Periodic table/system popular

Notwithstanding these earlier scientists contributions to tire Idea of periodicity, Mendeleev remains the undisputed champion of the periodic system as a defender, propagator, and elaborater. Mendeleevas version of the periodic table left the greatest impact on the scientific community, both at the time it was produced and thereafter In the popular imagination the periodic system invariably and Justifiably connects to his name, to the same extent tltat the theory of evolution connects to Darwin s name and the tircory of relativity to Einstein s. But what really set Mendeleev s contrilm-tion apart ... 

The way in which the periodic system is displayed is a fascinating issue, and one that especially appeals to the popular imagination. Since the time of the early periodic tables of John Newlands, Juhus Lothar Meyer, and Dimitri Mendeleev, there have been many attempts to obtain the ultimate periodic table. Indeed, it has been estimated that within 100 years of the introduction of Mendeleev s famous table of 1869, approximately 700 different versions of the periodic table were published. These include all kinds of alternatives, including three-dimensional tables, helices, concentric circles, spirals, zigzags, step tables, and mirror image tables. Even today, articles are regularly published in the Journal of Chemi-... 

But I conclude with a less controversial proposal. Let us imagine that the various representations of the periodic system he on a continuum. At one end of thk continuum is the unruly Rayner Canham table (figure 10.14) that attempts to do justice to many unusual relationships of the kind that have been highhghted in this chapter. At the other end of the continuum hes what I call the Platonic periodic table, or what is usually called the left-step or Janet periodic table (figure 10.13). Somewhere near the middle of thk continuum of representations, one can locate the currently popular medium-long representation. It is not altogether surprising that thk fbrm has been so popular since it appears to capture the correct... 

The subject of secondary relationships is taken up in chapter lO.This is a feature that is revealed in the older short-form tables as well as pyramidal displays of the periodic system but not, unfortunately, in the currently popular medium-long form. 

The predictive power of Mendeleev s table was not the motivation of its French champion supporters. Adolphe Wurtz (1817-84) was among the first to spread the periodic system in France and Mendeleev acknowledged that he greatly contributed to its popularization. Wurtz, co-organizer of the Karlsruhe Conference with August von Kekule (1829-96) in 1860, cared for Mendeleev s periodic classification because it was a vehicle for spreading the atomic weights system recommended at the Karlsruhe Conference. 

---