Picture This: The Periodic Table

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...).

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).

I recently ran across Benfey's alternate periodic table (1964) which is similar but more complete:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_periodic_tables

So, what's so special about Silicon (Si) which puts in the middle of the 8-shaped figure at the top of the story?

Also, why does Carbon seem to protrude from the spiral towards Silicon?

Great visualization. I’ve always found it very unsatisfying to depict the lanthanides and actinides as just nebulously floating out there like Alaska and Hawaii on terrible maps of the US. Those elements are part of chemistry/physics too, and they have periodic properties. Finally a practical visual that promotes them to full citizens!

> A Siberian by birth, with Rasputin-like dishevelled hair and an irascible manner

Most of Mendeleev's photos are of his old age, but he actually discovered the periodic table in his 40s, I believe.

This is so very much worth reading given the context.

https://englishatlc.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/randall-munr...

This is great. I'm bookmarking this article as an example of our neverending quest to classify and organize. And how the notion that there is a single, canonical right way to do it is a powerful motivator, where the holy grail is to lay bare a hidden structure that might (for example) be used as a predictor.

There is a caveat here though: when such a structure is found we tend to think that we have discovered everything, and forget that there are still many ways to look at things, organizing principles that may explain other things.

We often think: "there can only be one", in my experience.

I'd like to put a poster of the periodical table on my kid's bedroom wall.

What's the best representation for a 6 year old?

Nerds love nothing more than organizing and categorizing information in increasingly (yet slightly) better ways.

The never ending effort to perfect the periodic table is a great testament to that.