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 hold information on periodic tables, the discovery of the elements and elucidation of atomic weights (and more).
Periodic Tables from the year 1923:
| 1923 | Deming's Periodic Table |
| 1923 | Deming's Other 1923 Periodic Table: Mendeleev style |
| 1923 | Lewis' Periodic Table |
| 1923 | Fajans' Periodic Table |
| 1923 | Deming's Periodic Table With Commentry by Vernon |
| Year: 1923 | PT id = 360, Type = formulation |
Deming Periodic Table
H.G. Deming used the long periodic table in his textbook General Chemistry, which appeared in the USA for the first time in 1923 (Wiley), and designated the first two and the last five Main Groups with the notation "A", and the intervening Transition Groups with the notation "B".
The numeration was chosen so that the characteristic oxides of the B groups would correspond to those of the A groups. The iron, cobalt, and nickel groups were designated neither A nor B. The Noble Gas Group was originally attached (by Ueming) to the left side of the periodic table. The group was later switched to the right side and usually labeled as Group VlllA.
This version of the periodic table was distributed for many years by the Sargent-Welch Scientific Company, Skokie, Illinois, USA.:

| Year: 1923 | PT id = 456, Type = formulation |
Deming’s Other 1923 Periodic Table: Mendeleev style
Deming's "other" 1923 periodic table: a Mendeleev style formulation with an unusual metal-non-metal dividing line:

| Year: 1923 | PT id = 941, Type = formulation |
Lewis' Periodic Table
From G.N. Lewis' book: VALENCE and the Structure of Atoms and Molecules, The Chemical Catalog Company (1923).

| Year: 1923 | PT id = 1198, Type = formulation |
Fajans' Periodic Table
Fajans K., Radioactivity and the latest developments in the study of the chemical elements, trans. TS Wheeler, WG King, 4th German edition, Methuen & Co., London, pp. 116-117, 1923.
René Vernon writes: "An addition to the long list of tables with B-Al over Sc."

| Year: 1923 | PT id = 1256, Type = formulation review |
Deming's Periodic Table With Commentry by Vernon
René Vernon writes:
Deming's 1923 periodic table is credited with popularizing the 18-column form.
I now see Deming used different thickness sloping lines to represent the different degrees of similarity between the main groups and their corresponding transition metal groups.
- The line between Li-Na and group 11 is dashed, denoting the weakest relationship.
- Be-Mg are in group 2 The line between Be-Mg and group 12 is not dashed, denoting a stronger relationship.
- B-Al are in group 3
- The line between B-Al and Ga-In-Tl is thicker yet.
When I plot up to 20 chemical properties v Z going down these options I get the following values for the average smoothness of the trendlines:
- 73.5% for Li-Na-Cu(+2)-Ag(+1)-Au(+3) versus 84% for Li-Na-K-Rb-Cs
- 70% Be-Mg over Zn versus 85% for Be-Mg-Ca-Sr-Ba
- 81% for B-Al-Ga-In-Tl versus 88% B-Al-Sc-Y-La
I would have thought the smoothness for the line between Li-Na and Cu would be < 70%, consistent with Deming’s dashed line. But the thickness of the line would depend on what Deming took into account when he drew it. The common wisdom about groups 1 and 11 is that their similarities are: "confined almost entirely to the stoichiometries (as distinct from the chemical properties) of the compounds in the +1 oxidation state." (Greenwood & Earnshaw 2002, p. 1177). Kneen et al. (1972, p. 521) say that, "the differences between the properties of the group IA and IB elements are those between a strongly and weakly electropositive metal." On this basis I follow Deming’s dashed line. I’ve appended some notes about Group 1 and Group 11.
- Main group 4 is C-Si-Ge-Sn-Pb
- The line between Si and Ti-Zr-Hf is thick
- The line between N-P and V is less thick
- The line between O-S and Cr is less thick again
- The line between F-Cl and Mn is dashed
I have [calculated] a smoothness for C-Si-Ti-Zr-Hf of 86% versus 70% for C-Si-Ge-Sn-Pb. Since Ti shows some transition metal chemistry but not C-Si, it is perhaps plausible to keep C-Si-Ge-Sn-Pb together (as Deming did ).
Deming was a smart author. Nigh on a century later and the metrics check out.
More about group 1 and group 11
There may be a little more to the relationship between Li-Na & Cu-Ag-Au, than is ordinarily appreciated. For example:
- The resulting composite "group" has two electropositive metals and three more electronegative metals so its overall nature is more nuanced then purely group 1 or purely group 11
- The ionic radii of Li+ and Cu+ are 0.76 and 0.77 Å, and there is at least some discussion in the literature about substitution phenomena (Vasilev et al. 2019, p. 2-15; Udaya et al. 2020, p. 98; Kubenova 2021 et al.)
- Group 1 and 11 metal atoms form clusters relatively easily including Au_42+, Ag_64+, Rb_75+, Na_43+ (Mile et al. 1991, p. 134; Wulfsberg 2000, p. 631).
- In an organometallic context, Schade & Scheyler (1988, p. 196) wrote that, "There is much evidence that differences between group 1 and group 11 metals are not of principal but rather gradual manner."
- Although most nonmagnetic metals exhibit superconductivity it is significant that the Group 1 and 11 metals do not become superconducting at very low temperatures (Rao & Gopalakrishnan 1997, p. 398).
- Gold forms intermetallic compounds with all alkali metals (Schwerdtfeger et al. 1989. p. 1769)
References
- Greenwood NN & Earnshaw A 2002, Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd ed., Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford
- Kubenova et al. 2021, "Some thermoelectric phenomena in copper chalcogenides replaced by lithium and sodium alkaline metals", Nanomaterials 2021, vol. 11, no. 9. article 2238, https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11092238
- Mile et al. 1991, "Matrix-isolation studies of the structures and reactions of small metal particles", Farady Discussions, vol. 92, pp. 129–145 (134), https://doi.org/10.1039/FD9919200129
- Rao CNR & Gopalakrishnan J 1997, New Directions on Solid State Chemistry, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
- Schade C & Schleyer PVR 1988, "Sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium: X-Ray structural analysis of their organic compounds", Advances in Organometallic Chemistry, vol. 27, Stone FGA & West R (eds), Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 169–278
- Schwerdtfeger et al. 1989, "Relativistic effects in gold chemistry. I. Diatomic gold compounds.", The Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 91, no. 3, pp. 1762–1774. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.457082
- Udaya et al. 2020, Metal sulphides for lithium-ion batteries, in Inamuddin, Ahmer & Asiri (eds), Lithium-ion batteries: Materials and applications, Materials Research Forum, Millersville PA, pp. 91–122
- Vasiliev AN et al. 2019, Low-dimensional Magnetism, CRC Press, Boca Raton
- Wulfsberg 2000, Inorganic chemistry, University Science Books, Sausalito, CA
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| What is the Periodic Table Showing? | Periodicity |
© Mark R. Leach Ph.D. 1999 –
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