We begin this program, The Periodic Table, by comparing and contrasting metals with non-metals. We then describe how Dmitri Mendeleev, the scientist who devised the first Periodic Table, organised the elements not just into metals and non-metals but also into groups based on patterns in the way that they chemically react. Finally, we explain how Mendeleev was able to use the Periodic Table to predict the existence of and many of the properties of, elements that hadn?t at the time been discovered.
How do we know about atoms if we can?t actually see them? This is probably the most common question students ask when they study chemistry. The Shedding Light on Atoms series brilliantly answers this question as well as many more. Using amazing demonstrations and animations we take students on a journey of discovery to explain not just what we know about atoms, but how we know what we know about atoms!