excitement. The adulation of their criminal peers. How ‘bout one more caper for old time’s sake? One that would net them millions of dollars in gold, silver, precious stones, and platinum.

]]><![CDATA[Platinum, Golden Years, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery, Part 1]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/platinum-golden-years-and-the-periodic-3d7https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/platinum-golden-years-and-the-periodic-3d7Fri, 08 Aug 2025 14:00:00 GMTPlatinum. “Rare, pure, eternal.” And expensive. A jeweler’s slogan that perfectly describes this periodic table element. Perfect for coins—or so you’d think. But platinum is actually too hard and rare. It is used for wedding rings because it doesn’t wear away as easily as silver and gold. Which brings us back to those jewelers and to a heist that netted everything but the kitchen sink—including a plethora of platinum bars.

]]><![CDATA[Copper, Badges, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/copper-badges-and-the-periodic-table-ecdhttps://www.carolpotenza.com/p/copper-badges-and-the-periodic-table-ecdFri, 25 Jul 2025 14:40:00 GMTWhat started out as the search for the origin of the police slang, “copper” (Copper badges?), ended up as a poignant reminder of historical pain and resilience of enslaved people during a Charleston, South Carolina archaeological dig.

]]><![CDATA[Titanium, Skittles, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/titanium-skittles-and-the-periodic-9e7https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/titanium-skittles-and-the-periodic-9e7Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:00:00 GMTResearch about Titanium dioxide and a lawsuit over the candy Skittles turned out to be less than tongue-in-cheek cute. Instead, let’s stamp a disclaimer warning right up front: the information extracted from extensive reading on this topic is … concerning. Or is it?

]]><![CDATA[Oxygen, Enormous Bugs, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/oxygen-enormous-bugs-and-the-periodic-822https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/oxygen-enormous-bugs-and-the-periodic-822Sun, 25 May 2025 14:00:00 GMTThis podcast will the introduce 4-inch-long cockroaches, giant millipedes up to 8 feet long, and dragonflies the size of pigeons of the Carboniferous era (323 to 299 million years ago) and ask the question: Why were bugs so BIG 300 million years ago? The answer in no small part is because of oxygen (O), the 8th element of the periodic table and one most life on earth can’t live without.

]]><![CDATA[Francium, Fairy Tales, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/francium-fairy-tales-and-the-periodic-b78https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/francium-fairy-tales-and-the-periodic-b78Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:03:00 GMTIn Paris, at the Institut du Radium, Madame Marie Curie, looked over graduates of the class of 1929 and selected the top student, Marguerite Perey (who was only 19 years old), to come and work as her technician. Perey discovered and named Francium, and, like her mentor before her, became a beacon for women in science everywhere. 

]]><![CDATA[Beryllium, the Demon Core, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/beryllium-the-demon-core-and-the-b42https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/beryllium-the-demon-core-and-the-b42Tue, 25 Mar 2025 14:00:00 GMTIn part one of the beryllium (Be) story, you learned that four atomic cores were created for the Manhattan Project, but only three were detonated. The fourth core, nicknamed Rufus, continued to be used in further research … until it killed two careless scientists who mishandled the beryllium tamper. That’s when its name was changed to the Demon Core. 

]]><![CDATA[Beryllium, Fission, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/beryllium-fission-and-the-periodic-1b8https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/beryllium-fission-and-the-periodic-1b8Sun, 09 Mar 2025 14:00:00 GMTThis podcast was initially inspired by the 2023 movie, Oppenheimer, and the Manhattan Project which means it has a New Mexico connection (Yay!). Because, while the use of a Beryllium tamper saved the lives of numerous scientists working with radioactive materials at Los Alamos, mistakes could be fatal (Boo!).

]]><![CDATA[Vanadium, Flow Batteries, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/vanadium-flow-batteries-and-the-periodic-34ehttps://www.carolpotenza.com/p/vanadium-flow-batteries-and-the-periodic-34eTue, 25 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMTWith the rise of variable renewable energy like solar and wind, the term “variable” became an immediate problem. Solar creates electricity when the sun shines, but at night? Back to electrical generation with fossil fuels. When the wind blows there’s power, but when it doesn’t, coal and gas fill in the gaps. Thus began a concerted push for a new generation of batteries for use during downtimes. Was there a periodic table element that could be safely used in renewable power generation? Why, yes, there was! Vanadium.

]]><![CDATA[Lead, Lead Poisoning the Cowboy Way, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/lead-lead-poisoning-the-cowboy-way-3cahttps://www.carolpotenza.com/p/lead-lead-poisoning-the-cowboy-way-3caSat, 25 Jan 2025 15:00:00 GMTSometimes the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery comes very close to home.

She was from a prominent family in her small, insular town, and he worked as the manager at a brothel. She was eighteen when they met and he was thirty-six and married. She became pregnant with his child before he was shot, dead from the lead of a bullet fired in anger.

His name was José Ramirez, but everyone called him Joe.

]]><![CDATA[Silicon, Green Obsidian, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/silicon-green-obsidian-and-the-periodic-082https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/silicon-green-obsidian-and-the-periodic-082Wed, 25 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMTGreen obsidian—a stone as transparent as glass with iron and chromium impurities that create its rare color—was considered a luxury trade good in pre- and post-Columbian Central American culture. Archaeologists have found green obsidian hundreds to thousands of miles away from its origin. For example, it was discovered in a ritual cremation in Belize and in Mayan temples. So why was it found in the Texas panhandle and how does silicon play a role?

]]><![CDATA[Chromium, Gummy Bears, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/chromium-gummy-bears-and-the-periodic-4d1https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/chromium-gummy-bears-and-the-periodic-4d1Mon, 25 Nov 2024 15:00:00 GMTSome formsof chromium are incredibly toxic. Just ask Hinkley, California. Others are in your daily multivitamin because chromium plays an important role in sugar metabolism and mood improvement. So, what happens if a person doesn’t get enough chromium in their diet and does it really have a link to gummy bears?

]]><![CDATA[Iron Ore, the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/iron-ore-the-wreck-of-the-edmund-b68https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/iron-ore-the-wreck-of-the-edmund-b68Sun, 10 Nov 2024 15:00:00 GMTIn 1975, an obscure Iron ore ship disappeared under the waters of Lake Superior, but the tale of its last voyage became immortalized in 1976 by the singer Gordon Lightfoot as The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It’s a heartfelt ballad that transports the listener into the gales of November and leaves them aching for the Fitz’s lost crew.

]]><![CDATA[Gallium equals Good Death, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/gallium-equals-good-death-and-the-987https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/gallium-equals-good-death-and-the-987Fri, 25 Oct 2024 14:00:00 GMTDid you know Gallium is so safe, you can buy it online and let your kids play with it? So what does it kill? Infectious bacteria! Remember those face masks we all slapped on our faces a couple of years ago? Gallium-doped fabrics and regeneration matrices are powering up anti-infection, anti-viral mediums in medicine, and preventing anti-bacterial resistance.

]]><![CDATA[Periodic Table of Death and Mystery: Author Spotlight]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/periodic-table-of-death-and-mystery-973https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/periodic-table-of-death-and-mystery-973Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:00:00 GMTHost Laura Haas steps into Studio B to talk with Carol Potenza, award-winning mystery author and creator of the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery podcast. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to peak into the mind that transformed the periodic table into a playground for murder and mayhem.

]]><![CDATA[Arsenic, Poison Books, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery]]>https://www.carolpotenza.com/p/arsenic-poison-books-and-the-periodic-d1chttps://www.carolpotenza.com/p/arsenic-poison-books-and-the-periodic-d1cWed, 25 Sep 2024 14:00:00 GMTArsenic? Really? Too easy since it’s one of the most toxic substances on earth. But when mixed properly arsenic creates some beautiful paint colors and dyes: rich lemon yellow, brilliant red-orange, and a gorgeous emerald green. And humans wouldn’t do anything stupid with those colors like dye cloth for clothes, decorate children’s toys, or use it in cloth book covers. Right?

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