Periodic_Table

Periodic Table Early chemistry was not as complicated as it appears now, in our modern era. In the beginning the idea of various elements was limited, such that Aristotle believed only in the primary substances of fire, earth, air and water. As science evolved and became more complex, ancient thinkers like Democritus realized that matter was composed of tiny particles called atoms; and then, Lucretuis further explained that the properties of these atoms depended on their physical behavior and motion. With the ever expanding explanations that stemmed from chemistry and its processes, the idea of various elements and the number of elements grew. Scientist, then, began to notice trends and patterns in properties of these elements, so they tried to come up with some system of classification. Thus, we get the periodic table, which is a functional grouping of chemical elements. Today’s modern table is arranged from left to right, top to bottom, in order of increasing atomic number. Considered the ‘father of modern chemistry,’ Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, a French chemist, explained the concept of an element by describing it as a simple substance that could not be broken down by any known method of chemical analysis. He elements, element, table, atomic, order, chemical, properties, periodic, first, chemist, one, chemistry, charge, weight, similar, published, modern, mendeleev, discovered, began, while, system, patterns, number, nuclear, masses, made, known, idea, further, each, discovery, dalton, called, because