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  Web Book Home Page | Chemogenesis Main Index Foreword:  Chemogenesis & Chemical Education Part I   Atoms | Elements | Periodic Tables 1.1  Introduction to Chemogenesis 1.2  Nucleosynthesis of The Elements 1.3  The Segrè Chart 1.4  Quantum Numbers to Periodic Tables 1.5  The Periodic Table: What Is It Showing? 1.6  The INTERNET Database of Periodic Tables 1.7  Periodicity Part II   Structure | Bonding | Material Type 2.1  Mono-Bond Typed Binary Compounds 2.2  Binary Compound Synthlet 2.3  Electronegativity 2.4  van Arkel-Ketelaar Triangles of Bonding 2.5  Tetrahedra of Structure, Bonding & Material Type 2.6  Structure, Bonding & Material Synthlet 2.7  The Classification of Matter: Chemical Stuff Part III   Interactions | Reactions | Mechanisms 3.1  The Chemogenesis Analysis: An Overview 3.2  Lewis and Brønsted Models of Acidity 3.3  The Hard Soft [Lewis] Acid Base Principle 3.4  Main Group Elemental Hydrides 3.5  Five Hydrogen Probe Experiments 3.6  Congeneric Dots, Series & Planars 3.7  Quantifying Congeneric Behaviour 3.8  Ligand Replacement Congeneric Series 3.9  Congeneric Array Interactions 3.10  Emergence of Organic Chemistry 3.11  Congeneric Array Database 3.12  The Five Reaction Chemistries 3.13  Lewis Acids & Lewis Bases: A New Analysis 3.14  The Lewis Acid/Base Interaction Matrix 3.15  Patterns in Reaction Chemistry Poster 3.16  Lewis Acid/Base Interaction Matrix Database 3.17  Nucleophiles, Bases & The Fluoride Ion 3.18  Redox Chemistry 3.19  Redox Chemistry Synthlet 3.20  Radical Chemistry 3.21  Diradical Chemistry 3.22  Photochemistry 3.23  Species/Species Interactions 3.24  The Simplest Mechanistic Step: STAD 3.25  Unit & Compound Mechanistic Steps 3.26  The Mechanism Matrix 3.27  Addition To A Double Bond Synthlet 3.28  Pericyclic Reaction Chemistry Part IV   Chemical Theory 4.1  Why Do Chemical Reactions Occur? 4.2a  Thermochemistry: List Reactions Synthlet 4.2b  Thermochemistry: Play With Reaction Synthlet 4.2c  Thermochemistry: Bulid A Reaction Synthlet 4.3  Timeline of Structural Theory 4.4  Modern Lewis Theory 4.5  Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion: VSEPR 4.6  Diatomic Species by Molecular Orbital Theory 4.7  Polyatomic Species: Molecular Orbitals 4.8  Organic π-Systems 4.9  Functional Group Database Part V   Complexity & Emergence 5.1  Chemistry & Complexity: Systems 5.2  Linear Chemistry Systems 5.3  Chemical Systems Prone to Complexity Part VI   Extras 6.1  Chemogenesis Videos 6.2  Chemical Thesaurus Reaction Chemistry Database 6.3  Chemogenesis Paper 6.4  Electronegativity as a Basic Elemental Property 6.5  What is Chemistry? (Workshop) 6.6  Literature References & Further Reading

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The INTERNET Database of Periodic Tables

There are thousands of periodic tables in web space, but this is the only comprehensive database of periodic tables & periodic system formulations. If you know of an interesting periodic table that is missing, please contact the database curator: Mark R. Leach Ph.D.

Use the drop menus below to search & select from the more than 1300 Period Tables in the database: 

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Periodic Tables from the year 1920:

Nodder's Periodic Table

From Quam & Quam's 1934 review paper.pdf

Partington's Periodic Arrangement of the Elements

From Quam & Quam's 1934 review paper.pdf

Schaltenbrand's Helical Periodic Table

G. Schaltenbrand, Darstellung des periodischen Systems der Elemente durch eine räumliche Spirale, Z. anorg. allgem. Chem., 112, 221-4 (Sept. 1920)

From Quam & Quam's 1934 review:

"The elements are arranged in order of atomic weights on an eccentric spiral. The four sets of curves include positions of similar elements. The first small turn carries H and He; the remainder of the inert elements and the halogens are on successive small turns in analogous positions.

"On the next larger turn are found the alkali, alkaline-earth, and aluminum family elements.

"The long periods require larger turns and the period containing the rare-earth elements requires the longest turn of all. Elements of the same group are found in the same plane passing through the axis of the spiral."

Commissioned in 2019 to match George Schaltenbrand's 1920 design for a helical gathering of the elements – albeit extended to all 118 current elements – and signed by Yuri Oganessian, it is almost certainly the most expensive periodic table in the world."

Kohlweiler's System

Kohlweiler's system of 1920 (from van Spronsen):

Black & Conant's Periodic Classification Of The Elements

From N.H. Black NH & J.B. Conant's Practical Chemistry: Fundamental Facts and Applications to Modern Life, MacMillan, New York (1920)

Eric Scerri, who provided this formulation writes (personal communication):

"Notice conspicuous absence of H. And, Conant was the person who gave Kuhn his first start in the history of science at Harvard."

René Vernon tells us that Conant and his coauthor write:

"The position of H in the system has been a matter of some discussion, but it is not of much consequence. It seems to be rather an odd element. Perhaps the best place for it is in group IA as it forms a positive ion." (p. 350)

Thanks to Eric Scerri for the tip! 
See the website EricScerri.com and Eric's Twitter Feed.

Stewart's Arrangement of The Elements

From A.W. Stewart, Recent Advances in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, 3rd ed., Longmans, Green and Co., London (1920) 

René Vernon writes:

"Stewart discusses the 'forced symmetry' of Mendeleev's table, and the distinction between 'facetious symmetry' (as he calls it) and the actual correlation of facts (as he saw them at that time)."

Extracts:

237. Mendeleev... objected strongly to the employment of graphic methods of expressing the Periodic Law, on the ground that such methods did not indicate the existence of a limited and definite number of elements in each period.

239. The Periodic Table, as laid down by Mendeleeff in his writings, exhibits a symmetry which was one of its greatest assets. For some psychological reason, symmetry has an attraction for the human mind; and we are always apt to prefer a regular arrangement to one in which irregularities pre- dominate. Psychological peculiarities are, however, undesirable guides in the search for truth; and a careful examination of the Table in the light of our present knowledge will suffice to show that it can boast of no such symmetry as we are led to expect from the text-books of our student days.

For example, owing to the omission of some of the rare earth elements and by the insertion of blanks, the Table in its original form attained a very high degree of regularity; but since there are, as we know from the X-ray spectra results, only sixteen elements to fill the eighteen vacant spaces in the Table, it is evident that the symmetry of Mendeleeff s system is purely factitious.

Further, in order to produce the appearance of symmetry, Mendeleeff was forced to place copper, silver, and gold in the first group, although there is no known oxide Au₂O and the stable chloride of gold is AuCl₃.

These examples are well-known, and are mentioned here only for the purpose of enforcing the statement that the symmetry of Mendeleef's system cannot be sustained at the present day. Fascinating though its cut-and-dried regularity may be, we cannot afford to let symmetry dominate our minds when in actual fact there is no symmetry to be found.

240. The most superficial examination shows that, instead of being a symmetrical whole, the Table is really pieced together from a series of discrete sections.

250. The first attempt to arrange all the elements in a periodic grouping took the form of a three-dimensional model the Telluric Helix of de Chancourtois and it is not surprising that from time to time attempts have been made to utilize the third dimension as an aid to classification. It cannot be said that much light has been thrown on the matter by these essays; but some account of them must be given here for the sake of completeness.

251. The main drawback to the spiral representation appears to be that in it no new facts are brought to light, and there is no fresh collocation of the allied elements which might give it an advantage over the ordinary forms of classification. Also, in most cases it is more difficult to grasp as a whole.

253 ...if we have to choose between factitious symmetry and actual correlation of facts, we must decide in favour of the latter, discomforting though the choice may be.

255. The following new grouping seems worth considering. Although it has many good points, it is not to be regarded as a final solution, but is put forward mainly in the hope that an examination of it may suggest some more perfect system.

Pfeiffer's Periodic System of the Elements

V. P. Pfeiffer, Naturwiss. 8, 984-991 (1920), Die Befruchtung der Chemie durch die Röntgenstrahlenphysik (The fertilization of chemistry by X-ray physics).

Yoshi Maeno of Kyoto University writes:

"The question who it was who paved the way to the modern representation of the long-period periodic table is a subject of discussion. In my understanding, it was Alfred Werner in 1905. It is a pity that his invention is sometimes over criticised due to some errors in the placements and orders of some elements in his original work.

"It is much less known who first proposed the familiar form of the long-period table with the rare-earth elements as a separate table placed below the main table for convenience. It is most probably Von Paul Pfeiffer in 1920, below. In his paper, he followed Werner's work and extended the table incorporating the knowledge from X-ray physics. Pfeiffer's table preceded Deming's 1923 table and is more similar to today's standard table.

"Pfeiffer was a student and assistant of Werner at Univ Zurich (Wikipedia).

"I acknowledge Y. Hisamatsu who gave me the information of Pfeiffer's original paper."

Thanks to Yoshi Maeno of Kyoto University for the tip!

© Mark R. Leach Ph.D. 1999 –

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