On November 7, 1940, the bridge spanning Puget Sound across the Tacoma Narrows in Washington state dramatically collapsed. The bridge opened on July 1, 1940 as the third longest suspension bridge in the world. Almost immediately, the bridge was nicknamed "Gallopin' Gertie" because of its sway due to the wind. The state hired an engineer to propose methods to settle Gertie's galloping tendencies. They concluded their study on November 2, 1940 and recommended a couple of options to fix the problem. Unfortunately, the bridge didn't wait for the repairs.

On the morning of November 7, the winds were pretty strong and the bridge swayed more than usual. As the wind speed built up during the morning, the swaying approached the resonant frequency of the bridge itself. The bridge span began to jump and sway until it ripped itself apart at 11:00. Because of the long period of time it took to reach the breaking point, local camera shop owner Barney Elliott was able to film the collapse. This film is still shown to students of architecture, physics and engineering.

There was only one casualty to the collapse. The man in the film running from his car was named Leonard Coatsworth. Mr. Coatsworth attempted to cross the bridge but abandoned his car and daughter's cocker spaniel Tubby. Tubby would not leave the car even when others attempted to rescue him and went down with the bridge.

Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.

While I was organizing element quizzes I noticed I had never offered a periodic table quiz. If you're taking a chemistry class you're practically guaranteed to be tested on this information, so I made up a quick periodic table self-test. This 10-question multiple choice quiz focuses on how well you understand the organization of the periodic table and how it can be used to predict trends in element properties. Can you get a perfect score? Take the quiz...

You do a lot more problem-solving than memorizing in chemistry, but learning the element symbols and the names of the first several elements is common test fodder (because it's so useful). It's also important to know how the periodic table is set up and how you can use periodicity to predict element properties. One way to make sure you're on track regarding the elements is to quiz yourself. With this in mind, I've collected the most popular/useful element quizzes in one place. You can review the concepts and then test yourself (without actually getting a grade). Take a quiz...

November 7^th marks the passing of Swedish biochemist, Hans von Euler-Chelpin. He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Arthur Harden for their investigations into the process of fermentation and yeast enzymes.

Brewers use yeast to convert glucose (sugar) into carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol. People have been using yeast for centuries for fermentation but the process was not fully understood. Eduard Buchner identified the yeast enzyme called zymase when he removed all cells from the yeast and still managed to produce fermentation. He would win the 1907 Nobel Prize for this discovery. Harden later showed zymase was made up of two different varieties and Euler-Chelpin discovered the complementary enzyme, cozymase that was responsible for the production of carbon dioxide in the process.

Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.