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. Nine chemical elements – carbon, sulfur, iron, copper, silver, tin, gold, mercury, and lead, have been known since before antiquity, as they are found in their native form and are relatively simple to mine with primitive tools. 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 about these four elements existed in other ancient traditions, such as Indian philosophy. A few extra elements were known in the age of alchemy: zinc, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. Platinum was also known to pre-Columbian South Americans, but knowledge of it did not reach Europe until the 16th century. The history of the periodic table is also a history of the discovery of the chemical elements. 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.

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Electron shell

In chemistry and atomic physics, an electron shell may be thought of as an orbit that electrons follow around an atom's nucleus. The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1 shell" (also called the "K shell"), followed by the "2 shell" (or "L shell"), then the "3 shell" (or "M shell"), and so on farther and farther from the nucleus. The shells correspond to the principal quantum numbers (n = 1, 2, 3, 4 ...) or are labeled alphabetically with the letters used in X-ray notation (K, L, M, ...).

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