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History of the periodic table
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History of the periodic table
The periodic table is an arrangement of the chemical elements, structured by their atomic number, electron configuration and recurring chemical properties. In the basic form, elements are presented in order of increasing atomic number, in the reading sequence. Then, rows and columns are created by starting new rows and inserting blank cells, so that rows (periods) and columns (groups) show elements with recurring properties (called periodicity). For example, all elements in group (column) 18 are noble gases that are largely—though not completely—unreactive.
The history of the periodic table reflects over two centuries of growth in the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of the elements, with major contributions made by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, John Newlands, Julius Lothar Meyer, Dmitri Mendeleev, Glenn T. Seaborg, and others.
In the 5th century BCE, Leucippus and his pupil Democritus proposed that all matter was composed of small indivisible particles which they called "atoms". Atoms, Democritus believed, are too small to be detected by the senses; they are infinite in numbers and come in infinitely many varieties, and they have existed forever and that these atoms are in constant motion in the void or vacuum. What we perceive as water, fire, plants, or humans are merely combinations of atoms in the void.
Around 330 BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that everything is made up of a mixture of one or more roots, an idea originally suggested by the Sicilian philosopher Empedocles. The four roots, which the Athenian philosopher Plato called elements, were earth, water, air and fire. Similar ideas existed in other ancient traditions, such as Indian philosophy with five elements: Earth, water, fire, air and aether collectively called 'pañca bhūta'.
Of the chemical elements shown on the periodic table, nine – carbon, sulfur, iron, copper, silver, tin, gold, mercury, and lead – have been known since antiquity, as they are found in their native form and are relatively simple to mine with primitive tools. Five more elements were known in the age of alchemy: zinc, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.[citation needed] Platinum was known to pre-Columbian South Americans, but knowledge of it did not reach Europe until the 16th century.[citation needed]
The history of the periodic table is also a history of the discovery of the chemical elements. In 1661, Boyle defined elements as "those primitive and simple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and into which they are ultimately resolved."
The first person in recorded history to discover a new element was Hennig Brand, a bankrupt German merchant. Brand tried to discover the philosopher's stone—a mythical object that was supposed to turn inexpensive base metals into gold. In 1669, or later, his experiments with distilled human urine resulted in the production of a glowing white substance, which he called "cold fire" (kaltes Feuer). He kept his discovery secret until 1680, when Anglo-Irish chemist Robert Boyle rediscovered phosphorus and published his findings.
The discovery of phosphorus helped to raise the question of what it meant for a substance (any given variety of matter) to be an element, in a world where versions of atomic theory were only speculative and later understandings of the nature of substances were only beginning to become possible.
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History of the periodic table
The periodic table is an arrangement of the chemical elements, structured by their atomic number, electron configuration and recurring chemical properties. In the basic form, elements are presented in order of increasing atomic number, in the reading sequence. Then, rows and columns are created by starting new rows and inserting blank cells, so that rows (periods) and columns (groups) show elements with recurring properties (called periodicity). For example, all elements in group (column) 18 are noble gases that are largely—though not completely—unreactive.
The history of the periodic table reflects over two centuries of growth in the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of the elements, with major contributions made by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, John Newlands, Julius Lothar Meyer, Dmitri Mendeleev, Glenn T. Seaborg, and others.
In the 5th century BCE, Leucippus and his pupil Democritus proposed that all matter was composed of small indivisible particles which they called "atoms". Atoms, Democritus believed, are too small to be detected by the senses; they are infinite in numbers and come in infinitely many varieties, and they have existed forever and that these atoms are in constant motion in the void or vacuum. What we perceive as water, fire, plants, or humans are merely combinations of atoms in the void.
Around 330 BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that everything is made up of a mixture of one or more roots, an idea originally suggested by the Sicilian philosopher Empedocles. The four roots, which the Athenian philosopher Plato called elements, were earth, water, air and fire. Similar ideas existed in other ancient traditions, such as Indian philosophy with five elements: Earth, water, fire, air and aether collectively called 'pañca bhūta'.
Of the chemical elements shown on the periodic table, nine – carbon, sulfur, iron, copper, silver, tin, gold, mercury, and lead – have been known since antiquity, as they are found in their native form and are relatively simple to mine with primitive tools. Five more elements were known in the age of alchemy: zinc, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.[citation needed] Platinum was known to pre-Columbian South Americans, but knowledge of it did not reach Europe until the 16th century.[citation needed]
The history of the periodic table is also a history of the discovery of the chemical elements. In 1661, Boyle defined elements as "those primitive and simple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and into which they are ultimately resolved."
The first person in recorded history to discover a new element was Hennig Brand, a bankrupt German merchant. Brand tried to discover the philosopher's stone—a mythical object that was supposed to turn inexpensive base metals into gold. In 1669, or later, his experiments with distilled human urine resulted in the production of a glowing white substance, which he called "cold fire" (kaltes Feuer). He kept his discovery secret until 1680, when Anglo-Irish chemist Robert Boyle rediscovered phosphorus and published his findings.
The discovery of phosphorus helped to raise the question of what it meant for a substance (any given variety of matter) to be an element, in a world where versions of atomic theory were only speculative and later understandings of the nature of substances were only beginning to become possible.
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