Periodicity And The Periodic Table

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The periodic table was first discovered about 200 years ago. In 1869, a Russian chemist named Dmitri Mendeleev separately published results which supported the ideas of periodicity suggested a few years earlier by John Newlands. Mendeleev arranged the 60 or so elements known to him in order of increasing relative atomic mass. His first table showed that elements with similar properties fall in the same vertical column. These columns of similar elements are called groups and the horizontal rows of elements are called periods. Mendeleev's table had gaps, he left gaps in his table in order that similar elements would fall in the same vertical column. He suggested that in due course, elements would be discovered to fill these gaps, and he also …show more content…

The IIA family is made up of the alkaline earth metals. All these elements tend to lose two electrons. Calcium is an important member of the IIA family (you need calcium for healthy teeth and bones). The VIIA family is made up of the halogens. They all tend to gain a single electron in reactions. Important members in the family include chlorine, used in making table salt and bleach, and iodine. The VIIIA family is made up of the noble gases. These elements are very unreactive. For a long time, the noble gases were called the inert gases, because people thought that these elements wouldn’t react at all. A scientist named Neil Bartlett showed that at least some of the “inert gases” could be reacted, but they required very special conditions. After this discovery, the gases were then referred to as noble gases. In the periodic table, you will fine element names and element symbols. The purpose of the element name is obvious. However, many periodic tables do not include element names. For those situations, you must memorize the symbols that accord to each element name. Each element has a specific one or two letter symbol that is used interchangeably with its name. Most of the time,

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