Periodic Table by Joe

The periodic table is one of the most well known and widely used applications in chemistry, easily recognizable by the manner in which it organizes all known elements in a table in ascending order of Atomic Number.

Development:

The first widely accepted periodic table was published by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. He achieved this by ordering the properties of the known elements, and was even able to predict where unknown elements would appear once they were discovered.

Organization:

The elements are grouped according to their characteristics. The most obvious organization line falls between the metals and nonmetals, which can be viewed by the diagonal fracture on the right side of the table, where the brown elements, the metalloids, bridge the gap between the metals on the left, and the nonmetals on the right.

Application:

The periodic table is immensely useful for reference, as it is possible to determine the number of elements in a given material by using the atomic mass of an indicated element.

Interesting Facts:

➔    There are 118 known elements at the published time.

➔    The rows are called periods, and the columns are called groups.

➔    90 of the elements on the table are naturally occurring. The others are synthetically created.

Question:

What is the significance of having a single reference picture for all elements? Why is it so important that the information be organized in the manner in which it appears on all periodic tables?