Apr 18, 2008
Rebuilding the Periodic Table
The Periodic Table of the elements is a fascinating icon of science. It is incredibly useful and has been exploited and sexploited too in the form of a periodic table of yoga and a sexy PT. It has also been hacked apart, cut and paste into different formats, created as illuminated wall cases, woodworked into furniture, spiralled, spherized, and generally rebuilt in almost every imaginable way ever since Mendeleev first dreamed of laying out his elemental cards according to the periodicity of elemental properties.
Now, in an effort to inspire chemists to reconsider the foundations of the periodic table, chemical philosopher Eric Scerri of the University of California, Los Angeles, is building a new way to classify the chemical elements one step at a time.
Writing in the latest issue of the Journal of Chemical Education (PDF 2008, 85, 585-589), Scerri explains how the periodic table initially arose from the discovery of atomic weight triads but he now suggests that chemists should recognize the fundamental importance of atomic number triads.
This sea change in elemental attitude might enhance the periodic table by classifying the elements at a fundamental level as basic substances. As such, he and his colleagues have developed a new version of the “left-step” periodic table, which looks very different from the conventional PT. In the new layout, with its step-like pattern actinides and lanthanides are no longer relegated to a standalone box, but form the first step of the PT.
Climbing right to the transition metals (Fe, Mn, Ir, Sg et al) on the next step and then to the non- and semi-metals, such as boron carbon, oxygen, silicon etc and finally a step in which the halogens (fluorine, chlorine…), noble gases (neon, xenon…), alkali metals (potassium, sodium…) and alkaline earth metals (beryllium, calcium…) form the final highest step on the right. Hydrogen tops the halogen column and helium crowns the noble gases rather than acting as the outer beacons as with the conventional layout. (Click the graphic for a clearer, full-size view).
“The left step table has been around for some time,” Scerri told me, “but I am modifying it to accommodate two atomic number triads which would otherwise be absent. They are He, Ne, Ar which ceases to exist as a triad in the usually encountered left-step table and H, F, Cl which does not exist either in the conventional medium-long form table or the usually encountered left-step table.”
In the grander scheme of things, whatever form the Periodic Table takes in the future matters not to those of us who sing, so we end with a song, the periodic table song from Tom Lehrer (who was 80 on April 9, 2008 and gets a mention in the Official Google Blog this week), known simply as The Elements.
"Deceived Wisdom: Why What You Thought Was Right Is Wrong" from David Bradley. Available now on 
I’m the one who generated the periodic fractal that Jon cited. I never submitted it to Chem Comm or any other journal in spidery green or any other ink. It was simply something that bothered me ever since high school and eventually worked out a diagram that simply satisfied my problems with the traditional table. I threw it up on my personal site in hopes that others would find it similarly satisfying.
Roy alerted me to this discussion, and while I agree that 3D presentations have a lot to offer, I also agree with others here that it’s often helpful to flatten diagrams so that all parts are visible at a glance. My favorite other 2D treatment is Emil Zmaczynski’s Triangular Periodic Table (http://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt.html#ah) which I think also captures the pattern of bifurcations nicely. My favorite 3D treatment is pTable3D (http://www.umsl.edu/~fraundorfp/nanowrld/newlive/ptable3d.html) which uses molecular modeling software to essentially “relax” the 2D graph in my periodic fractal into an interactive “T-shirt” of the elements. Very clever.
As others have suggested here, there is no single best model for this or any other thing. All models are simplifications by definition and the utility of a given model depends entirely upon your particular need. It’s all good.
That’s a very kind offer Roy. Hopefully, you’ll have few flat earthers take you up on it.
db
The “Periodic Fractal” looks much like the DeskTopper as road kill. The Hyde table even more so – 10 years after the invention (not publication) of the Alexander Arrangement of the Elements. A step, however in the right direction from the flat table’s flaws so well described on the page with the fractal.
Both have precisely the same premise as the AAE, but are greatly diminished by having only 2 dimensions. Surprising how many can’t think “off the page,” even when it benefits the new student so much.
To help visualizing, I am willing to send a DeskTopper model kit to any of you, as the photos apparently don’t do it justice.
Send address to roy@allperiodictables.com.
Roy
That looks vaguely familiar Jon, I wonder if it was submitted to Chem Comm at the time I was on that journal. We used to get a lot of weird PTs sent in…usually accompanied by handwritten notes in green spidery ink.
db
This conversation has gotten a little academic for me to contribute in a worthwhile way, but I StumbledUpon™ this – a nice idea I think. Not 100% chemistry-wise, but pleasing nonetheless.
http://www.superliminal.com/pfractal.htm
Jon