Referred to as the ‘Bible of Chemistry’, the periodic table is a condensed form of information about everything in chemistry. Related facts that are interesting to read form the subject matter of this article.
Every science student who has ever studied chemistry must be aware about the periodic table. In fact, if any single source in the world of chemistry is rated to be the top most information providing reference or source about chemical elements, it is undoubtedly the periodic table. Since its inception, it has gone through various modifications.
Alkali Metals | |
Alkaline Earth Metals | |
Lanthinides | |
Actinides | |
Transition Metals | |
Poor Metals | |
Other Metals | |
Nobel Gases | |
Metalloids | |
Unknown Chemical Properties |
s-block | Transition Elements d- block |
p-block | Nobel Element |
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Group | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
1 | 1 H 1.0079 |
2 He 4.0026 |
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2 | 3 Li 6.941 |
4 Be 9.0122 |
5 B 10.811 |
6 C 12.011 |
7 N 14.007 |
8 O 15.999 |
9 F 18.998 |
10 Ne 20.180 |
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3 | 11 Na 22.990 |
12 Mg 24.305 |
13 Al 26.982 |
14 Si 28.086 |
15 P 30.974 |
16 S 32.066 |
17 Cl 35.453 |
18 Ar 39.948 |
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4 | 19 K 39.098 |
20 Ca 40.078 |
21 Sc 44.956 |
22 Ti 47.867 |
23 V 50.942 |
24 Cr 51.996 |
25 Mn 54.938 |
26 Fe 55.845 |
27 Co 58.933 |
28 Ni 58.693 |
29 Cu 63.546 |
30 Zn 65.409 |
31 Ga 69.723 |
32 Ge 72.64 |
33 As 74.922 |
34 Se 78.96 |
35 Br 79.904 |
36 Kr 83.798 |
5 | 37 Rb 85.468 |
38 Sr 87.62 |
39 Y 88.906 |
40 Zr 91.224 |
41 Nb 92.906 |
42 Mo 95.94 |
43 Tc (98) |
44 Ru 101.07 |
45 Rh 102.91 |
46 Pd 106.42 |
47 Ag 107.87 |
48 Cd 112.41 |
49 In 114.82 |
50 Sn 118.71 |
51 Sb 121.76 |
52 Te 127.60 |
53 I 126.90 |
54 Xe 131.29 |
6 | 55 Cs 132.91 |
56 Ba 137.33 |
57 – 71 La-Lu |
72 Hf 178.49 |
73 Ta 180.95 |
74 W 183.84 |
75 Re 186.21 |
76 Os 190.23 |
77 Ir 192.22 |
78 Pt 195.08 |
79 Au 196.97 |
80 Hg 200.59 |
81 Tl 204.38 |
82 Pb 207.2 |
83 Bi 208.98 |
84 Po (209) |
85 At (210) |
86 Rn (222) |
7 | 87 Fr (223) |
88 Ra (226) |
89 -103 Ac-Lr |
104 Rf (261) |
105 Db (262) |
106 Sg (266) |
107 Bh (264) |
108 Hs (277) |
109 Mt (268) |
110 Ds (281) |
111 Rg (272) |
112 Cn (277) |
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Lanthanide | 57 La 138.91 |
58 Ce 140.12 |
59 Pr 140.91 |
60 Nd 144.24 |
61 Pm (145) |
62 Sm 150.36 |
63 Eu 151.96 |
64 Gd 157.25 |
65 Tb 158.93 |
66 Dy 162.50 |
67 Ho 164.93 |
68 Er 167.26 |
69 Tm 168.93 |
70 Yb 173.04 |
71 Lu 174.97 |
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Actinide | 89 Ac (227) |
90 Th 232.04 |
91 Pa 231.04 |
92 U 238.03 |
93 Np (237) |
94 Pu (244) |
95 Am (243) |
96 Cm (247) |
97 Bk (247) |
98 Cf (251) |
99 Es (252) |
100 Fm (257) |
101 Md (258) |
102 No (259) |
103 Lr (262) |
The starting point is to know about the interesting history surrounding it, its evolution, and other facts. Since hundreds of years, scientists have been suggesting various forms of ways and methods to arrange elements in the periodic table. However, the credit for the modern periodic table goes to a Russian chemistry professor, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev. Nevertheless, the contribution of former scientists and others is immensely significant, and in some or the other ways, every small development led to the final tabulation of the periodic table.
Here, it is worth mentioning that, in the periodic table, the chemical elements are arranged based on their atomic mass and atomic numbers. The periodic table with atomic mass and atomic numbers helps researchers and students understand the physical and chemical properties of various elements.
Alkali Metals: Placed in the 1st group, alkali metals consist of lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium, and are extremely reactive in nature.
Alkaline Earth Metals: Beryllium, magnesium calcium, strontium, barium, and radium are the elements that belong to the alkaline earth metals category.
Transition Metals: Placed in groups 3 to 12, transition metals are known for their unique metallic properties. Chromium, copper, nickel, mercury, gold, and silver are the elements belonging to this group of metals.
Rare Earth Metals: Ever wondered to which group man-made and synthetic elements like cerium, curium, europium, and uranium belong to? Well, these are the rare earth elements, and they are placed in the 3rd, 6th, and 7th period of the periodic table.
Non Metals: The 14th, 15th, and 16th group consists of non metallic elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and selenium.
Inert Gases: More popularly known as noble gases, helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon occupy the 18th group, and their most significant property is that they are inert in nature, reacting only in specific conditions of temperature and pressure.
Here are some more interesting facts:
- In whole of the periodic table, the only letter that never appears anywhere is J.
- Oxygen, the most reactive and 3rd-most abundant element in the universe, forms a major part of our body and helps sustain life on this universe.
- Carbon, in all probabilities, is the most extensive element that has millions of compounds. In fact, organic chemistry is a branch totally dedicated to carbon compounds.
- Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe.
- There are 110 known elements and 18 periods in the periodic table, as established by the IUPAC authority since 1985.
- Francium is the least abundant element in this universe, and one of the most interesting facts about it being, that at any time, there are only a few ounces of francium that exists on earth!
Everybody who has a keen interest in chemistry must properly study this pictorial representation of elements, that helps in memorizing important features, and relate to trends of physical and chemical properties of elements.