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The INTERNET Database of Periodic Tables

There are thousands of periodic tables in web space, but this is the only comprehensive database of periodic tables & periodic system formulations. If you know of an interesting periodic table that is missing, please contact the database curator: Mark R. Leach Ph.D.

Use the drop menus below to search & select from the more than 1300 Period Tables in the database: 

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Year:  2020 PT id = 1171, Type = data formulation

16 Dividing Lines Within The Periodic Table

René Vernon points out that there are 16 dividing lines within the periodic table.

A-Z Dividing Lines:

48-crash line: Named after the dramatic reduction in physical metallic character after group 11, Cd being Z = 48. Group 12 show few transition metal attributes and behave predominantly like post-transition metals.

Big bang line: H makes up about 73% of the visible universe.

Corrosive line: O, F, Cl = most corrosive nonmetals.

d-Block fault line: Group 3 show little d-block behaviour; group 4 is the first in which characteristic d-block behaviour occurs.

Deming line: Demarcates the metalloids from the pre-halogen nonmetals. The "reactive" nonmetals to the right of the metalloids each have a sub-metallic appearance (C, O, Se, I).

Edge of the world line: No guesses for this one.

Klemm line: Klemm, in 1929, was the first to note the double periodicity of the lanthanides (Ce to Lu). Lockyer line: After the discoverer of He, the first element not found on Earth.

Ørsted line: After the magnetic effects believed to be responsible for Mn having a crystalline structure analogous to white P; Tc: First radioactive metal; Re: Last of the refractory metals; "most radioactive" of the naturally occurring elements with stable isotopes. Fe: First of the ferromagnetic metals; Ru: First noble metal; Os: Densest of naturally occurring metals. The number of unpaired d electrons peaks in group 7 and reduces thereafter.

Platypus line: Tl shows similarities to Rb, Ag, Hg, Pb.

Poor metal line: Most metals (80%) have a packing factor (PF)3 68%. Ga: Has a crystalline structure analogous to that of iodine. BCN 1+6.* PF 39.1%. Melts in your hand. In: Partly distorted structure due to incompletely ionised atoms. BCN 4+8. PE 68.6%. Oxides in preferred +3 state are weakly amphoteric; forms anionic indates in strongly basic solutions. Tendency to form covalent compounds is one of the more important properties influencing its electro-chemical behaviour. Sn: Irregularly coordinated structure associated with incompletely ionised atoms. BCN 4+2. PF 53.5%. Oxides in preferred +2 state are amphoteric; forms stannites in strongly basic solutions. Grey Sn is electronically a zero band gap semimetal, although it behaves like a semiconductor. Diamond structure. BCN 4. PF 34.0%. Pb: Close-packed, but abnormally large inter-atomic distance due to partial ionisation of Pb atoms. BCN 12. PF 74%. Oxide in preferred +2 state is amphoteric; forms anionic plumbates in strongly basic solutions. Bi: Electronic structure of a semimetal. Open-packed structure (3+3) with bonding intermediate between metallic and covalent. PF 44.6%. Trioxide is predominantly basic but will act as a weak acid in warm, very concentrated KOH. Can be fused with KOH in air, resulting in a brown mass of potassium bismuthate.

Seaborg line: No f electrons in gas phase La, Ac and Th atoms.

Triple line: N = gas; S = solid; Br = liquid.

Zigzag lobby: H needs no intro. Li: Many salts have a high degree of covalency. Small size frequently confers special properties on its compounds and for this reason is sometimes termed 'anomalous'. E.g. miscible with Na only above 380° immiscible with molten K, Rb, Cs, whereas all other pairs of AM are miscible with each other in all proportions. Be: Has a covalent component to its otherwise predominately metallic structure = low ductility. Lowest known Poisson's ratio of elemental metals. Amphoteric; predominately covalent chemistry atypical of group 2. Some aspects of its chemical properties are more like those of a metalloid.

Zigzag line: Eponymous metal-nonmetal dividing line.

Zintl line: Hypothetical boundary highlighting tendency for group 13 metals to form phases with a various stoichiometries, in contrast to group 14+ that tend to form salts with polymeric anions.

* BCN = bulk coordination number

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What is the Periodic Table Showing? Periodicity

© Mark R. Leach Ph.D. 1999 –


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