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Asked by shabz to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 14 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by manutd, aiishii.
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Tim Millar answered on 14 Jun 2011:
Its a list of all the elements mixed up on their similar characteristics. A russion scientist Mendeleev came up with the idea. He even knew where chemicals would fit in the table before they were discovered! which is quite clever.
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Tom Crick answered on 14 Jun 2011:
The periodic table is a way of organising the 118 known chemical elements by increasing values of their atomic numbers (the number of protons in their atomic nuclei). While rectangular in general outline, gaps are included in the horizontal rows (“periods”) as needed to keep elements with similar properties together in each vertical column (“group”), such as the alkali metals, the halogens and the noble gases.
Take a look at the periodic table of videos from the University of Nottigham, an excellent resource.
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Sarah Thomas answered on 14 Jun 2011:
There were anumber of scientists that draw up “periodic tables” but in 1869 Dmitri Mendeleev was the first scientist to get his periodic table acknowledged by the scientific community! He based his table on incresing atmoic weight but he was not the first scientist to do this.
Modern day periodic tables are based on increasing atomic number rather than weight, but you can’t blame Mendeleev & co – they didn’t know protons existed!!
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Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 14 Jun 2011:
The periodic table is made by ordering the elements according to their atomic number (which is the number of protons in the nucleus). Every time you get to an atom which has a new orbital shell configuration, you start a new row. Sometimes you leave gaps to ensure that elements with the similar properties line up in the same columns.
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