Periodic Table Variations
Many innovators have developed periodic tables which are chemical element displays different from the well known Mendeleev periodic table. Several have been devised purely for didactic reasons, as not all correlations between the chemical elements are effectively captured by the standard periodic table.
In Theodor Benfey's periodic table (1960), on the top left, the elements spiral out in two dimensions starting from hydrogen folding their way around two islands, the transition metals & lanthanides and actinides. A superactinide island is already slotted in.
Below, in Edgar Longman’s Chemical Galaxy (1951) the elements spiral out in a similar way to the much earlier (1914) drawing of Ingo W. D. Hackh’s concept, below this, and published recently, more galaxy-like, by Philip Stewart.
A reconstruction of the original spiral, by de Chancourtois, is shown at the bottom left. It is on a 3D tube, and is the first true periodic table, preceding Mendeleev by almost a decade.
On the right, top, Fernando DuFour's product called the ElemenTree. He claims "A third dimension [for the periodic table] is not an option but a necessity". His invention maintains the horizontal and vertical symmetry inherent in the periodic table to relate the electron configurations of the elements to their chemical and physical properties.
An English scientist called John Newlands put forward his law of octaves in 1864. He arranged all the elements known at the time into a table in order of relative atomic mass. When he did this, he found that each element was similar to the element eight places further on. His mistake was presenting it in the form of musical bars, and was ridiculed.
Shown to the right, the Alexander Arrangement of the Elements. Roy Alexander, the author of this text (& this website) invented – and later patented – this 3D periodic table in 1971 for a better introduction to chemistry in museums and in middle & high schools.
At the bottom, right, is an example of a triangular form of the periodic table. This is a formulation adapted by Eric Scerri from tables developed by Thomas Bayley, Jørgen Thomsen and Neils Bohr that depicts the symmetrical nature of the periodic law. Emil Zmaczynski has created a similar one that also graphically reflects the process of the construction of electronic shells of atoms.
Periodic Table Variations