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Periodic Table of the Elements

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Event

The Resume

    (March 6, 1869- )
    Tabular arrangement of the chemical elements ordered by atomic number and electron configuration
    Created by Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev
    18-column layout (widely seen in high school and college chemistry classes) popularized by American chemist Horace Groves Deming
    Rows (periods) arrange elements based on number of electron orbitals in the atom
    Columns (groups) arrange elements based on the number of electrons in the outermost orbital
    Boxes (usually) contain the element's symbol and name, atomic number and atomic weight

Why Periodic Table of the Elements might be annoying:

    Although Mendeleev is generally credited with developing it, German chemist Julius Lothar Meyer and British chemist John Newlands independently developed similar tables.
    Some of the elements can be difficult to locate on the table because their abbreviation is based on their Latin name. (Thus, silver = Ag, from 'argentum; lead = Pb, from plumbum; gold = Au, from aurum.)
    The lanthanides and actinides are usually placed in rows beneath the main table to keep it from stretching too wide.
    Disputes over who created the trans-uranium elements resulted in dueling names being submitted for several elements.
    For example, element 105 was known as neilsbohrium in Russia and hahnium in the US until the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry stepped in, voided both names, and formally named it dubnium after the town where Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research is located.
    Several of the synthetic elements are so short-lived they have no practical application.

Why Periodic Table of the Elements might not be annoying:

    Mendeleev used the table to predict the existence (and estimate several properties) of three unknown elements.
    He was proven right with the discoveries of scandium (element 21), gallium (element 31) and germanium (element 32).
    Some anomalies that occurred when the table was ordered by atomic weight (for example, iodine weighs less than tellurium, but tellurium behaves like a group 16 element, while iodine behaves like a group 17 element) were resolved with the discovery of atomic numbers (which were later found to be equal to the number of protons in an element's nucleus).
    It packs a lot of chemical information into a single chart.
    Tom Lehrer showed you can sing the names of the elements to the tune of 'The Major-General's Song' from Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Pirates of Penzance.'

Credit: C. Fishel & Big Lenny


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