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New Graphical Representation of the Periodic Table

Posted by kdawson on from the thulium-and-thalium dept.

KentuckyFC writes "The great power of Mendeleev's periodic table was that it allowed him to predict the properties of undiscovered elements. But can this arrangement be improved? Two new envisionings of the periodic table attempt to do just that. The first uses a new graphical representation that shows the relative sizes of atoms as well as their groups and periods. The other uses the same kind of group theoretical approach that particle physicists developed to classify particles by their symmetries (abstract). That helped particle physicists predict the existence of new particles, but may have limited utility for chemists who seem to have discovered (or predicted) all of the elements they need already."

4 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Call me a cynic.. by Afforess · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but that design doesn't look much better than the current one. In fact, it looks worse. Helium and Hydrogen overlap, and part of the table is cut off completely. Some might whine that part of the table is cut off in the current version too, but that's just to make it fit on a page, it actually is one contiguous body.

    I believe the age-old axiom "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" applies here.

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    1. Re:Call me a cynic.. by Volante3192 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The major problem I see with it is they stitched the table ends together rather than really account for size. You have to know the previous one to make any sense of the new one.

      Take the first inner ring: it LOOKS like it goes B - C - N - O - F - Ne - Li - Be... and that puts 10 right next to 3.

      Makes sense if you KNOW to start counting at Lithium, but if you're just looking at the table, you will naturally start at Boron. More annoyingly is that puts a very unreactive element first. The great part about the old one is it went from very reactive, to minimally reactive, to very reactive (with a brief stop to inertsville). Again, you lose that having the top line bookended by Boron and Beryllium.

  2. Still not right by schon · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you're gonna go and change it, why not make it correct while you're at it?

    Teach the controversy, people!

  3. Site Full of Periodic Tables by Jack9 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Another periodic table, is not news.
    Someone should have already linked one of the periodic table databases like:

    http://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt_database.php

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