The History of the
Periodic Table of Elements
Gwyneth D. Goco
Introduction
A number of physical elements (such as platinum, mercury, tin and zinc) have been known from
antiquity, as they are found in their native form and are relatively simple to mine with primitive
tools.
Around 330 BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that everything is made up of a
mixture of one or more roots, an idea that had originally been suggested by the Sicilian
philosopher Empedocles. The four roots, which were later renamed as elements by Plato, were
earth, water, air and fire. Similar ideas about these four elements also existed in other ancient
traditions, such as Indian philosophy.
What is Periodic Table?
The periodic table of elements arranges all of the known chemical elements in an informative array. Elements
are arranged from left to right and top to bottom in order of increasing atomic number. Order generally
coincides with increasing atomic mass.
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Robert Boyle also discovered phosphorus, and English chemist John Newlands discovered 56
it became public. elements into 11 groups, based on
characteristics
1669 1809 1869
1680 1863
German merchant and amateur alchemist
Hennig Brand attempted to created a at least 47 elements were discovered, and Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev started the
Philosopher’s Stone; an object that supposedly scientists began to see patterns in the development of the periodic table, arranging
could turn metals into pure gold. He heated characteristics. chemical elements by atomic mass. He
residues from boiled urine, and a liquid predicted the discovery of other elements, and
dropped out and burst into flames. This was left spaces open in his periodic table for them.
the first discovery of phosphorus.
Dobereiner’s Triads
The German chemist, Johann Dobereiner in 1800 first observed similarities in the elements on
the basis of their properties. He saw that there are groups consisting of three elements (triads)
which have similar chemical and physical properties. In every group, the atomic weight of the
middle element was half of the sum of the atomic weight of the other two elements.
Properties of the middle element were also at the halfway of both the elements. Dobereiner
called this grouping method as the law of triads. Later on, it was found that this law was not true
for every element and hence it was not successful.
Newland's Octave
In 1865, after the failure of Doberiener’s triad the English chemist, John Alexander Newlands
gave the law of octaves. According to him, elements can be arranged in ascending order of their
atomic weights. He also said that in this arrangement every eighth element of a row had similar
properties to that of the first element of the same row, depicting the octaves of music. This law
was also dismissed as it was only true for elements up to calcium.
de Chancourtois Periodic Table
If a periodic table is regarded as an ordering of the chemical elements demonstrating the
periodicity of chemical and physical properties, credit for the first periodic table (published in
1862) probably should be given to a French geologist, A.E.Beguyer de Chancourtois. De
Chancourtois transcribed a list of the elements positioned on a cylinder in terms of increasing
atomic weight. When the cylinder was constructed so that 16 mass units could be written on the
cylinder per turn, closely related elements were lined up vertically. This led de Chancourtois to
propose that "the properties of the elements are the properties of numbers." De Chancourtois
was first to recognize that elemental properties reoccur every seven elements, and using this
chart, he was able to predict the stoichiometry of several metallic oxides. Unfortunately, his
chart included some ions and compounds in addition to elements.
Mendeleev Periodic Table
The real development in the periodic table took place after the development of Mendeleev
periodic table. He gave a law which states that “The properties of an element are the periodic
function of their atomic masses”. He arranged elements in periods (horizontal rows) and
groups(vertical columns) in the increasing order of atomic weights. The vertical column consists
of elements that have similar properties.
Dmitri Mendeleev - The Father of the
Periodic Table
• A Russian chemist and inventor, is considered the "father" of the periodic table,
according to the Royal Society of Chemistry. In the 1860s, Mendeleev was a
popular lecturer at a university in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• Since there were no modern organic chemistry textbooks in Russian at that time,
He decided to write one, and simultaneously tackle the problem of the
disordered elements.
Development
Before 1800 (36 elements): dicoveries during and before the Age of Enlightenment.
1800-1849 (+22 elements): impulse from Scientific Revolution and Atomic theory and
Industrial Revolution.
1850-1899 (+23 elements): the age of Classifying Elements received an impulse from the
Spectrum analysis.
1900-1949 (+13 elements): impulse from the old quantum theory, the Refinements to the
periodic table, and quantum mechanics.
1950-1999 (+15 elements): Manhattan_Project and Particle physics issues, for atomic numbers
97 and above
Old Model Modern Model
The major difference is that the elements in Mendeleev's
periodic table were arranged by atomic mass and the modern
periodic table arranges elements by atomic number.
The importance of Periodic Table
The table is useful for modern students and scientists because it helps predict the types of
chemical reactions that are likely for an element. Rather than memorize facts and figures for
each element, a quick glance at the table reveals a lot about the reactivity of an element, whether
it is likely to conduct electricity, whether it is hard or soft, and many other characteristics.
Another useful feature of the table is that most tables provide all the information you need to
balance chemical reactions at a glance. The table tells an elements' atomic number and usually
its atomic weight. The usual charge on an element is indicated by an element's group.
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