The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements

The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements

This table is known as the Periodic table of Elements.

This is an amazing treasure. It has information hidden in it about the substances / matter that make up our world.  This information has been arranged in rows and columns.

In order to read it we have to learn the Language of Symbols in chemistry.

Look carefully - in every box there are a couple of English letters and on their top side is a number.

Perhaps, we recognise some of them.

Look at the first box in the first column - it says ‘H’ - this indicates Hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas - perhaps you are familiar with the name. Above ‘H’, there is a number ‘1’ written. Soon we will get to know what this means.

Now look at the first box in the 16th column. “O” is the symbol for Oxygen. Where did you hear of Oxygen?

Now look at the third box in the first column and the second box in the 17th column. “Na” and “Cl”; ‘Na’  stands for Sodium and ‘Cl’ for chlorine. Sodium is known as Natrum in Latin. That is why the symbol for sodium is Na.

You might know that the common table salt or edible salt is known as NaCl or Sodium chloride in chemistry? NaCl is the formula for table salt. the formula indicates that table salt is made up of Sodium and Chlorine. We read this formula as N-a-C-l.

And, what do you think of H₂O? This is the chemical formula for water. It is read as H-2-O. This formula tells us that water is made of Hydrogen and Oxygen. They are both gases, but when they exist together in a particular ratio, they become liquid (water). Isn't this interesting?

Look at the 14th column, 2nd box. Si - Silicon. Does that sound familiar? Chips or processors of Memory cards, computers, mobiles are made of this.

And now look at the fourth box of the 15th column. ‘P’ - Phosphorous; this is an essential component of our bones, matchsticks, firecrackers. Here's something interesting - it was  first found in human urine!

Just like phosphorus, the discovery of every element has an interesting story behind it. We shall get to know some of these stories. 

Chemists believe that the entire world is made up of only 118 elements. In the periodic table these are arranged in a particular sequence/ order. Around 94 elements are found in nature and rest of them have been synthesized in laboratories.
 

You might wonder - How did they kow that there are only 118 elements in the world?

Let's start with getting to know the elements.