XKCD 3242: The Aperiodic Table of the Elements

 

Source: XKCD.com

I want this on my walls.

Hey, students, if you happen to have access to a large-format printer and can turn this image (the highest-res version I can find) into a vector file so it won't lose resolution when it's blown up, I want this on my walls.

See, it's funny (and awesome) because it shows the periodic table in an aperiodic arrangement.

That's funny to us chemistry folks.

The Periodic Table: Every Year

The discovery of the periodic law and subsequent creation and refinement of the periodic table stands beside the discovery of atoms as the be all and end all of chemistry in my eyes. 

Realizing that the material of our world corresponds to an underlying organizational principle and being able to - even if bit by bit - understand that principle is absolutely stunning to me.

Today's video looks at how what we think of as the modern periodic table came to be, from initially un-organized list of elements through to a quantum-mechanical-model-based periodic table.

Some of the changes come and go fairly quickly in the video, so be ready to pause and review the notes as the video plays.

Bigger Periodic Table - Periodic Table of Videos

This video is, admittedly, from 2011, so the "just published" article (read it for free here or here or a summary here) that's mentioned in the beginning is well past its newness by now.

At some point the periodic law isn't nearly as neat and clean as I teach my students, and I kind of love that fact. The fact that the edge cases of superheavy elements start to stress our understanding of the quantum mechanical model is fascinating and to me shows that there are more things in Heaven and Earth...

Source - wikipedia

Reimagining the Periodic Table

This week's video recommendations comes to us from one of my current students, Nick, who has a refreshing curiosity about chemistry. He also recommended the taste test of the alkali metals video and says he's tasted some of those alkali salts - which is not to be recommended, folks.

I've seen the forms of the periodic table that are shown - cut and pasted really - in the above video and even have a Lego version of Giguere's 3d periodic table in my classroom.

I really like the above video because it shows that there's still more than one way to show the periodic law.

The Genius of Mendeleev's Periodic Table - Lou Serico

The single greatest discovery in chemistry is that of the periodic law.

Before the discovery of the periodic lab (and subsequent creation of the periodic table), chemistry was a collection of random, unorganized facts about the stuff around us.

Sure, there were some elements that reacted sort of similarly, but a few connections doesn't make a system of knowledge.

Then, along came Dmitri Mendellev and his dream.

Check out the video if you don't understand how awesome the periodic table is and how phenomenal its creation was.