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The Periodic Table Reading Comprehension

The periodic table organizes the chemical elements. It has 118 known elements arranged in rows and columns based on their atomic structure and properties. Elements in the same column have similar properties and are in the same group. Periods run left to right with the atomic number increasing. Metals are on the left side and non-metals on the right, with metalloids in between having some properties of both. The periodic table helps scientists understand trends in how elements behave chemically.

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241 views

The Periodic Table Reading Comprehension

The periodic table organizes the chemical elements. It has 118 known elements arranged in rows and columns based on their atomic structure and properties. Elements in the same column have similar properties and are in the same group. Periods run left to right with the atomic number increasing. Metals are on the left side and non-metals on the right, with metalloids in between having some properties of both. The periodic table helps scientists understand trends in how elements behave chemically.

Uploaded by

Rayyan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Periodic Table

What is an Element?
An element is a substance made of only one type of atom. Elements cannot be broken down into
other substances.
Each element is represented by a symbol. The symbol comes from the first letter or letters of
its name. For elements discovered early on, the symbol usually comes from its Latin or Greek
name. For example, the symbol for sodium is Na, which comes from the Latin ‘natrium’.
The first letter of the symbol is always capitalised. Any following letters are lower case. The
symbol for each element can be found on the periodic table.

Name Symbol Origin

bromine Br Greek bromos meaning ‘stench’.

gold Au Latin arum meaning ‘shining dawn’.

Greek helios meaning ‘the sun’ (where helium was first


helium He
found).

Plumbum, the Latin word for lead. The Romans used lead
lead Pb for making pipes so this is where the word ‘plumber’ comes
from too.

oxygen O Greek oxys meaning ‘acid’ and genes meaning ‘forming’.

There are 92 naturally occurring elements, as well as some unstable synthetic elements that
have been created by humans. Figure 1 shows when each element was first discovered.

Figure 1

Antiquity to Middle Ages-


1800-1849 1850-1899 1900-1949 1950-1999 Since 2000
Middle Ages 1799

Developing the Periodic Table


Scientists needed a way to make sense of the chemical and physical properties of the different
elements. The earliest attempt to classify the elements was made in 1789. This was followed by
several other attempts over the next few decades. The version on which the modern periodic
table is based was created in 1869.

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The Periodic Table
Scientists at this time were attempting to group the elements when not all of them had
been discovered, as shown in Figure 1. This meant that early versions of the periodic table were
incomplete.
Dimitri Mendeleev overcame this problem by leaving gaps for elements that he thought had not
yet been discovered (Figure 2). Elements with properties predicted by Mendeleev were later
identified and filled in the gaps (Figure 3).

Figure 2: Mendeleev’s periodic table including gaps. Figure 3: Elements discovered later filled the gaps.

As of January 2021, scientists have identified 118 elements. These elements are organised in
the periodic table based on their properties. Grouping elements in this way helps scientists to
identify trends in the elements and understand which elements behave in similar ways.

The Structure of the Periodic Table


A row in the periodic table is called a period. There are 7 periods in the periodic table. The atomic
number increases as you move from left to right across a period. The radius of an atom decreases
as you move from left to right.
The elements in the lanthanide series and actinide series belong to periods 6 and 7. They are
positioned underneath the rest of the periodic table, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4

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The Periodic Table
The table is called a periodic table because elements with similar properties occur at regular
intervals (periodically). These groups of elements with similar properties are found in each column.
For this reason, a column in the periodic table is called a group. The groups are numbered along
the top, from Group 1 to Group 7, with Group 0 on the end, as shown in Figure 5.
The middle section is not included in this group system because the elements here behave
differently to those in the labelled groups.

Figure 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0

Group 1 (alkali metals) Group 7 (halogens) Group 0 (noble gases)

• solids at room • some solids, a liquid • gases at room


temperature and some gases at temperature
• very reactive room temperature • colourless
• good conductors of • very reactive • unreactive
heat and electricity • poor conductors of • poor conductors of
• soft heat and electricity heat and electricity
• shiny when cut • solids are brittle • low density
• low density for metals • low density

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The Periodic Table
The stepped line shown in Figure 6 divides the metal and non-metal elements. The elements
on the left of the stepped line are metals and those on the right are non-metals. The highlighted
elements are known as the metalloids: these are elements which have some properties of metals
and some of non-metals.

Figure 6

Properties of Metals Properties of Non-Metals


• shiny • dull
• good conductor of heat • poor conductor of heat
• good conductor of electricity • poor conductor of electricity
• sonorous • not sonorous
• oxides form alkaline solutions • oxides form acidic solutions
• high density • low density
• malleable • brittle
• ductile

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