Earlier periodic classification

Earlier periodic classification

More than one hundred and nine elements are known today,. The periodic table of elements is an important landmark in the history of chemistry. It would be difficult to study individually the chemistry of all the elements and their numerous compounds. The periodic table provides a systematic and extremely useful framework for organizing a lot of information available on the chemical behaviour of the elements into a few simple and logical patterns. This gave rise to the necessity of classifying the elements into various groups or families having similar properties. This classification has resulted in the formulation of periodic table. Periodic table may be defined as the arrangements of various elements according to their properties in a tabular form.

All earlier attempts on the classification of elements were based on atomic mass. Several chemists have for long tried to classify the elements and to find patterns in their properties.

Dobereiner's Triads

In 1829, John Dobereiner (German Chemist) classified elements having similar properties into groups of three. These groups were called triads. According to this law when elements are arranged in the order of increasing atomic mass in a triad, the atomic mass of the middle element was found to be approximately equal to the arithmetic mean of the other two elements. For example lithium, sodium and potassium constituted one triad. However, only a limited number of elements could be grouped into traids.

Table Doberenier's Triads

Elements          Atomic        Element      Atomic        Element      Atomic

     weight                  weight                  weight

Li  7        Ca     40      Cl      35.5

Na 23      Sr      88      Br      80

K  39      Ba     137    I        127

Newlands Law of Octaves

In 1865, John Newlands (English Chemist) observed that if the elements were arranged in order of their increasing atomic weights, the eighth element starting from a given one, possessed properties similar to the first, like the eighth note in an octave of music. He called it the law of octaves. It worked well for the lighter elements but failed when applied to heavier elements.

Lother-Meyer's Arrangement

In 1869, J. Lother-Meyer in Germany gave a more detailed and accurate relationship among the elements., Lother-Meyer plotted atomic volumes versus atomic weights of elements and obtained a curve. He pointed out that elements occupying similar positions in the curve possessed similar properties.

Mendeleev's Periodic Table

In 1869, Dimitriv Mendeleev (Russian Chemist) arranged the 63 chemical elements, then known, according to their increasing order of atomic weights. He gave his famous scheme of the periodic classification of elements known as the periodic law. The law states that ' the properties of the elements are the periodic function of their atomic weights'. It means that when elements are arranged in order of increasing atomic weights, the elements was similar properties recur after regular intervals. On the basis of this periodic law Mendeleev constructed a periodic table in such a way that the elements were arranged horizontally in order of their increasing atomic weights. Mendeleev, while studying his Periodic Table had found that in certain cases the regularity in behaviour between two succeeding elements was not observed. In order to overcome this he had kept gaps between such elements and had predicted that the gaps would be filled by new elements, to be discovered in future, For example, both gallium and germanium were not discovered at the time when Mendeleev proposed the periodic table. Mendeleev named these elements as eka-aluminium and eka-silicon because he believed that they would be similar to aluminium and silicon respectively. These elements were discovered later and Mendeleev's prediction proved remarkably correct. The discoveries / synthesis of new elements have continued even to the present day, raising their number to 120. The elements with atomic numbers upto 92 (i.e. uranium) are found in nature. The rest known as transuranium elements have been synthesized in the laboratories, which are highly unstable. They decay radioactively.

The modified periodic table is essentially similar to that of Mendeleev with a separate column added for noble gases, which were not discovered until the closing years of the nineteenth century. The general plan of the modified Mendeleev's periodic table is improved.

The Mendeleev's modified periodic table consists of:

1.    Nine vertical columns called groups. These are numbered from I to VIII and zero. (The members of zero group were not discovered at the time of Mendeleev). Each group from I to VII is further sub-divided into two sub-groups designated as A and B. Group VIII consists of three sets, each one containing three elements. Group zero consists of inert gases.

2.     Seven horizontal rows, called periods. These are numbered from 1 to 7. First period contains two elements. Second and third periods contain eight elements each. These periods are called short periods. Fourth and fifth contains eighteen elements each. These periods are called long periods. Sixth period contains thirty two elements and is called longest period. Seventh period is incomplete and contains nineteen elements according to early classification.