(NEWS10) — What kind of fish is made from two sodium atoms? 2 Na! Friday, February 7, 2020 is National Periodic Table Day, celebrating the publication of the first officially recognized periodic table and it’s changes and contributions to science over the years.
According to ThoughtCo.com, the Periodic Table was born in 1868 when professor Dmitry Mendeleev needed to devise a quick way to organize the known elements for a book he was working on. On a deadline, Mendeleev decided to sort the elements by their atomic weight. An avid solitaire player, Mendeleev wrote the name and weight of each element on its own card and arranged them on a table… The Periodic Table was born!
Here are some other fun facts to celebrate National Periodic Table Day:
- The row of elements on the far right are the “Noble Gases,” which are nearly totally inert. The elements to the far left are the “Alkaline-Earth Metals,” which are violently reactive.
- Atoms with atomic numbers higher than 92 do not exist naturally and must be man-made by bombarding different elements together.
- In 1937, Technetium became the first element to be made artificially. Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson are the newest additions, recognized in 2016.
- Any new elements will require a brand new row to be added to the Periodic Table!
- The only two elements which occur in liquid form at room temperature are mercury and bromine.
