A common sight in the classroom setting includes the periodic table of elements. You usually see it in the libraries and school hallways. The periodic table of chemical elements is used by scientists to analyze reactivity among elements and observe and predict chemical reactions. In this article, we will discuss the periodic table and everything you need to know about it.
What is the periodic table of elements?
The periodic table contains all elements presented in a tabular form and grouped accordingly. The chemical elements are grouped according to their atomic number, starting from the chemical element with the lowest atomic number to the one with the highest.
Let’s take a look at the history of the periodic table of elements.
The first attempt to group chemical elements started in 1789 when Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, started to group elements into metals and non-metals. Four decades after, Johann Wolfang Döbereiner, a German physicist, observed similarities in some of the elements’ physical and chemical properties. He arranged them into threes according to their atomic weight and referred to this as triads.
A revised list of chemical elements with their corresponding masses was published in 1860 at the first ever international conference of chemistry that took place in Germany. At that time, they assigned hydrogen an atomic weight of 1, and the rest of the elements’ atomic weights would be decided by comparing with hydrogen.
John Newlands, a British chemist, tried to group the elements into a periodic table according to the increasing order of atomic masses. He noticed similar properties in all eight elements and arranged them into eight groups. Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, created the framework for the modern periodic table in 1869. He arranged the elements into atomic weight and noticed that they didn’t fit in. He eventually predicted undiscovered elements’ properties and referred to them as eka-aluminium; elements that share the same properties as aluminium. It was later on discovered as gallium. It looked good, but there were still discrepancies.
Lothar Meyer, a German chemist, created a new version of the periodic table, and it’s similar to that of Mendeleev’s. The Davy Medal, an award given by the Royal Society of London, was given to Mendeleev and Meyer for their hard work on the creation of the periodic table of elements. The 101st element, discovered in 1955, was named Mendelevium, in honor of Mendeleev’s hard work.
The Periodic Table of Element Groupings
Alkali Metals (Group 1)
It is the group of elements in the first column of the periodic table. This group is characterized as soft and shiny metals, but highly reactive. When they come into contact with water, they burst into flames and can explode.
Alkaline-earth metals (Group 2)
The elements in this group share the same number of electrons at their outermost energy level. They are reactive too, but not as reactive as the elements in the first group.
Lanthanides
It consists of elements 57 to 71. These elements share the same characteristics, such as a silvery white color, and when they get in contact with water, they tarnish.
Actinides
It consists of elements 89 to 103. These are radioactive elements.
Transition metals
The metals in this group are hard but malleable. They are shiny and have good conductivity.
Post transition metals
These elements have similar characteristics to the transition metals.
Metalloids
The elements in this group form a staircase representing a gradual transition from metals to non-metals. They are also referred to as "semi-metals" or "poor metals" because they act as semi-conductors.
Non-metals
It consists of elements starting from carbon to selenium.
Halogens
These elements are quite reactive and pair up with alkali metals to produce salts of different types.
Noble gases
The elements in this group are colorless, odorless, and non-reactive.
Blocks in the periodic table of elements
Blocks are elements that have the highest energy valence electrons in the same subshell.
S-block
The elements in the s-block are those that belong to groups I and II. They have the most valence electrons.
P-block
It consists of elements belonging to groups III through VIII, which are primarily made up of non-metals. They have the most energetic valence electrons in the p-subshell
D-block
It has the highest energy valence electron in the d-subshell. It consists of chemical elements in groups 3 to 12, mostly made up of transition metals.
F-block
It has the highest energy valence electron in the f-subshell. It consists of actinides and lanthanides.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Periodic Table of Elements
Q1. What are the groups in the periodic table of elements?
They are the ones presented in columns. The chemical elements in a group share the same number of valence electrons. They also share the same properties and would act the same in a chemical reaction.
Q2. What are the periods in the periodic table of elements?
It refers to the rows in the periodic table. These elements’ atoms share the highest electron energy level.
Q3. What are ionic bonds?
They form between atoms, specifically those with different electronegativity values. They have crystal lattices that have positively charged cations and negatively charged anions. They usually form between metals and nonmetals, and their charged particles move freely once their ionic compounds are dissolved in water.
Q4. What are covalent bonds?
A covalent bond forms between nonmetal atoms and atoms usually share electrons in covalent bonds.
Q5. What are metallic bonds?
It is a type of force holding atoms together in a metallic substance. It shares free electrons in a structure of positively charged ions.
Q6. What is ionization energy?
Ionization energy pertains to the amount of energy needed to remove an electron from a mole of atoms in the gaseous phase.
Q7. What is electron affinity?
It pertains to the extent to which atoms and molecules attract an additional number of electrons. It is also referred to as the energy needed to get rid of an electron from a negative ion necessary to produce a neutral atom.
Q8. What is an atomic radius?
It pertains to the distance from the nucleus of the atom to the electron cloud’s outer edge. The atomic radius of an element decreases over a certain period of time and eventually increases over a period of time.
Q9. What is electronegativity?
Electronegativity is the possibility of the atom of a particular element to attract shared electrons when forming a bond. It is affected by the atomic number and the distance by which the valence electrons reside from the charged nucleus.
Q10. Why is noble gas inert?
Chemical elements in the noble gas group are inert because of their filled orbitals in the valence shell, which causes them to have a stable electronic configuration.
Q11. What is the relationship between the atom’s size and ionization energy?
The chemical element’s atom size and ionization energy have an indirect relationship. If the element’s atom size is large, the ionization energy is small. The very reason for this is that as the atom’s size increases, the outer electrons move far away from the nucleus, leading to the decreasing attraction level between the nucleus and outer electrons.
Q12. Why is it that the ionization energy remains positive?
If you notice, ionization energy always remains positive, and it’s because the energy must be supplied to separate atoms and electrons. Negative electrons are attracted to positive nuclei. To remove the electron from the atom, energy must be added, which is, in this case, positive energy.
Q13. What are the four main trends in the periodic table?
The four main trends in the periodic table of elements are atomic size, electronegativity, electron affinity, and ionization energy.
Q14. How many elements are there in total?
At present, the total number of chemical elements in the periodic table is 118. Each of the elements has unique properties. Of all 118 chemical elements, 94 are naturally occurring.
Q15. What is the most unstable element?
Francium is one of the most unstable elements. It is extremely radioactive. Because of the element's highly temperamental nature, only 20 to 30 g is present at one time in the earth’s crust.
Q16. Which is the most beautiful element?
There are many beautiful chemical elements, and one of the most beautiful is vanadium. It belongs to the metal group. Once it is extracted and dissolved in water, vanadium turns into bright, bold colors.
Q17. What is the most colorful element?
Chromium is the most colorful element. It creates colorful compounds and is used to protect and polish other metals through electroplating.
Q18. What elements do we use every day?
There are chemical elements we use on a day-to-day basis, and these are carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, sulphur, and oxygen. A human body consists of 18% carbon. Hydrogen is vital in water synthesis, which is necessary for life. Oxygen is needed for various bodily functions such as blood circulation and respiration. Sulphur is used to synthesize sulfuric acid. Chlorine is primarily used to purify water.
Q19. What is the basic element of life?
The basic chemical elements of life are oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, and nitrogen. They are abundant in humans and animals.
Q20. What is the main difference between the modern and the earlier periodic table (Mendeleev’s)?
The earlier periodic table is called Mendeleev’s periodic table, and it differs from the modern periodic table because it arranges chemical elements according to their atomic mass. On the other hand, the modern periodic table of elements arranges chemical elements according to their atomic number.
Q21. How many periods or rows are there on the periodic table?
A period is a part of the periodic table of elements. It pertains to the horizontal row. There are seven of them, beginning at the far left. A new period starts once a new principal energy starts filling with electrons.
Q22. Which was the first element that was made artificially?
The element technetium was made artificially and it’s a Greek word for artificial. Although it is artificially made, you can find it naturally in tiny traces.
Q23. What was the first metal to be named after a person?
The first chemical element named after a living person is Einsteinium. It is used to synthesize heavier elements. Two other elements were named after scientists who were alive at that time, and these are oganesson and seaborgium.
Q24. How to calculate the number of neutrons in a given element?
The number of neurons in a particular element is calculated by deducting the number of atoms from the mass number.
Q25. How to get the atomic mass of an element?
The element’s atomic mass is calculated by adding the number of protons and neutrons.
Q26. What are the properties of chemical elements in the metal group?
Chemical elements in the metal group are malleable (ability to hammer into thin sheets), ductile (can be drawn out into thin wires), lustrous (shiny in appearance), hard, have high tensile strength, and are very good conductors of heat and electricity.
Q27. What are the properties of non-metal chemical elements?
Chemical elements classified as non-metals are brittle, non-lustrous, neither strong nor tough, and poor conductors of electricity and heat.
Q28. What is the purpose of the periodic table?
The periodic table of elements is used by scientists if they need to quickly refer to particular information about a certain element, such as the symbol, atomic mass, and group, to name a few. The periodic table's arrangement of elements aids scientists in discerning trends in element properties such as atomic radius, ionization energy, and electronegativity.
Q29. Why is it called the periodic table of elements?
It is referred to as the periodic table of elements because of the manner in which the elements are arranged. The elements are arranged in columns and rows. The periods are the horizontal rows, while the groups are the vertical columns.
Q30. How are the elements in the periodic table arranged?
They are arranged from top to bottom and left to right. The order of arrangement is based on the number of protons in an atom's nucleus as well as the number of atoms.
Q31. What is the biggest element on the periodic table?
Francium is the biggest element in the periodic table. It is naturally occurring but highly radioactive.
Q32. Which element is the weakest?
Helium is most likely the weakest element because it is extremely light and unreactive.
Q33. What was the last discovered element?
The last discovered elements were Tennessine, Moscovium, Nihonium, and Oganesson.
Q34.What are the oldest and newest chemical elements?
Phosphorus is the oldest chemical element, while the newest is Hassium.
Q35. Who discovered the most elements?
Many scientists discovered chemical elements, but the one that discovered the most was Albert Ghiorso. He is an American nuclear scientist who successfully discovered 12 chemical elements.
Q36. How do periodic trends relate to periodic laws?
The primary and influencing periodic trends are ionization energy, atomic radius, electron affinity, metallic character, , electronegativity, and melting point. This periodic trend gives chemists invaluable tools to know or predict the properties of a certain chemical element.
Q37. What makes potassium the most reactive metal?
Potassium is a highly reactive metal because of its low ionization energy and large atomic size.
Q38. Why do metals feel cold even at room temperature?
Metal feels good at room temperature because it is a good thermal conductor. It easily absorbs heat from colder objects. In fact, it can absorb heat too. That makes metal elements completely unique from the rest of the elements in the periodic table.
Q39. What makes metal a good conductor of heat?
The ability of a metal to conduct heat and electricity is linked with the characteristics of electrons. Their electrons move freely, giving them good conductivity.
