The elements that fall on each of the wheel’s spokes share common properties just as those in a column (group) do so in today’s table. There was also Henry Basset’s rather odd “dumb-bell ...

The periodic table is a matrix comprising seven rows (“periods”) and 18 columns (“groups”). It organizes chemical elements by atomic number horizontally and electron configuration vertically.

If you are intimidated by the periodic table, then this introduction through the first column of elements will give you a feel for how and why the elements are arranged in this order.

The rows and columns of the periodic table of the elements, called periods and groups, were originally determined by each element’s atomic mass and chemical properties, later by atomic number ...

When IUPAC proposed modifying the periodic table’s column numbering in 1985, it took about five years to decide and another 10 to 15 years for chemists to adopt the changes, Reedijk says.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the official body in charge of chemistry’s ingredient list, added these elements to slots 113, 115, 117 and 118 on Dec. 30 ...

The periodic table stares down from the walls of just about every chemistry lab. The credit for its creation generally goes to Dimitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist who in 1869 wrote out the known ...