printable periodic table of elements list and their uses

A simple search of the internet will reveal all sorts of versions of the periodic table. It would be understandable to think that this would be the end of the matter. Something seemed to repeat and by placing chemically similar elements next to each other, a two-dimensional table could be constructed. But chemists were aware that certain elements had rather similar chemical properties: for example lithium, sodium and potassium or chlorine, bromine and iodine. Simple lists, of course, are one-dimensional in nature. And by the 1860s, it was possible to list the known elements in order of their relative atomic mass – for example, hydrogen was 1 and oxygen 16. By the early 19th century, there was good circumstantial evidence for the existence of atoms. By the late 18th century, chemists were clear about the difference between an element and a compound: elements were chemically indivisible (examples are hydrogen, oxygen) whereas compounds consisted of two or more elements in combination, having properties quite distinct from their component elements.

Let’s first consider how the periodic table was developed. However, two scientists in Moscow, Russia, have recently published a proposal for a new order. Given the table’s importance, one might be forgiven for thinking that the ordering of the elements were no longer subject to debate.

It would be hard to overstate its importance as an organising principle in chemistry – all budding chemists become familiar with it from the earliest stages of their education. The periodic table of the elements, principally created by the Russian chemist, Dmitry Mendeleev (1834-1907), celebrated its 150th anniversary last year.

Printable periodic table of elements list and their uses