Dobereiner’s law of Triads: (1829): According to Dobereiner in certain triads (groups of three

elements which possessed similar chemical properties) the atomic mass of the central
element was merely the arithmetic mean of the atomic masses of the other two elements
and the properties of the middle element were in between those of the end members. These
families of three elements became known as Dobereiner’s Triads. But in some triads, all the
three elements possessed nearly the same atomic masses, hence the law was rejected.
Triads Mean of atomic masses of 𝟏𝒔𝒕 and 𝟑𝒓𝒅 elements
𝑳𝒊 𝑵𝒂 𝑲 𝟕+𝟑𝟗
7 23 39
= 𝟐𝟑
𝟐
𝑪𝒍 𝑩𝒓 𝑰 𝟑𝟓.𝟓+𝟑𝟗
35.5 80 127
= 𝟖𝟏. 𝟐𝟓
𝟐
𝑪𝒂 𝑺𝒓 𝑩𝒂 𝟒𝟎+𝟏𝟑𝟕
40 88 137
= 𝟖𝟖. 𝟓
𝟐
𝑺 𝑺𝒆 𝑻𝒆 𝟑𝟐+𝟏𝟐𝟕
32 79 127
= 𝟕𝟗. 𝟓
𝟐
𝑷 𝑨𝒔 𝑺𝒃 𝟑𝟏+𝟏𝟐𝟎
31 75 120
= 𝟕𝟓. 𝟓
𝟐
𝑭𝒆 𝑪𝒐 𝑵𝒊 Nearly same atomic masses
𝑹𝒖 𝑹𝒉 𝑷𝒅 Nearly same atomic masses
𝑶𝒔 𝑰𝒓 𝑷𝒕 Nearly same atomic masses

Newland's Law of Octaves:

According to this law, the elements when arranged in order of their increasing atomic masses,
the eighth succeeding element was the repetition of the first one like 8th note of the musical
scale, i.e., after a difference of seven, elements with similar characteristics were observed.
The following are the five horizontal rows of the Newland's classification:
Musical Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
Scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
𝟏𝒔𝒕 𝑯 𝑳𝒊 𝑩𝒆 B 𝑪 𝑵 𝑶
𝒏𝒅 𝑭 𝑵𝒂 𝑴𝐠 𝑨𝒍 𝑺𝒊 𝑷 𝑺
𝟐
𝟑𝒓𝒅 𝑪𝒍 𝑲 𝑪𝒂 𝑪𝒓 𝑻𝒊 𝑴𝒏 𝑭𝒆
𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒐, 𝑵𝒊 𝑪𝒖 𝒁𝒏 𝒀 𝑰𝒏 𝑨𝒔 𝑺𝒆
𝟒
𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝑩𝒓 𝑹𝒃 𝑺𝒓 𝑪𝒆, 𝑳𝒂 𝒁𝒓 − −
The system worked quite well for the lighter elements only up to calcium. For example H, F
and Cl show similar properties and similarly Li, Na and K exhibit same characteristics. The
system, however, fails in the case of heavier elements as manganese has been placed along
with nitrogen and phosphorus or iron has been placed along with oxygen and sulphur, i.e.,
dissimilar elements have been grouped which is against the aim of classification. This clearly
shows that in the classification, the properties of the elements were not taken into account
and only the elements were arranged in order of ascending atomic masses. No space was left
for the elements which were unknown at that time and many elements were provided wrong
positions on account of wrong values of atomic masses in this classification. Thus, Newland's
classification was not accepted as an appropriate arrangement.