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I say gentlemen, let's call this meeting of the curious chemist club daughter.
And one La Vosier France.
Present Johann Wolfgang Derbreiner of Germany.
Here mid-snacks, soft pretzelerly one.
Demetri Mendeliev of Russia.
And of course, I'm John Newlands of Great Britain.
How's the important chemistry scholar as it is up to us to put the elements in some kind of order?
Excuse me gentlemen, trusty narrator here representing who smart it?
Who smelt it? For me? No, no, no, it's a podcast for all the smarty pants of the world.
Speaking of, when all you world-renowned chemists were conducting your work on the elements between the years 1789 and 1869, did you actually know each other?
Um, no. We did not hang out or nerd out as the kids say, but for purposes of explanation, this seemed more fun.
And we were all aware of each other's work.
After all, we were striving till the common goal.
Yes, to organize the elements into an easy to read pyramid.
No, no, no, no, no, it should be a magnificent pie chart.
I think not. A ladder with elements listed in order of importance would clearly be best.
Niet, it needs to be a table.
Ah, but why did these clever chemists feel the need to categorize the elements in the first place?
How did they arrive at the periodic table as we know it?
And how the heck are we supposed to read this thing?
It's time for another whiff of science on...
Who smarted? Who smart is it you?
Is it me? Is it science or history?
Listen up! Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun on who smarted.
Pssss. Hey, smarty pants.
When it comes to the periodic table of the elements, have you ever wondered why?
Ah, yes! Around 1789 I saw to myself end one with the scabbard by significant number of elements.
Well done, us. And many share similar characteristics.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to put them in some kind of chart?
We could group elements with similar properties together to quickly recognize important information used to balance chemical equations.
You thought of all of that?
Wait, it is my job. And then I tried grouping them by metal and none metals led over here.
Hydrogen, over there. Iron, over here.
Neon, over there. Hmm, but that wasn't enough.
Fort years after I had one started creating categories, I saw to myself, Johann, many of these elements share similar physical or chemical properties.
What if I stack them in triads or little pyramids of Sree in order of atomic weight?
Ooh, that's exciting. But wait, why does atomic weight matter?
The atomic weight is important because most chemical reactions are directly related to the numerical relationships among the atoms within the elements.
Smurdypads, to clarify, elements are made up of what's known as atoms.
In fact, everything is made up of atoms.
Atoms, as some of you know, are teeny tiny units you can't see.
But they are the building blocks that make up all of the matter in the universe.
Whoa. And each atom is made up of three particles, protons, neutrons, and the electrons.
Protons are positively charged particles located in the center or nucleus of an atom.
Neutrons are also located in the nucleus, but they don't have a charge.
And electrons are negatively charged particles which orbit around the nucleus.
The atomic mass is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons in the nucleus of one individual tiny atom of an element.
And the atomic weight is calculated by averaging all the variations of that element as it occurs in nature.
The difference is tricky, but they are usually similar numbers.
In 1860, at the first international conference of the chemistry in Germany, it was decided that hydrigen, the lightest and most abundant element, would be assigned the atomic weight of one of one.
And all other elements would be labeled in comparison to hydrogen.
Then, in 1865, I thought to myself, John, elements with similar properties can be grouped into sets of eight.
I'll call it the law of octaves and arrange the elements in increasing order of atomic mass.
I see. What about you, Dmitry?
Did you talk to yourself too?
No, the solution came to me in a flash.
In 1869, I arranged the 63 known elements according to their atomic weight in a table.
And I left the gap for the elements that were not yet to be discovered.
Well, however came to Dmitry, you're credited with coming up with the earliest version of the periodic table that we now use.
Great job. At Thanks, I'm Awesome.
In 1870, German chemist Lothar Meier produced a similar version of the periodic table, also leaving gaps for new elements.
Later in the decade, some of those gaps were filled by elements that Dmitry had predicted.
Gallium, scandium, and germanium.
And in 1955, the 101st element would be named Mendelevian in Dmitry Mendelev's honor.
But, Smarney pants, do you know why it's called the periodic table?
Is it because there's lots of periods in it?
Because it was invented during the reconstruction period?
Or because the elements occur in nature in regular intervals or periods?
Hmm. It's called the periodic table because the elements occur in regular intervals or periods.
In other words, the properties of the elements are fairly predictable.
Da, I'll explain further.
The number of protons in an atom determines that elements atomic number.
A carbon atom, for example, has six protons, so its atomic number is… What do you say, Smarney pants?
Did you say six? Great! The periodic table lists the elements in order of ascending atomic number, ascending, meaning starting with the smallest number and going up.
Do you remember which element had the smallest number?
That's right. Hydrogen is number one.
We're number one! We're number one!
Yes, hydrogen, you're number one.
And number one oh one? Was named after me!
Uh-huh. Mendelovium is number one oh one.
But, Smarney pants, how many elements in total are on the periodic table now?
Are there A, 101? B, 118?
C, 140? Or D, 202? Niceee!
140! Uh-huh. No. While there are elements numbering up to 140 that are being studied and considered, there are currently only 118 elements that have been identified and proven to be worthy of periodic table status.
So the answer is 118 elements.
We're number one oh team!
We're number one oh team!
Yes, Ogedeson, your number 118.
Now, the 118 elements on the periodic table are further divided into categories.
Dmitri, can I explain? The Chorizanto Rose are called periods.
The table has seven periods.
Elements are placed in different periods to represent how many electron orbits they have, starting with the lowest.
So, imagine an atom is like our solar system.
The nucleus of the atom is the Sun and the electrons are the planets orbiting around it.
These electron orbits are known as shells.
All of the elements in a row or period on the chart have the same number of electron shells.
Hydrogen and helium only have one.
So, they're at the very top.
The bottom row, beginning with froncium, contains 32 elements that have seven shells.
But that's not all. The 18 vertical or up and down columns called groups, a range elements that look and behave similarly because they have the same number of electrons on their out-emotion.
Unlike a planetary orbit, a shell can hold more than one electron.
Elements are also split into metal and non-metal groups.
Metal elements are especially good at conducting electricity and heat.
Most of the non-metals are clear, all-derlous gases.
Lots of these elements are in the air you breathe, like oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and algon.
The metals are further sub-categorized by their chemical behavior.
Subgroups include alkali metals, alkali-earth metals, lenthonidides, actinidides, transition metals, post-transition metals and metalloids.
The non-metals are divided into halogens, noble gases and others, which include helium and hydrogen.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
You expect me in the smarty pants to remember all of that?
Of course not. That's why I create periodic table for you.
Da! Ah! Ah! As more elements are proven, the table grows in the groups' expound.
That's why they're color-coded.
Those rows at the bottom, their metals in the groups lenthide and actinid, but chemist fran out of room.
So they still have a spot on the periodic table, but we move them down below to save space.
Okay, so let's recap. There's 118 elements each with an atomic number representing the number of protons in their nucleus.
They're arranged in periods or rows representing the number of electron shells and groups, now color-coded, to represent common chemical properties.
Is that right? Nailed it!
It's great to know and remember the elements, especially if you're chemist, but there's a lot to remember.
And new elements could be added at any time, so it's handy to have a table full reference.
Nice, but wait, I noticed the elements in the periodic table are all abbreviated with letters.
And most of them make sense, like hydrogen as H, and helium as HE.
But summer kind of weird, like gold is AU and silver is AG, what is that about?
There's a reason for that, and we'll find out right after this quick break.
Now back to who smarted?
Smarty pants? If you've ever looked at a periodic table, you've noticed how each element gets its own little box.
Thanks to our chemist friends, you know now why the boxes are organized the way they are.
But what about the numbers and letters inside each box?
In the center of each box is a one or two letter symbol representing the elements name.
There's O for oxygen, N i for nickel, M g for magnesium, and F e for iron.
Well, we'll wait. F e for iron?
There's no F or E in iron.
Why isn't it I or I are? Often, the chemical symbol is derived from an earlier name for an element.
In this case, the Latin word for iron, which is theorem.
Thus, F e, gold comes from the Latin au room.
So AU and lead in Latin is plumbum, so PB.
Some elements are named by the chemists who discovered them, and their symbols are based on their original names.
For example, potassium was discovered by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klapporch.
Only he called it calium, which is why the symbol for potassium is K.
Some names are descriptive, like B r for bromine, and the Greek word bros, meaning stinkier.
Maybe they should have named it PU.
Ha, well played, now right?
Thanks, but it is all a little confusing.
There, that is why we use the periodic table, because there are scientists all over the world discovering, studying, combining, and manipulating elements.
It's good to have one periodic table to reference, share, and update all the information about the known elements.
When celebrating the 150th anniversary of my early periodic table, the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, wrote, the periodic table is essentially a window on the universe, helping to expand our understanding of the world around us.
Since it describes atoms and atoms make up everything, they're probably right.
Him, not that you haven't done great work to me, Trey, oh boy, but let's not forget, there have been many contributors to your periodic table.
Of course, and probably some smarty pants listening will contribute even more, and then we'll have to make a bigger periodic table.
Hmm, maybe I should try to discover an element.
I can see it now, trusty in our auditorium.
A big shout out to Ruby in Woodland Hills, California.
We hear you love listening to who's smarted as soon as you wake up, because it makes your brain ready for the day.
Well, hearing that makes my brain very happy.
Thanks, Ruby. This episode, the periodic table, was written by Livy Platinum Ward, and voiced by Taya Germaniam Garlid, Brandon Boran-Baelis, Adam Titanium Davis, and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hydrogen-Hahn.
Who smarted as recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios?
Our associate producer is Max Kobalt-Kabaski.
The theme song is by Brian Silicone-Swarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Textevis.
Who smarted was created and produced by Adam Textevis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an atomic entertainment production.
