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Print - Classification and Periodicity of Elements
Print - Classification and Periodicity of Elements
AS
SI
elements:
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Iron; which has similar property as cobalt and nickel, was placed far
from them.
Cobalt and nickel were placed in the group with chlorine and fluorine
in spite of having different properties.
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Mendeleev's Periodic
Classification
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, a Russian scientist arranged the elements in
increasing order of their relative atomic masses. He was honoured with
Noble prize in 1906 for his Periodic Table.
Mendeleevs Periodic Law states that the properties of elements are the
periodic function of their relative atomic masses.
Mendeleev arranged all 63 elements; which were discovered till his time; in
the order of their increasing relative atomic masses in a tabular form. It is
known as Mendeleevs Periodic Table. He divided the table in eight
columns and seven rows. The columns are known as groups and rows are
known as periods.
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Groups from I to VII are meant for normal elements and group VIII is
for transition elements.
Groups from I to VII have been divided in two sub groups, while
group VIII is meant for three elements.
Periods from 4th to 7th have been divided in two series: 1st series
and 2nd series.
Two general formulae; one for oxides and second for hydrides; have been
given for the elements of each group in the periodic table. For example:
R2O for oxides and RH for hydrides, of the elements; of 1st group.
Using the given general formulae; the formula of oxides and hydrides can
be written for the elements of each group. For example; hydrogen, sodium,
potassium, etc. belong to the first group. The general formula of oxides for
the elements of 1st group is R2O. Accordingly they form H2O, Na2O, K2O,
etc.
Merits of Mendeleevs Periodic Table:
Mendeleev left some blank spaces in his periodic table in order to place the
elements having similar properties in the same group.
For example; titanium has been placed in IV group, leaving a blank space
adjacent to it in III group. Similarly, arsenic has been placed in V group;
leaving two adjacent spaces blank. These spaces have been occupied by
scandium, gallium and germanium after their subsequent discovery.
Prediction for the elements to be discovered in future:
Mendeleev predicted the discovery of some elements and named them as
eka-boron, eka-aluminium and eka-silicon. He gave the name of these
elements prefixing the word eka to the name of the preceding elements.
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Scandium, Gallium and Germanium have been discovered later and took
the place of eka-carbon, eka-aluminium and eka-silicon, respectively in the
gap left in the Mendeleevs Periodic table; as their properties were exactly
similar to the predicted elements.
Position of Noble gases which were discovered later:
Noble gases were discovered much later after Mendeleev. After the
discovery of noble gas, they were placed in a separate group called Zero
Group, after VIII group, without making any disturbance to the arrangement
of any elements in the Mendeleevs Periodic Table. Noble gases are
chemically un-reactive and present in very low concentration in the
atmosphere.
Limitation of Mendeleevs Periodic Table
Position of Hydrogen: Hydrogen has been placed in 1st group with alkali
metals, since hydrogen makes compound in the same way as alkali metals
do.
On the other hand, hydrogen exists as diatomic molecule; similar to
halogen and hydrogen makes covalent compounds also as halogens do.
Thus, on the basis of properties of hydrogen similar to halogen, hydrogen
may be placed with halogens but Mendeleev did not explain about this
anomaly.
Position of Isotopes: Elements having same atomic number but different
atomic masses are known as isotopes. Although isotopes were discovered
after Mendeleev, but it became a challenge to accommodate those
isotopes in Mendeleevs Periodic Table without disturbing the order of
elements.
Wrong Order of Elements: Mendeleev placed many elements in wrong
order of their increasing atomic masses in order to place elements having
similar properties in similar group.
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Example: The atomic mass of nickel is less than that of cobalt; in spite of
that cobalt is placed before nickel. The atomic mass of Chromium is 50.20
and the atomic mass of vanadium is 50.94. In spite of this, chromium is
placed after vanadium.
In spite of above limitations and anomalies, the Mendeleevs Periodic Table
was one of the wonderful discoveries.
Elements having same number of valence electrons are placed in the same
group. For example; elements having valence electrons equal to 1 are
placed in the 1st group, elements having valence electrons equal to 3 are
placed in the 13th group, elements having valence electrons equal to 2 are
placed in 2nd group except helium which is placed in 18th group, since it is
an inert gas.
Elements having same number of shells are placed in the same period.
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1st group: Alkali metals are placed in the 1st group in the modern periodic
table. Hydrogen is also placed in the 1st group although hydrogen is not an
alkali metal.
2nd group: Alkaline earth metals are placed in the 2nd group in the modern
periodic table.
Elements placed in 1st and 2nd groups in the modern periodic table are
collectively known as light metals.
3rd to 12th group: Transition elements are placed from 3rd to 12th group in
the modern periodic table.
13th group: Metals are placed in the 13th group; except boron which is a
metalloid.
14th group: Carbon, silicon, germanium, tin and lead are placed in this
group. Among them, carbon is a non-metal, silicon and germanium are
metalloids and tin and lead are metals.
15th group: Nitrogen, phosphorous, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are
place in the 15th group; among which nitrogen and phosphorous are nonmetals, arsenic and antimony are metalloids and bismuth is a metal.
16th group: Oxygen, sulphur, selenium, tellurium and polonium are placed
in this group, among which oxygen, sulphur and selenium are non-metals,
tellurium is metalloid and polonium is a metal.
17th group: Non-metals are placed in the 17th group. Since, halogens are
placed in this group hence this group is also known as group of halogen.
18th group: Noble gases are placed in the 18th group. This group is also
known as zero group.
Position of Elements
Valence
Electrons
Group
No. of
Period
Shell
13
14
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15
16
17
18
K L
2 4
Valence electron = 4
Number of shell = 2
Position in periodic table: 14th group 2nd period.
Example: Neon: Atomic number = 10
Electronic configuration of neon:
K L
2 8
Number of valence electron remains the same while moving from top
to bottom in a group.
Valency:
13
14
15
16
17
18
Elements
Na
Mg
Al
Si
Cl
Ar
Valency
Atomic size:
Atomic size increases on moving from top to bottom in a group and
decreases on moving from left to right in a period.
Elements
Ha
Li
Na
Rb
Ks
Atomic size
37
152
186
227
248
265
13
14
15
16
17
18
Elements
Na
Mg
Al
Si
Cl
Ar
Atomic Size
186
160
143
118
110
103
99
98
10 | P a g e
11 | P a g e
12 | P a g e
13 | P a g e
Consisting of the first two groups, S-block elements have quite similar
physical and chemical properties. The valence electrons of the elements
in this block occupy s-orbitals.Group 1 is known as alkali metals. It
includes Lithium (Li), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Rubidium (Ru),
Caesium (Cs), and Francium (Fr).
Mnemonic for Group 1: LiNa Ki Ruby Cse Friendship hai.
Group 2 is known as alkaline earth metals. It includes Beryllium (Be),
Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Strontium (Sr), Barium (Br), and Radium
(Ra).
Mnemonic for Group 2: Beta Mange Car Scooter Baap rone se Raazi
P-Block Elements
Consisting of last six groups of the periodic table (Groups 13 to 18), Pblock elements have their valence electrons occupying p-orbitals. This
block consists of non-metals, semi-metals and poor metals.
14 | P a g e
(Lu)
Mnemonic for Lanthanides Part 3: E re, dekh Tamatar Yellow aur bLue
hain.
17 | P a g e
18 | P a g e