Introduction to the

Periodic Table
Part II
Atomic
Number

• Atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus

• The number of protons uniquely identifies an atom
• As an example, all carbon atoms have 6 protons in the
nucleus, all oxygen atoms have 8 protons
• Elements are listed on the periodic table in order of
atomic number
 Organization of
Periodic Table

• Rows on the periodic chart are periods

• Columns are groups or chemical families
• Elements in the same group have similar chemical properties