Question about the periodic table arrangement

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the periodic table's structure and the relationships between elements. A user studying the periodic table in Excel observed a pattern where each noble gas is followed by an alkali metal and then an alkaline earth metal. This observation aligns with the periodicity noted by Mendeleev, where elements with similar chemical properties recur at regular intervals. The conversation highlights that the organization of elements is based on their electron configurations, with groups of elements sharing similar outer shell electron arrangements. This periodicity is fundamental to understanding chemical behavior. The user is also exploring nucleosynthesis for a role-playing game project, seeking to understand how elements are formed in stars, starting from hydrogen and progressing to heavier elements like iron. The discussion emphasizes the complexity of nucleosynthesis, which requires knowledge of atomic physics in addition to chemistry.
Signur
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Hi, I'm new here.

I'm actually studying the periodic table and while collectting the data on excel i noticed something. I wouldn't see it with the usual display of a periodic table but when you put it all in a sheet, ligns after ligns it become obvious to me.

Argon Ar (noble gaz) is followed by Potassium K (Alkali metal) and then Calcium Ca (Alkaline Earth metal)

Same goes for H, Li, Br or Ne, Na, Mg or Kr, Rb, Sr or Xe, Cs, Ba or Rn, Fr, Ra

so a noble gas is followed by an alkali metal then an alkaline Earth metal.

Why ?
 
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Signur said:
Hi, I'm new here.

I'm actually studying the periodic table and while collectting the data on excel i noticed something. I wouldn't see it with the usual display of a periodic table but when you put it all in a sheet, ligns after ligns it become obvious to me.

Argon Ar (noble gaz) is followed by Potassium K (Alkali metal) and then Calcium Ca (Alkaline Earth metal)

Same goes for H, Li, Br or Ne, Na, Mg or Kr, Rb, Sr or Xe, Cs, Ba or Rn, Fr, Ra

so a noble gas is followed by an alkali metal then an alkaline Earth metal.

Why ?

This is the essence of the periodicity that Mendeleev noticed: elements with similar chemical properties repeat cyclically.

Later, quantum mechanics helped to explain the observed periodicity by describing the way that electrons get added to atoms (orbitals and the Aufbau principle).
 
Signur said:
Hi, I'm new here.

I'm actually studying the periodic table and while collectting the data on excel i noticed something. I wouldn't see it with the usual display of a periodic table but when you put it all in a sheet, ligns after ligns it become obvious to me.

Argon Ar (noble gaz) is followed by Potassium K (Alkali metal) and then Calcium Ca (Alkaline Earth metal)

Same goes for H, Li, Br or Ne, Na, Mg or Kr, Rb, Sr or Xe, Cs, Ba or Rn, Fr, Ra

so a noble gas is followed by an alkali metal then an alkaline Earth metal.

Why ?
There's a certain organization to the periodic table.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table

The columns in the table are called groups, and the elements in each group have similar electron configurations in the outer shell. Thus, all the elements with only one electron in the outer shell are in Group 1 and are all metals except for hydrogen. All the noble gases are in Group 18, at the other end of the table, and each of these gases has a full complement of electrons in its outer shell. If you take the next element after neon (atomic number 10), for example, that additional electron can't fit into the outermost shell for neon; it must go into its own shell, thus sodium (atomic number 11), an alkali metal.

It's called a "periodic" table because these properties and relationships repeat after progressing thru a certain number of elements. This was the great insight of Mendeleev, who published the first periodic table.
 
so it's not related to elemental transition ? simply an indication that the number of electron is close ?
 
Signur said:
so it's not related to elemental transition ? simply an indication that the number of electron is close ?

scientists believe: Elements have similar chemical properties because their electron configurations are similar. Ne: [He]2s^2 2p^6; Ar: [Ne]3s^2 3p^6, etc. The outermost electrons are ns^2 np^6.
 
if i get it right, the element 119 (Uuo) would be followed by a (yet unknown) Alkali metal ?
 
Signur said:
if i get it right, the element 119 (Uuo) would be followed by a (yet unknown) Alkali metal ?
Could be. Most tables only go up to element 118 (which should be a noble gas).
 
Signur said:
so it's not related to elemental transition ? simply an indication that the number of electron is close ?

It's not clear what these two statements mean. What sort of transition? The number of electrons is close to what?
 
i'm working on a star system generator on excel, for RPG purpose.

So I'm now studying nucleosynthesis to know how a star work so that my generator is able to provide the composition of a star (or a planet athmosphere or crust, or whater)

Now I'm on the stellar part and I'm trying to understand how nucleosyntheisis works. It start with hydrogen (or helium?) and then goes throught many transition before it end up being Iron (if i understood correctly)

that is the process I'm tryingto understand and that's why i ended up studying the periodic table.
 
  • #10
Signur said:
i'm working on a star system generator on excel, for RPG purpose.

So I'm now studying nucleosynthesis to know how a star work so that my generator is able to provide the composition of a star (or a planet athmosphere or crust, or whater)

Now I'm on the stellar part and I'm trying to understand how nucleosyntheisis works. It start with hydrogen (or helium?) and then goes throught many transition before it end up being Iron (if i understood correctly)

that is the process I'm tryingto understand and that's why i ended up studying the periodic table.
Well, nucleosynthesis is a little more complicated than you have described. The Periodic Table was developed primarily for chemists; in order to understand nucleosynthesis, you need to know something about atomic physics rather than chemistry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleosynthesis
 
  • #11
"Well, nucleosynthesis is a little more complicated than you have described."

yeah i know :)

I'm still struggling to understand it. I've got a very basic idea of what it is.
 
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