C HAPTER 5: T HE P ERIODIC T ABLE Physical Science

S ECTION 5–1: O RGANIZING T HE E LEMENTS

O BJECTIVES Describe how Mendeleev arranged the elements in his table. Explain how the predictions Mendeleev made and the discovery of new elements demonstrated the usefulness of his periodic table.

T HE S EARCH FOR O RDER Until 1750, scientists had identified only 17 elements Most of which were metals like copper and iron. In 1789, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier grouped the known elements into categories he called metals, nonmetals, gases, and earths.

M ENDELEEV ’ S P ERIODIC T ABLE Mendeleev found a way to organize the known elements while playing a card game very similar to solitaire. He made a “deck of cards” of each element, and each card contained the element’s name, mass, and properties. He paid close attention to how each element behaved in reactions with oxygen and hydrogen.

M ENDELEEV ’ S P ERIODIC T ABLE Mendeleev arranged the elements into rows in order of increasing mass so that elements with similar properties were in the same column. Within a column, the masses increased from top to bottom. This chart was a periodic table. A periodic table is an arrangement of elements in columns, based on a set of properties that repeat from row to row.

M ENDELEEV ’ S P REDICTION Mendeleev could not make a complete table of the elements because many elements had not yet been discovered. He had to leave spaces in his table for those elements for that reason. For example, he placed bromine in Group VII because bromine and chlorine have similar properties. This left four spaces in row 4 between zinc and bromine. He placed arsenic and selenium in two of the spots, and left gaps in the other two where he predicted the existence of new elements.

E VIDENCE S UPPORTING M ENDELEEV ’ S T ABLE Mendeleev named missing elements after elements in the same group. He gave the name eka-aluminum to the element that belonged one space below aluminum in the table. He predicted that it would be a soft metal with a low melting point and a density of 5.9 g/cm 3. In 1875, a French chemist discovered eka- aluminum and renamed it Gallium ( Gallia is Latin for “France”)

E VIDENCE S UPPORTING M ENDELEEV ’ S T ABLE The properties of gallium are very similar to what Mendeleev had predicted years before it was discovered. The close match between Mendeleev’s predictions and the actual properties of new elements showed how useful his periodic table could be. The discovery of scandium in 1879 and germanium in 1886 provided additional evidence.