Studying the Periodic Table

[CutthroatX]

I want to become more familiar with the periodic table of elements and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me (Easy was to remember certain elements or any good websites ect...)

[insane_alien]

learn them by groups. it makes it so much easier. for instance, on monday you could try and remember group 1, tuesday group 2 and so on in a cycle till you don't need to look at the table anymore.

 

of course, anyone working in the field of chemistry is going to have at least 5 handy at all times anyway. so technically its not necessary even though if you just use it often enough you'll pick it up. i never sat down and memorized it but i can tell you where an element is on it without looking it up.

[swansont]

I find that Tom Lehrer's song helps.

[thedarkshade]

I learned them by groups too. It's more practical and you remember each element easily.

 

But it all takes time!

 

Good Luck,

Shade

[lyranelle]

Knowing certain trends will help you remember what section of the table an element is on. I wouldn't worry about trying to "memorize" the table, I don't think it is worth the work to remember the name, symbol, common charges, electron configurations, atomic number, and atomic mass of every element. I already have memorized the information I use frequently (without a conscious effort), and I think you will do the same. That being said, if you are desperate to know where everything is, going by groups is probably a good approach.

[CaptainPanic]

I'd advise you to study the abbreviations.

 

H = hydrogen, He = helium etc. Most are easy to remember, but you'll see that Sn = tin, Fe = iron, that's harder already, but still these are common elements. There are some "weird" abbreviations (logical only if you know the history behind it).

 

I still Google the table sometimes if I'm not sure about some details. No problem with that I think. (Better safe than sorry).

[thedarkshade]

This year at school we've been studying the periodic table by groups. It's really much easier than any other way. Chemical and physical characteristics suffer gradual changes as you move down the groups and through the groups, and if you study them by groups you will feel the elegant and gentle connection that exist between elements.

 

Ionization energy drops down the group, but increases right to periods. Electronegativity drops down the group, but increases right to period.

Everything will go decreasing or increasing gradually (except radioactive elements)!

[Mr Skeptic]

Ionization energy drops down the group, but increases right to periods. Electronegativity drops down the group, but increases right to period.

Everything will go decreasing or increasing gradually (except radioactive elements)!

 

In general yes, but there are exceptions. (The exceptions are effects of things like half-filled orbital shells and such, which have lower energy than other configurations)