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ISBN: Print 978-1-64611-689-8
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We would like to dedicate this book to our beautiful children, who put up with all our science books, periodic tables, and, of course, chemistry experiments in our home.
Contents
Hello, and welcome to the periodic table!
The periodic table is a complete listing of every element known to humans. It is the tool all scientists use to better understand the elements, the building blocks of everything in our world and beyond. The periodic table turned 150 years old in 2019, and the world spent the year celebrating this scientific marvel.
Who are we? Dr. Rose A. Clark is a professor of chemistry who specializes in analytical chemistry, using instruments to study the elements. Dr. Edward P. Zovinka is a professor of chemistry who focuses on the metals of the periodic table. We are both chemists at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania and enjoy sharing our love of chemistry with students of all ages.
As chemists, we use and study the elements every day, so we are very familiar with the periodic table. We are excited to share the elements with you because they make up everything on the earth, in the solar system, and in the universe. You are uniquely you because of how the elements come together in your body. All of life on earth is the way it is because of the elements. And its not just living things: The ink you see right now on the page is made up of carbon atoms, element . We hope that helps you understand the importance of the elements.
People have discovered 118 elements so far. Humans have known about and used elements like , are fairly new discoveries.
By learning about the elements, you can learn how our world works. So, join us on our journey to learn about the elements, how they are used, and how they were discovered. By doing so, you will be studying your past and your future!
The book you are reading is about the periodic table of the elements . Maybe you are wondering, what exactly is an element? That good question deserves a good answer.
Chemists have learned that elements are made up of atoms . Think of an atom as a sphere, like a golf ballbut a lot smaller. This sphere has three major parts: protons , neutrons , and electrons . The protons and neutrons are packed into the nucleus : the tiny, dense center of the atom. The protons have a positive charge, while neutrons have no charge. The electrons, which are negatively charged, fly around the nucleus. Every atom of an element has the same number of protons and electrons, keeping a balance of positives and negatives to make the atom neutral. The number of protons defines the element. If an element has 2 protons, it is , the material used to make soda cans.
While atoms are really small, almost all of their mass is packed in their even tinier nuclei. A typical atomic radius is 200 picometers (pm) or 2 x 10 meters. A typical nucleus is 20,000 times smaller: 10 femtometers or 1 x 10 meters. If we make the atom the size of a football stadium, the nucleus would be like a pencil eraser in the center of the stadium. The electrons would be somewhere in the stadium but would be smaller than your pencil tip (99.9999999999996% of atoms is empty space). Wow! Isnt that hard to imagineand amazing?
When you start to look at the element profiles ( ), youll see that the illustration of each atoms nucleus shows only the protons and the neutrons. Thats because electrons are so small, and theres so much empty space in an atom, that the electrons wouldnt even be on the page if the protons and neutrons were as big as were showing them!
Elements are all around us now, but they are made in stars. As stars provide heat and light to our world, they also make new elements. Smaller atoms, like . That type of math and chemistry is constantly occurring in many stars across the universe, creating additional quantities of our elements all the time.
