How was the periodic table established

The periodic table is a universal table that is used by scientists and students across the world. Each element that has been discovered is given a shortened symbol and is displayed in a certain area on the table. For example Copper, that is used in plumbing that requires Copper Pipe Connectors like the ones from watkinspowis.co.uk/products/copper-pipe-fittings-and-press-systems/ has a periodic symbol of Cu.

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In order to increase their understanding of the periodic properties of different elements, scientists are able to analyse factors that influence the reactivity between the elements, predict chemical reactions, and speculate on properties of those elements that have yet to be discovered.

According to the modern periodic table, the elements are arranged according to their atomic number and their periodic properties. In order for the elements to be arranged in this way, several scientists spent almost a century working on it.

Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist who worked in the 1790s, attempted dividing the elements into metals and nonmetals in 1789. Almost forty years later, German physicist Johann Wolfang Döbereiner was able to observe similarities between the physical and chemical properties of certain elements. His formula involved grouping the elements into triads in increasing order of atomic weight.

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It was during the first international conference of chemistry in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1860 that a revised list of elements and their atomic masses was published. According to their conclusions, hydrogen was assigned the atomic weight of 1 and the atomic weights of other elements would be determined by comparing their atomic weights with hydrogen. In the case of carbon, it would be expected that it would have an atomic weight of 12 since it is twelve times heavier than hydrogen.

A British chemist by the name of John Newlands was the first person to develop a periodic table in which the elements are arranged according to their atomic masses in increasing order. His discovery that all eight elements had similar properties led him to call this the law of octaves. The elements were arranged in eight groups by him, but there was no space left for elements to be discovered in between the groups.