Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
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Printed: February 19, 2016
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C HAPTER
Chapter 1. Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
1
Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
When you study for a test, how do you approach the task?
One useful way is to use flash cards. You write down the vocabulary words, the foreign language terms, the math
formulas, the chemistry reactions – anything you want to learn. Then you sort these cards into categories, topics that
go together. This organization of information helps you see patterns in the material so you can tie different ideas
together and make better sense of them.
The periodic table was first built using a set of cards. With this strategy, Mendeleev could organize and rearrange
material until patterns emerged.
The First Periodic Table
In the 1860s, a scientist named Dmitri Mendeleev also saw the need to organize the elements. He created a table in
which he arranged all of the elements by increasing atomic mass from left to right across each row. When he placed
eight elements in each row and then started again in the next row, each column of the table contained elements with
similar properties. He called the columns of elements groups. Mendeleev’s table is called a periodic table and the
rows are called periods. That’s because the table keeps repeating from row to row, and periodic means “repeating.”
Summary
• Mendeleev published his periodic table in 1869.
• His organization of elements was based on atomic mass.
• Mendeleev’s periodic table made it possible to predict properties of elements that had not yet been discovered.
Practice
1. Where was Mendeleev born?
2. Where did he teach?
3. What is one important thing about Mendeleev’s table?
4. What other contributions to chemistry did Mendeleev make?
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Review
1. When did Mendeleev publish his periodic table?
2. Who else came out with a periodic table at about the same time?
3. Why was Mendeleev’s table considered to be superior?
4. What element did Mendeleev predict to exist?
5. What element was named after Mendeleev?
The Periodic Table: Crash Course Chemistry
Gives the life story of Dmitri Mendeleev, the creator of the modern periodic table. Also provides some of the
reasoning behind why Mendeleev chose his particular arrangement for the table.
MEDIA
Click image to the left or use the URL below.
URL: http://www.ck12.org/flx/render/embeddedobject/131319
Watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RRVV4Diomg&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPHzzYuWy6fYEaX9
mQQ8oGr&index=4
Real World Example - Finding Patterns in Elemental Behavior
Why It Matters
• Early attempts to organize the elements either listed the known elements by atomic mass or focused on “triads”
that had similar chemical properties, such as lithium, sodium, and potassium.
• Dmitri Mendeleev, often credited with the invention of the modern periodic table, combined both of these
approaches, but left gaps to ensure that elements with similar properties were lined up together.
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Chapter 1. Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
FIGURE 1.1
An early version of Mendeleev’s periodic
table. Notice that it looks different from
the more modern periodic table
• The gaps in Mendeleev’s table corresponded to undiscovered elements, and many of their properties could be
predicted based on their position in the table.
• Learn more about Mendeleev and his periodic table by watching the following video:http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fPnwBITSmgU
MEDIA
Click image to the left or use the URL below.
URL: http://www.ck12.org/flx/render/embeddedobject/92758
Can You Apply It?
With the links below, learn more about the periodic table. Then answer the following questions.
• http://www.webelements.com/
• http://www.rsc.org/education/teachers/resources/periodictable/pre16/develop/mendeleev.htm
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1. Mendeleev placed tellurium before iodine on his periodic table, even though tellurium has a higher atomic mass.
Why?
2. The modern periodic table is not arranged by atomic mass. What atomic property is used instead to reliably group
together elements with similar chemical characteristics?
3. Carbon can be burned in oxygen to produce CO2 gas. Sand and quartz are two common forms of SiO2 , which
makes up over half of the Earth’s crust. Name two other elements (X) that are likely to form a compound with the
formula XO2 .
4. At room temperature, chlorine is a yellowish gas, bromine is a brown liquid, and iodine is a shiny blue-black
solid. Why are these elements considered similar enough to group together on the periodic table?
References
1. Laura Guerin. Set of Shapes Flashcards .
2. Liza. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizadaly/2944407755/ .
3. Shehal Joseph. Early periodic table .
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