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Various forms of the periodic table including the left-step table, the regularization of atomic number triads and first-member anomalies

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Abstract

The relative virtues of 8- and 18-column periodic tables are discussed, followed by a brief mention of a 32-column table. Next, the left-step periodic table, as first introduced by Janet, is presented, as are the various attractive features of this representation. The advantages include what is termed here as the regularization of atomic number triads and a better rationalization of first-member anomalies. The distinction between simple substance and element is also explained as is the significance of this issue to the left-step table. Finally, I respond to some recent criticisms of previous work that I have published on atomic number triads of elements. It is becoming increasingly acknowledged that the discovery of the periodic table took place at the hands of at least six individuals working independently in different parts of the world (Scerri, A Tale of Seven Scientists, Oxford University Press, New York, 2016). In the intervening 150 or so years since the most well known of these tables were published, by Dmitri Mendeleev, at least 1000 periodic systems have appeared either in print form (Van Spronsen, The Periodic System of Chemical Elements. A History of the First Hundred Years, Elsevier, New York, 1969; Mazurs, Graphic Representations of the Periodic System during One Hundred Years, University Alabama Press, Alabama, 1974) or more recently on the Internet (Leach, https://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt_database.php).

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Notes

  1. This was not exclusively the case, however. For example, both Mendeleev and Meyer published periodic tables of an extended format such as Mendeleev’s 17-column table of 1879 [7], and Lothar Meyer’s 15-group table of 1868 [8]. It should also be remembered that the group of noble gas elements had not been discovered at this time, which would explain why Mendeleev’s extended table consisted of 17 rather than 18 columns.

  2. Of course, this is more a consequence of the IUPAC style of numbering the groups of the periodic table which has now been generally adopted than the mere fact that there are 18 columns in a medium-long-form table. The older European and American systems for labelling groups also featured 18 groups, but consisted of a number from I to VIII followed by a letter A or B. The precise assignment was carried out differently in the European and American systems however, such that an element such as Ge would be said to be in group IVA in the US system and in group IVB in the European one.

  3. I am also assuming that the element scandium had already been discovered for the purposes of this reconstruction.

  4. The analogous argument can be made using atomic number to order the elements and with the inclusion of the noble gas elements. The outcome is the same in that certain elements need to be excluded from the main body of the table to maintain periodicity among the remaining elements.

  5. Similar issues might be seen to arise for earlier elements such as manganese being placed in the same group as fluorine and chlorine, although there are some genuine similarities between these elements. For example, chlorine and manganese form the analogous compounds of KClO4 and KMnO4, respectively.

  6. I am not claiming that Mendeleev actually took this path in arriving at his periodic table. What I am carrying out here is an ahistorical reconstruction but one that I believe to be helpful in the context of this article. Readers interested in more historically accurate accounts of Mendeleev’s path to the periodic table can consult Bensaude-Vincent [10], Gordin [11] and Dimitriev [12].

  7. One can of course continue this process of expanding the periodic table. In fact, if, or perhaps when, element 121 is synthesized, it will become necessary to expand even the 32-column table to accommodate the first of the elements whose atoms contain a g-electron at least in a formal sense. Accurate predictions suggest otherwise in that the first element with a g-electron is expected to be element 125 according to some estimates [22].

  8. I thank Eugen Schwarz for bringing these points to my attention.

  9. In earlier articles, I pointed out the lack of a complete reduction of the periodic table, but as I have also stressed, this does not imply that I am in any way attempting to diminish the current achievements that have been obtained through a reductive approach [41].

  10. See Scerri [42] for a recent account of the extent to which the periodic table reduces to quantum mechanics.

  11. In modern terms, abstract elements are characterized by their atomic numbers.

  12. To be precise, He, Ne and Ar do form an atomic number triad in the conventional format of the periodic table, although I believe this to be a false triad for reasons discussed elsewhere in the present article. I thank a reviewer for making this point.

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    Eric R. Scerri

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Scerri, E.R. Various forms of the periodic table including the left-step table, the regularization of atomic number triads and first-member anomalies. ChemTexts 8, 6 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40828-021-00157-8

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