The United Nations has designated 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements (www.iypt2019.org) and, with it, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The organizing committee declared that "The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is one of the most significant achievements in science, capturing the essence not only of chemistry, but also of physics and biology."
Indeed, many nonscientists recognize the periodic table simply by the distinctive shape of its border, but within this border lie many aspects of science beyond chemistry. Science is about the interplay of experimental results and theory. A sufficient number of elements needed to be discovered and their properties and reactivity understood before systematic trends could be inferred. Science is also fundamentally about making testable predictions. Part of the success of Dmitri Mendeleev's original table published in 1869 was that he left gaps for the placement of undiscovered elements. Mendeleev predicted some properties of these elements, setting off a chain of scientific testing of hypotheses. The structure of the periodic table was later understood to arise from quantum mechanics. The elements themselves are produced by a complex chain of stellar nucleosynthesis processes, and the frontier of the periodic table—the search for stable superheavy elements—tests the limits of experimental atomic physics.
See also: Ordering the elements (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aav7350) (DX)
The quest for superheavies (DOI: 10.1126/science.363.6426.466) (DX)
Populating the periodic table: Nucleosynthesis of the elements (DOI: 10.1126/science.aau9540) (DX)
Frontiers in molecular p-block chemistry: From structure to reactivity (DOI: 10.1126/science.aau5105) (DX)
Electronic structure in the transition metal block and its implications for light harvesting (DOI: 10.1126/science.aav9104) (DX)
Rare earth elements: Mendeleev's bane, modern marvels (DOI: 10.1126/science.aau7628) (DX)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @12:35PM (4 children)
>...simply by the distinctive shape of its border
2019 still mentioning borders??? All that Soros money is going to waste on your bigoted minds. BTW elements should not be labeled, they should choose by themselves what to identify in. You also missed the movie about helium not being content with his position and paying the table traffick mafia to get nearer to hold.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @12:37PM (1 child)
Gold, even.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @12:40PM
Gold is just an odd lead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:23PM (1 child)
Hydrogen has already decided it was assigned to be a nonmetal and has transitioned to be a metallic element in the table.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 02 2019, @09:23PM
Only on the interior of Jupiter, however.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Friday February 01 2019, @02:04PM
> Year of the Periodic Table
Funny, they call it Year of the pig [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Friday February 01 2019, @02:39PM (8 children)
Andy Liveris of Dow Chemical, and from Dow Chemical -- tremendous guy. I love that guy, very dearly. Very dearly. Dow gave a million bucks so my Inauguration could be the biggest, and best ever. They’ve given us plenty of money. You know what? When they need something from me a month later, two months later, they call me, and I am there for them. And Andy called, he said they're having big problems with the Fake Studies ordered by "O." With the Studies of some of Dow's biggest sellers. The Malathion. The Chlor something. And the other, the Mexican. Diaz something. And "O" wants to do the Ban of those. But he's not the President anymore, I am. I hired Scott Pruitt, I hired Andy Wheeler. To run the D.E.P., the Department of Environmental. Well Scott got together with Andy -- Andy of Dow not Andy W -- they worked out, we don't need to do the Ban of the Chemical. We can keep those on the market. And it's a very strong market for those. Strong and beautiful. And now Andy's doing the sulfo something. The Dow Transform. And Dow Closer. Very strong names. And even Obama's D.E.P. said, go ahead with that one. But the incredibly dumb Court (9th. Circuit, who else) put big restrictions on it. Going, "oh no, don't spray the poor poor Bees!" We're taking off the restriction. And that one's going to be another big seller for Dow. Big demand from our Farmers. Because Farmers don't like getting stung by Bees. Any more than anyone else does, right? Nobody wants that. Our incredible Farmers are so lucky. Crooked H forgot them. But I never forgot. And I gave them the privilege of voting for me. Something a lot of folks didn't get. Because that election was rigged. America First!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:11PM (7 children)
I voted for Trump... This asshole that keeps posting here with a POTUS name needs to be banned.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday February 01 2019, @03:48PM (4 children)
Hell no, that guy is magnificent, whoever he is. You know he's not an AI because he always posts minutiae relevant to the discussion. And for obvious reasons, I do enjoy me some informative trolls.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @06:41PM (2 children)
Your support really nails it, BAN THE TROLL!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday February 01 2019, @07:12PM (1 child)
Suck my dick, nigger. Yes, get on your knees, scumbag.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @10:27PM
Q
E
D
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @10:26PM
Courtesy of the Trump speech generator... https://trump-speech-generator.herokuapp.com/ [herokuapp.com]
People always ask me about Ethanol-fueled, It's fantastic. Let me tell you about Ethanol-fueled. I do very well with Ethanol-fueled. I love Ethanol-fueled. No one loves Ethanol-fueled more than me, BELIEVE ME. Ethanol-fueled loves me. We're going to have so many Ethanol-fueled you are going to get sick of Ethanol-fueled. The Ethanol-fueled just got 10 feet higher. I have the best Ethanol-fueled.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:10PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 02 2019, @11:49PM
It's probably Hellary Cliton posing as Trump, but with bigger balls and no brains.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday February 01 2019, @03:03PM
Let's build a wall around those distinctive borders! It shall be a great wall, tremendous, the best that has ever been seen. It shall keep out all those subatomic immigrants which only want to rape all the good element, although some I assume are good particles. We have to protect our Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Neptunium!
And we'll make the next superstring over pay for it.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:26PM (3 children)
How does the table capture the essence of biology?
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Friday February 01 2019, @07:13PM (2 children)
Like this?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 02 2019, @03:02AM (1 child)
I don't think that means what you think it does.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday February 02 2019, @03:12AM
Of course it does! The question, however, is what do you think that I think it means? No Hydrogen, Carbon, or Oxygen, no Carbohydrates!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 01 2019, @08:27PM (2 children)
The abundance of heavy elements tell us that we are the products of a supernova
Iron is the most stable element. Energy was lost by making everything heavier
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @10:32PM (1 child)
Nitpick - energy was used not lost.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday February 03 2019, @02:30AM
I SHOULD NOT DRINK AND POST>
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @08:55PM
Tom Lehrer's Elements [youtube.com]
Or, an updated one [youtube.com]