Learning the periodic table is the ordeal that many high school students continue to endure. But, even if there are mnemonic devices, memorizing it stupidly will not be of much use to the future student. The important thing is to understand its structure.
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The idea of periodic table of the Elements is associated with Mendeleev. But this classification is actually the result of the work of many scientists. chemists, physicists and even mathematicians who have sought to bring order to the elements. The table as we know it today makes it possible to classify the elements according to their properties and their structures. A great tool for chemists who want to predict the reactivity and mode of formation of elements, for example.
If high school students are asked toto learn the periodic table of the elements – or at least, in its outline -, it is therefore because it constitutes a real guide for the chemist. It allows for example to understand which elements are similar. More than learning its lines and columns by heart, it is above all important to recognize the periodicity or in other words, the repeatability of element properties. And to know how to rely on the data it contains to better understand the nature of the different elements that make up our environment.
Mnemonic devices
To facilitate the learning of the periodic table, it is advisable to first memorize the place occupied in this table by the main families of elements: the alkalines, the alkaline-earths, the metals of transition, the halogens or even the noble gases. At the same time, you can also learn by heart the names of the elements that make up the families in question. And the use will make that one will end up retaining the precise position of each one of them.
For those who are pressed for time, there remains the option of mnemonic phrases. There are some to retain rows or columns. For example, regarding line 3, the sentence Napoleon happily ate six chickens without snappingmoney makes it possible to go back to sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), to phosphorus (P) to sulfur (S), at chlorine (Cl) and silver (Ag). But everyone is free, of course, to invent their own to remember them even more easily.
What is the use of the periodic table of elements?
Mendeleev’s ingenious periodic table of elements brings together all the chemical elements known. The Russian chemist had provided empty boxes for add the elements yet to be discovered. Its classification in 18 columns (groups) and 7 rows (period) is a repository universal of the elements that make up our environment.
The periodic table of the elements allows you to view and organize all the chemical elements in ascending order of atomic number. This tool for analyzing the properties of matter, which shows the link between each of the elements, is useful for chemists.
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