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If you can find a copy I highly recommend Graphical Representations of the Periodic System During 100 Years by Edward G. Mazurs. The latest edition is from 1974
by Pulcinella 4y ago
If you can find a copy I highly recommend Graphical Representations of the Periodic System During 100 Years by Edward G. Mazurs. The latest edition is from 1974 (which unfortunately means it is just misses including the J.F. Hyde table from 1975).
There is also the Internet Database of Periodic Tables (https://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt_database.php?yearfield=2010 https://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt_database.php...).
I’m not sure there really is any new insight to be gained from new arrangements of the elements, but I do feel like this work has stagnated in recent years. Even the cheapest smart phones have more graphical processing power than anything from 10-20 years ago. I would like to see more 3D arrangements (including “regular” 3D, VR/AR, and physical 3D models).
As a former Chemistry teacher, I would also love to see a “build your own” periodic table (maybe some way of coding whatever rules/constraints you think the arrangement should take and the elements are laid out accordingly, rather than directly placing each element). I think it’s important for students to realize that at one point these were original ideas that people had to think of and popularize and that new ideas are also possible. The current table is not just some ancient truth handed down since time immemorial. Though the table reflects the laws of nature, it is the product of human creation (e.g. the common form of the table with the lanthanides and actinides placed below the rest of the table is purely for practical reasons. Otherwise the table is far too wide to print and read easily).
- bluenose69 4y ago> I think it’s important for students to realize that at one point these were original ideas that people had to think of This part of your informative comment indicates to me that you were a great teacher. This sort of thing doesn't occur to many students, and so they find it difficult to connect with material. If they can visualize somebody else doing such work, they may be able to visualize themselves doing it, too. And that's the first step. Even if they don't go into science, though, they will gain an appreciation for what it is.
- Pulcinella 4y agoThank you for your kind words! :)
- WillAdams 4y agoI've always thought it was quite unfortunate that some really arcane presentation of the periodic table wasn't used in H. Beam Piper's novella "Omnilingual": https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19445/pg19445-images.html https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19445/pg19445-images.ht...
- neerajk 4y agoIn a similar vein also recommend “Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements” by Paul Strathern.