Periodic Table |
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| What is the Periodic Table Showing? | Periodicity |
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. The database holds information on periodic tables, the discovery of the elements, the elucidation of atomic weights and the discovery of atomic structure (and much, much more).
Periodic Tables from the year 1893 :
| 1893 | Rang's Periodic Arrangement of The Elements |
| 1893 | Nechaev's Truncated Cones |
| Year: 1893 | PT id = 63, Type = formulation |
Rang's Periodic Arrangement of The Elements
P.J.F. Rang's The Periodic Arrangement of the Elements, Chemical News, vol. 67, p. 178 (1893)
Observing that that Rang's table has four 'groups': A, B, C & D, René Vernon writes:
- Group A contains the strongest positive elements; group D the strongest negative elements. At such an early date, it's odd to see groups 1 to 3 categorised together.
- Group B are the elements with high melting points; "they are all remarkable for their molecular combinations" (presuamably, a reference to multiple oxidation states). At one side of group B are the "anhydro-combinations", probably referring to the simple chemistry of Ti, Zr, [Hf] Nb and Ta being dominated by insoluble oxides. At the other side are the "amin, carbonyl, and cyanogen combination", probably a reference to the group VIII carbonyls, as metal carbonyls had only just been discovered. Ni is shown after Fe, rather than Co.
- Group C includes the "heavy metals that have low melting points"; an early reference to frontier or post-transition metals, as a category.
- Rang says: ...if groups A and D be split up vertically in respectively three and two parts, the table presents seven vertical groups, and horizontally seven more or less complete series. Each group in each of the series 2 and 3 are represent by one element... The octave appears both horizontally and vertically in the table.
- Rang's reference to Di as representing all the triads between Ba and Ta kind of works since Hf would go under Zr, and that would leave 15 Ln or five sets of three. Thus, something like this:

Gd occupies the central position among the Ln. This arrangement won't fit however unless Rang envisaged all 15 Ln occupying the position under Y. - The location of H over | Ga | In | Tl, appears strange... but the electronegativity of H (2.2) is closer to B (2.04) than it is to C (2.55).
From Quam & Quam's 1934 review paper.pdf
| Year: 1893 | PT id = 1151, Type = formulation |
Nechaev's Truncated Cones
René Vernon (who found this formulation) writes:
This weird and wonderful table appears in Teleshov & Teleshova (2019, p. 230). It is attributed by them to Nechaev (1893) and is apparently discussed by Ipatiev (1904):
- The caption accompanying the table is: "Scanning of the projection of rotational bodies in the form of truncated cones as used in Nechaev's spatial construction of the periodic system, 1893."
- Looking at the table it seems to anticipate, after a fashion, the double periodicity noticed by later authors.
- Alternatively, if turned on its side, it would be just five columns wide.
- Between Ce (ignoring Di) and Yb, there are spaces for 12 missing elements, which is one too many.
- Pulling Yb back by one position would have done the trick.
"... We would also like to mention one more version of the periodic table, namely the one offered by V. Ipatiev. Ipatiev's version was one of the first to have been applied in a school textbook, and is also concise and accompanied by a detailed methodological commentary. More specifically, Ipatiev is important in directing our attention to the fact that an essential feature common to all elements should be chosen if the elements are to be systematized. Furthermore, Ipatiev also offered another crucial insight in arguing that this selected feature must satisfy certain conditions, namely: 1) it must be measurable, 2) it must be common to all elements and 3) it must be paramount, i.e. that all the remaining properties of the elements must depend on it [Ipatiev]."
References:
Ipat'ev, V. & Sapozhnikov, A. (1904). Kratkij kurs himii po programme voennyh uchilishh [A concise course in chemistry for military academies]. Sankt-Peterburg: tip. V. Demakova.
Nechaev N. P. (1893). Graficheskoe postroenie periodicheskoj sistemy jelementov Mendeleeva. Sposob Nechaeva [Graphic construction of Mendeleev's periodic system of elements. Nechaev's way]. Moskva: tip. Je. Lissnera i Ju. Romana
Teleshov S, Teleshova E.: The international year of the periodic table: An overview of events before and after the creation of the periodic table. In V Lamanauskas (ed.).: Science and technology Education: Challenges and possible solutions. Proceedings of the 3rd International Baltic Symposium on Science and Technology Education, BalticSTE2019, Šiauliai, 17-20 June, 2019. pp. 227-232, (2019)
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| What is the Periodic Table Showing? | Periodicity |
© Mark R. Leach Ph.D. 1999 –
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