Prompt Cast
The History and Significance of the Periodic Table of Elements
TLDR The periodic table of elements, created in the 19th century, revolutionized our understanding of the natural world and continues to be a fundamental tool for scientists and students. It organizes elements by atomic weight and atomic number, and while it is almost complete, there are still empty spaces and unknown stable elements yet to be discovered.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The creation of the periodic table of elements revolutionized our understanding of the natural world and continues to be a fundamental tool for scientists and students.
01:35
The very first elements were discovered by early humans, who recognized that different things like copper and iron were distinct from each other, and by the end of the 18th century, there were over two dozen known elements, which were divided into metals and non-metals by Antoine Lavassier, who defined an element as something that could not be broken down any further.
02:59
In the first half of the 19th century, chemists noticed patterns in the properties and atomic weights of elements, but attempts to organize them all together were unsuccessful until a French geologist proposed a periodicity in the elements in 1862.
04:22
Dmitry Mendelev organized the elements by atomic weight in rows and columns, leaving empty spaces for undiscovered elements and making educated guesses about their properties, although his first table in 1869 wasn't perfect.
05:44
The periodic table was almost a perfect fit when organized by atomic number, and the last natural element discovered was Francium in 1939, but there are still empty spaces beyond Uranium that scientists have been working to create.
07:07
The last artificial element created was Tennisine, element 117, and the last element on the periodic table is Agneson, element 118, which falls in the same column as the noble gases, but it is not known if there are stable elements beyond these or if there are stable versions of the already created elements.
08:30
The alkali metals are extremely reactive and explosive when placed in water, while the noble gases rarely react with anything due to their full electron shells.
