Placing similar groups and species together is known as Classification. Elements with similar properties are placed in one group to understand them easily. Newlands’ classification was good only for lighter elements but, it was not applicable for elements with atomic masses higher than that of calcium. Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev gathered, all the vital information pertaining to the behavior and, properties of 63 elements known till that time. He observed similarities in their chemical properties. At last, we will understand the modern periodic table.

Classification is needed to easily understand the properties of different elements in a periodic table. Certain elements are classified into groups of three and called Triads. When these elements were arranged in increasing order of atomic masses, the atomic mass of the middle element was approximately equal to the average atomic mass of the other two elements.

We will learn about Newlands’ Law of Octaves in detail in this virtual tour. He arranged, the elements in the increasing order of their relative atomic masses in such a way that, seven elements were present in each row and, every eighth element fall under the first one.

Mendeleev had arranged elements based on atomic mass in such a way that elements with similar properties could be grouped together. But, there is a certain limitation of Mendeleev’s periodic table. There is no fixed position for hydrogen, as well as no separate positions were for these isotopes and the atomic masses of the elements did not increase in a regular manner.

In this virtual tour, we will learn about the Modern periodic table and its law. In the periodic table, the horizontal rows are called periods and the vertical columns are called groups. And we have also studied the properties of the elements.