THE PERIODIC TABLE

CHAPTER 5
 5-1 organizing the elements
Keypoints:
1.How did Mendeleev organize the
elements in his periodic table?
2.What evidence helped to verify the
usefulness of Mendeleev’s table?

Vocab: periodic table

 The Search for Order
• Until 1750, only 17 elements identified (mostly
metals)
• As scientists began using a systematic approach the
discoveries jumped in number
• As the number of known elements grew, so did the
need to organize them into groups based on their
properties
• Dmitri Mendeleev (Russian chemist
& teacher) discovered an organizing
principle that worked for all the known
elements
 Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
• In the 1860’s Mendeleev was working on a
textbook to use with his chemistry students
• Since there were 63 elements known at the
time, he was looking for a way to organize
their information
• Found a way to organize them while playing
his favorite card game
 Mendeleev’s Proposal
• Modeled his strategy for the game
• Mendeleev made a deck of cards of
the elements with each card listing an
element’s name, mass and properties
• He tried lining them up in order of increasing
mass and a pattern emerged
• Mendeleev arranged the elements into rows in
order of increasing mass so that the elements
with similar properties were in the same column
• The final arrangement was similar to a
winning arrangement in solitaire, except the
columns were organized by properties instead
of suits
• Within a column, the masses increased from
top to bottom
• Mendeleev’s chart was a periodic table
• Periodic table: an arrangement of elements in
columns; based on a set of properties that
repeat from row to row
 Mendeleev’s Prediction
• Mendeleev could not make a complete table
because many of the elements hadn’t yet
been discovered
• He left spaces in his table for those
• 1st person to offer the best explanation for
how the properties of an element were
related to its location on the table
• Good test for correctness of a scientific
model is the ability to use it to make
predictions
• Mendeleev used the properties of the
known elements in his table to predict the
elements of the undiscovered elements
• Some scientists did not believe his
predictions, others used those predictions
to look for new elements
 Evidence Supporting Mendeleev’s
Table
• Mendeleev predicted that the element that
would fit into the space just below aluminum
in his periodic table would be a soft metal
with a low melting point and a density of 5.9
g/cm3 (called it eka-aluminum)
• in 1875, a French chemist
discovered a new element that
he name Gallium for France
-it is a soft metal with a melting point of 29.7°C
and a density of 5.91 g/cm3
• Properties of gallium are very similar
to the properties Mendeleev predicted
of eka-aluminum
• The close match between Mendeleev’s
predictions and the actual properties of new
elements showed how useful his predictions
could be
• Discovery of scandium (1879) & germanium
(1886) provided further evidence
• With this periodic table chemists could do
more than predict the properties of new
elements, they could explain the chemical
behavior of different groups of elements
 5-1 review
1. Describe how Mendeleev organized the elements
into rows and columns in his periodic table.
2. Scientists before Mendeleev had proposed ways to
organize the elements. Why were Mendeleev’s
efforts more successful?
3. Why did Mendeleev leave spaces in his table?
4. In general, how can a scientist test the usefulness of
their scientific models?
5. Explain why it would not have been possible for a
scientist in 1750 to develop a table like Mendeleev’s.
6. How was Mendeleev able to predict the properties of
elements that had not yet been discovered?
 5-2 The Modern Periodic Table
Key Concepts
1. How is the modern periodic table organized?
2. What does the atomic mass of an element depend on?
3. What categories are used to classify elements on the
periodic table?
4. How do properties vary across a period in the periodic
table?
Vocab: period, group, periodic law, atomic mass unit,
metals, transition metals, nonmetals, metalloids
• Elements in the same column on the periodic
table are related because their properties
repeat at regular intervals
• Elements in different rows are not identical
 The Periodic Law
• Mendeleev developed his periodic table
before the discovery of the proton
• He did not know that every atom of an
element has the same number of protons or
that different elements have different
numbers of protons in their atoms
• In the modern periodic table, elements are
arranged by increasing atomic number (#p)
 periods
• Each row on the table is a period
• period 1 has 2 elements, period 2-3 have 8, periods4-5 have
18, period 6 has 32 elements
• The number of elements per period varies because the number
of available orbitals increase from energy level to energy level
• 1st energy level only has 1 orbital, the 1 electron of H or the 2
electrons of He can fit
-Li has 3 electrons- 1 electron must go to the second energy
level (this is why it is in the 2nd period)
 groups
• Each column on the periodic table is a group
• Elements within a group have similar chemical
properties
• Properties of elements repeat in a predictable way
when atomic numbers are used to arrange the
elements into groups
• Elements in group have similar electron configurations
• Electron configurations of elements determine its
properties
• This pattern of repeating properties is called the
periodic law
 Atomic Mass
• There are 4 pieces of information that can be
found on a periodic table: the name of the
element, its symbol, its atomic number and its
atomic mass
• Atomic mass is a value that depends on the
distribution of an element’s isotopes in
nature and the masses of those isotopes
 atomic mass units
• The mass of an atom in grams is extremely small
and not very useful because samples of matter
that scientists work with contain trillions of atoms
• Scientists chose 1 isotope to serve as a standard in
order to have a convenient way to compare the
masses of atoms
• They assigned 12atomic mass units to the carbon-
12 atom
• 1atomic mass unit (amu) is defined as one-twelfth
the mass of a C-12 atom
 Isotopes of Cl
• In nature, most elements exist as a mixture of 2
or more isotopes
• The element Chlorine has the symbol Cl, the
atomic number 17 and the atomic mass of
35.453 amu
• there are 2 natural isotopes of Cl: Cl-35 and Cl-37
• Cl-35 has 17p & 18n; Cl-37 has 17p & 20n (so the
mass of Cl-37 is greater than the mass of Cl-35)
 weighted averages
• In weighted averages, some values are more important
than others

Isotope Percentage Atomic mass

Cl-35 75.78% 34.969
Cl-37
• To get the atomic mass24.22% 36.966
of Cl, you must take into account
the abundance of each isotope
• The isotope that occurs in nature 75% of the time
contributes 3 times more to the average
• (75.78% x 34.969)+(24.22% x 36.966)=atomic mass
 Classes of Elements
• 3 ways to class elements:
1.solids, liquids or gases
2.naturally occurring or not
3. metals, nonmetals, metalloids (categories
based on general properties)
* On the periodic table, metals are on the left,
nonmetals on the right and metalloids are in
between
 metals
• Majority of the elements on the periodic table
are classified as metals
• Metals are elements that are good conductors
of electric current and heat
• Except for Hg, metals are solid at room temp.
• Most are malleable, many are ductile
• Some are highly reactive, some not so much
• Metals in groups 3-12 are transition metals
• Transition metals- elements that form a bridge
between the elements on the left and right of the
periodic table
• Transition metals were some of the 1st elements
discovered (like Cu and Ag)
• 1 distinct property of these metals is the ability to form
compounds with distinctive colors (ex: transition
elements are used to make colored glass)
• Share many characteristics with each other
-lanthanide and actinide series so similar scientists had
a hard time separating them
 nonmetals
• Nonmetals have properties opposite of metals
• Elements that are poor conductors of heat and
electric current
• b/c of low melting points, many are gases at room
temp. (all gases on periodic table are nonmetals)
• Nonmetals that are solid at room temp. are brittle
• Some are reactive, some unreactive some in
between (F is most reactive-even reacts with gases
which are hardly reactive)
 metalloids
• Metalloids are elements that have properties
that fall between metals and nonmetals
• Metalloids ability to conduct electricity varies
with temperature
-ex: pure Si or Ge are good insulators are low
temps and good conductors at high temps
 Variation Across A Period
• Across a period from left to right, the elements
become less metallic and more nonmetallic in
their properties
• Most reactive metals are on the far left
• Most reactive nonmetals on the right side of the
table (group 17)
• ex: in period 3: Na will react with water in your
hands, Al/Si/P/S will not react with water, Cl
must be handles as carefully as Na
 5-2 review
1. What determines the order of the elements in the
modern periodic table?
2. Describe the periodic law.
3. What 2 factors determine the atomic mass of an
element?
4. Name 3 categories that are used to classify the
elements on the periodic table based on their
properties.
5. What major change occurs as you move from left to
right across the periodic table?
 5-3 Representative Groups
Key Concepts:

1.Why do the elements in a group have similar

properties?

Vocabulary: valence electron, alkali metals,

alkaline earth metals, halogens, noble gases
 Valence Electrons
• Valence electron= an electron that is in the highest
energy level of an atom
• These electrons play a key role in chemical
reactions
• Properties vary across a period because the number
of valence electrons increases from left to right
• Elements in a group have similar properties
because they have the same number of valence
electrons
 Alkali Metals
• Group 1A are the alkali metals
• Contain a single valence electron & are very
reactive
• So reactive that they are only found in nature
as compounds (ex: sodium chloride)
• The reactivity of alkali metals increases from
top to bottom
• Sodium
-as hard as cold butter & can
be cut with a sharp knife
-melts at 98°C & has a density
lower than water
-sodium will float in water, but reacts with water so
violently that it ignites the H gas that the reaction
forms
-Na & K are stored under oil to prevent reaction with
atmospheric water vapor
-cesium is so reactive it is stored in tiny
glass vials with Ar gas
 The Alkaline Earth Metals
• Elements in 2A are alkaline earth metals
• All have 2 valence electrons & are harder than alkali
metals
• Differences in reactivity among the alkaline earth
metals are shown by the ways they react with water
• Ca, Sr, Ba react with cold water, Mg reacts with hot
water, but Be doesn’t seem to react with water at all
• Mg & Ca essential in biological functions & provide
materials used in construction & transportation
 magnesium
• Plays a key role in the process that uses sunlight
to produce sugar in plants
-compound at the center of this process is
chlorophyll and at the center of chlorophyll is Mg
• Mixture of Mg and other metals are more
lightweight than steel but much stronger
-frame of bicycles & backpacks often contain Mg
 calcium
• Your body needs calcium to keep bones and
teeth strong
• Calcium carbonate is a main ingredient in
chalk, limestone, coral, and pearl
• Toothpaste contains calcium carbonate b/c
this hard substance can polish your teeth
• Plaster casts contain calcium sulfate, which is
a calcium, sulfur, oxygen mixture
 The Boron Family
• Group 3A containing 3 valence electrons
• Al is the most abundant metal in Earth’s crust
-often combined with oxygen in a mineral called
bauxite
-it is malleable, light weight, strong, good conductor
-recycling Al requires only 5% the energy required to
mine Al from bauxite
• Glass that contains boron used in lab glassware
 The Carbon Family
• 4A contains a nonmetal, 2 metalloids, 2metals
• Each contains 4 valence electrons
• Life on earth would not exist without carbon
• Except for water, most of the compounds in your
body contain carbon
• Reactions that occur in the cells are controlled by
carbon compounds
• Si is the 2nd most abundant element in the Earth’s
crust
 The Nitrogen Family
• 5A contains 2 nonmetals, 2 metalloids, 1metal and
all have 5 valence electrons
• Wide range of physical properties: N is a nonmetal
gas, P is a nonmetal solid, bismuth is a dense metal
• N&P are the most important elements in this
group
• N and P are both used in fertilizers, your body also
uses compounds of both to control reactions that
release food & energy
 The Oxygen Family
• Group 6A contains 3 nonmetals, 2 metalloids, &
1 metal: all have 6 valence electrons
• Oxygen is the most abundant element in the
Earth’s crust & in your body is used to release
energy stored in food
• S was one of the 1st elements discovered
because it is found in huge deposits- the US
manufactures more sulfuric acid than any other
chemical (65% made used in fertilizers)
 The Halogens
• Group 7A has 7 valence electrons
• Despite huge physical differences the halogens have
similar chemical properties
• Highly reactive nonmetals, react easily with most metals
• Flourine used in toothpaste, nonstick pans
• Chlorine used in bleach, used as antibacterial in drinking
water and pools
• Our body needs iodine to keep thyroid gland working
 The Nobel Gases
• Group 8A have 8 valence electrons except He
which has 2
• The noble gases are colorless, odorless, and
extremely unreactive
• All noble gases except radon used in neon lights
• Argon atmosphere in light bulbs allows filament
to last longer and silicon chips for computers to
be created
 5-3 review
1. Explain why elements in a group have similar
properties.
2. What is the relationship between an alkali metal’s
location in group1A and its reactivity?
3. What element exists in almost every compound in
your body?
4. Which group 5A elements are found in fertilzer?
5. Which group of elements is the least reactive?
6. Why is H found in the group with reactive
metals?
7. What biological function requires
magnesium?
8. Why is aluminum recycled?
9. What is the main use of sulfur?
10. Why is chlorine added to drinking water?