Abstract
Mendeleev’s failure to represent the periodic system as a continuum may have hidden from him the space for the noble gases. A spiral format might have revealed the significance of the wide gaps in atomic mass between his rows. Tables overemphasize the division of the sequence into ‘periods’ and blocks. Not only do spirals express the continuity; in addition they are more attractive visually. They also facilitate a new placing for hydrogen and the introduction of an ‘element of atomic number zero’.
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Notes
This, like all references to Mendeleev’s works, is taken from the collection edited by Jensen 2002. It is amusing to note, given Mendeleev’s aversion to spiritualism, that the most popular website for the text of the 1904 article is one devoted to the occult, http://www.rexresearch.com. The x for ether has been deleted from the table reproduced there—too material?!
The 1971 German article translated by Jensen reproduces the table given in the Russian original of November 1870, illustrated by Gordin (2004, p. 35).
Argon dos not strictly fall into the gap as its atomic weight is greater than that of potassium. Mendeleev got round this by assuming a mass of 38.
Mendeleev more often wrote ryad, ‘row’, German ‘Reihe,’ or seria. ‘series’.
Janet ‘corrected’ the ‘wrong’ orbitals to make them fit (Janet 1930, p. 21).
It is also possible to envisage negative atomic numbers for the elements of anti-matter.
Von Antropoff’s table is widely known as that of Linus Pauling, who used it—minus element zero—in his 1949 book, General Chemistry.
Van Spronsen (1969, pp. 160, 167, 172, 183). In re-drawing Janet’s spiral, he placed the central zero above hydrogen instead of helium.
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Stewart, P.J. A century on from Dmitrii Mendeleev: tables and spirals, noble gases and Nobel prizes. Found Chem 9, 235–245 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-007-9038-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-007-9038-x