Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, (born Dec.

13, 1780, Hof an der Saale [Germany]—died March 24, 1849,

Jena), German chemist whose observation of similarities among certain elements anticipated the
development of the periodic system of elements.

As a coachman’s son, Döbereiner had little opportunity for formal schooling, but he was apprenticed to
an apothecary, read widely, and attended learned science lectures. Eventually he was able to attend the
University of Jena, where he became an assistant professor (1810) and later was supervisor of science
instruction. He was a lifelong friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

During the 1820s Döbereiner’s experiments with the ignition of hydrogen on contact with powdered
platinum led the Swedish chemist J.J. Berzelius to develop the concept of catalysis. Toward the end of
the decade Döbereiner found that the properties of bromine, a liquid, seem halfway between those of
chlorine gas and the solid iodine. He recalled a comparable graduation of properties in two other
sequences—calcium, strontium, barium; and sulfur, selenium, tellurium. He showed that in each triad
the mean of the lightest and heaviest atomic weights approximated the atomic weight of the middle
element. But he could not substantiate his hypothesis with a sufficient number of triads, and his findings
were regarded in his time as merely interesting curiosities. Döbereiner also discovered the organic
compound furfural and developed the separation of calcium and magnesium.

John Newlands, in full John Alexander Reina Newlands, (born November 26, 1837, London, England—
died July 29, 1898, London), English chemist whose “law of octaves” noted a pattern in the atomic
structure of elements with similar chemical properties and contributed in a significant way to the
development of the periodic law.

In Newlands studied at the Royal College of Chemistry, London, fought as a volunteer under Giuseppe
Garibaldi for Italian unification (1860), and later worked as an industrial chemist. In 1864 he published
his concept of the periodicity of the chemical elements, which he had arranged in order of atomic
weight. He pointed out that every eighth element in this grouping shared a resemblance and suggested
an analogy with the intervals of the musical scale. The “law of octaves,” thus enunciated, was
controversial at first but later was recognized as an important generalization in modern chemical theory.
Newlands collected his various papers in On the Discovery of the Periodic Law (1884).

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Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian in full Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev, (born January 27 (February 8, New
Style), 1834, Tobolsk, Siberia, Russian Empire—died January 20 (February 2), 1907, St. Petersburg,
Russia), Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements. Mendeleev found
that, when all the known chemical elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weight, the
resulting table displayed a recurring pattern, or periodicity, of properties within groups of elements. In
his version of the periodic table of 1871, he left gaps in places where he believed unknown elements
would find their place. He even predicted the likely properties of three of the potential elements. The
subsequent proof of many of his predictions within his lifetime brought fame to Mendeleev as the
founder of the periodic law.

Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley (/ˈmoʊzli/; 23 November 1887 – 10 August 1915) was an English physicist,
whose contribution to the science of physics was the justification from physical laws of the previous
empirical and chemical concept of the atomic number.

Properties of Metals

Most elements are metals. Examples of metals include iron, tin, sodium, and plutonium. Metals exhibit
the following properties:

usually solid at room temperature (mercury is an exception)

high luster (shiny)

metallic appearance

good conductors of heat and electricity

malleable (can be bent and pounded into thin sheets)

ductile (can be drawn into wire)

corrode or oxidize in air and sea water

usually dense (exceptions include lithium, potassium, and sodium)

may have a very high melting point

readily lose electrons

Properties of Metalloids or Semimetals

Examples of metalloids include boron, silicon, and arsenic. Metalloids have some of the properties of
metals and some nonmetallic characteristic.

dull or shiny

usually conduct heat and electricity, though not as well as metals

often make good semiconductors

often exist in several forms

often ductile

often malleable

may gain or lose electrons in reactions

Properties of Nonmetals

Nonmetals exhibit very different properties from metals. Examples of nonmetals include oxygen,
chlorine, and argon. Nonmetals display some or all of the following characteristics:

dull appearance

usually brittle

poor conductors of heat and electricity

usually less dense, compared to metals

usually low melting point of solids, compared with metals

tend to gain electrons in chemical reactions.