The periodic table of elements (often known simply as the periodic table) has been helping scientists with their work for a little over 150 years. The handy visual reference guide organizes known chemical elements in rows and columns, arranged by their atomic number. One never knows when one will need the properties of Rutherfordium in a hurry.
See if you can organize the first 25 elements of the periodic table in order in the quiz below.
The periodic table as we know it is widely credited to Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist who kept reference cards on the elements and their atomic weight. In 1869, he noticed that the elements exhibited periodicity or a pattern of properties in intervals. (He was, apropos of nothing, also a hot air balloon enthusiast and once took off on a solo voyage with no concrete idea of how he would land.)
The seventh row of the table was completed in 2016 when Tennessine, Nihonium, Moscovium, and Oganesson were added. Elements can be named after places, minerals, mythological figures, or people. Mendeleev got his due in 1955, when element 101, Mendelevium, was named after him.
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