As the legendary Periodic Table of Chemical Elements turns 150, chemists from around the world were asked as to why it has become so popular among scientists and why it’s of such global importance that the United Nations devoted 2019 to this landmark invention by Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev.
Why Has It Become So Popular Among Scientists?
Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff, a research professor in chemistry at the University of Nottingham, explained to sources that the periodic table owes its popularity to the fact that it was not just a brilliant concept for arranging the elements by Mendeleev, but that has also allowed for a precise prediction of elements that had not even been discovered at the time it was created.
For example, Mendeleev predicted the existence of elements such as gallium and scandium, and then germanium, which were discovered soon after he introduced his table to the world.
Poliakoff also said that the Russian scientist’s own persona also helped the popularity of the periodic table.
“Mendeleev was quite a good person for publicising himself; and, of course, his appearance was much wilder than some of the other scientists that became very famous. He looked like Einstein before Einstein was born”, he said.
Professor Mark Lorch, from the University of Hull in the UK, said that the table played such an essential role in the development of chemistry due to presenting a vast amount of chemical and physical information in an “amazingly elegant way”. He compared it to “one simple infographic” capable of replacing “textbooks worth of information”.
Javier García-Martínez, a professor of chemistry at the University of Alicante in Spain, called the periodic table “the simplest, most complete visual representation of what we know about what the universe is made of” and compared it to a roadmap capable of hinting to chemists how they can design experiments and what properties the resultant compounds will have.
He also praised Mendeleev for creating a powerful tool capable of predicting new elements prior to their discovery. The table was later filled with the discoveries of many chemists from all over the globe. García-Martínez added that the periodic table has become a cultural icon and one of the most recognisable images of science.
“Mendeleev was able to organize the elements that existed at his time, foresee where the new the elements should be placed, and predict their properties with unprecedented accuracy. And all of this, decades before the idea of atomic number was coined”, García-Martínez said.
The Latest Additions and the Future of the Periodic Table
According to Martyn Poliakoff, the latest additions to the periodic table were made at a ceremony at the House of Science in Moscow, which took place in March 2017. Four new elements, number 113 nihonium, number 115 moscovium, number 117 tennessine, and number 118 oganesson — were added. The latter was named after the Russian scientist Yuri Oganessian, whom Poliakoff called an “absolute superhero of the periodic table”.
Oganessian is a nuclear physicist and the world’s leading researcher of superheavy chemical elements. He is also the only person currently living after whom an element in the periodic table has been named. In the vast majority of other cases, elements have been named after people who had already died, Poliakoff added.
More elements are expected to be added in the near future. The British chemist noted that the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia is wrapping up the construction of the so-called Superheavy Elements Factory — an accelerator that should make it much easier to detect new elements. Poliakoff predicted that elements number 119 and 120 might be discovered in the coming few years.
Mark Lorch thinks that the next new elements to be added to the periodic table could contribute to “battery technology”, essentially allowing for a “breakthrough” in green technologies, making them more accessible to public.
He also noted that scientists are actively working on discovering new synthetic elements by bombarding existing elements with sub-atomic particles and hoping they fuse together, forming brand new elements. So far, most synthetic elements that have been discovered have been unstable, but scientists are striving to reach a so-called “the island of stability” — a predicted area of the periodic table that contains superheavy and stable elements.
Since the creation of the table, over 60 elements have been discovered or synthesised artificially, with element number 101 bearing the name of the renowned Russian chemist. Many of these elements and their properties were predicted by him long before their discovery.
Cool facts about Dmitri Mendeleev
Not everyone knows that besides being one of the greatest chemists in history, Mendeleev was also an expert in many other disciplines, including physics, economy, geology, meteorology and even an aeronautics, among other things. Here are a few other facts.
- Born in a Very Large Family
Mendeleev was the 17th child in the family of Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev, who was part of intelligentsia in the Siberian Region of Tobolsk. Unfortunately, young Dmitri had no chance to meet all of his siblings, as eight children died very young. Infant mortality in Siberia was high back in those days.
- Bad Student
When young Mendeleev was in school, he wasn’t the best student. On the contrary, he managed to fail a few of his classes and even had to repeat a whole year all over again due to unsatisfactory grades while at a pedagogical institute in St. Petersburg. His least favorite subjects at school were Latin and Bible Studies.
- Suitcase Manufacturer
Among the residents of St. Petersburg, Mendeleev was also known as a master of suitcase making. Mendeleev’s suitcases and travel bags were of excellent quality and highly valued among Russian merchants. His secret to making amazing suitcases was a special kind of glue, which Mendeleev discovered while studying different kinds of adhesive substances.
- Inventor of Vodka
There is a popular myth that Mendeleev invented vodka. Well, that’s not true, as the alcoholic drink had of course existed long before Mendeleev was even born. The myth that Mendeleev invented vodka was born after the scientist defended a dissertation on the combination of the pure form of alcohol with water. Mendeleev studied the ratio between alcohol and water, which caused the maximum decrease in the volume of the liquids mixed. He found it to be a solution with the mass fraction of alcohol equal to 46 percent. His dissertation had nothing to do with vodka or its invention.
- Never Won Nobel Prize
Although Mendeleev was nominated to receive the Nobel Prize on three different occasions, he was never given the prize. Some argue that the main reason why Mendeleev wasn’t given the Nobel Prize for his outstanding scholarly achievements was due to a conflict with the Nobel brothers.
- Arctic Explorer
Everyone knows Mendeleev primarily as a chemist. However, Mendeleev devoted only 10 percent of his scholarly work to chemistry, while the rest of his time, the Russian scholar spent working on other things. For example, Mendeleev had a great interest in shipbuilding and the mastery of Arctic Maritime navigation about which he wrote over 40 scientific papers. Mendeleev was involved in the construction of the world’s first Arctic icebreaker “Ermak,” launched in 1898.
- Up in the Air
Mendeleev worked on the development of flying machines with which he wanted to study temperature, air pressure and humidity in the upper atmosphere. In 1887, Mendeleev rose in the air up to 3,000 meters alone using one of the aerostat machines he helped to develop, a balloon with the volume of 700 m³. While in the air, the scientist measured air pressure and temperature and witnessed a solar eclipse, taking important scholarly notes. The French Academy of Aerostatic Meteorology awarded a medal of honor to Mendeleev for his flight in the balloon.
- Dream about Periodic Table
There is another myth around Mendeleev, which says that the scholar invented his famous periodic table after he had seen it in a dream. The myth is really old and traces back to the time when Mendeleev was still alive. When Mendeleev was asked if the legend was true he said he had thought about the idea of a periodic table for 20 years day and night, adding that he couldn’t believe some people thought he simply had a “divine” dream while sleeping and then the next day he came up with the whole periodic table.
- Missing, but not unknown
When Mendeleev created his periodic table, he knew that the table still had gaps and some elements were missing. The scholar, however, predicted that in the future new elements would be discovered as a result of further studies and the use of more modern equipment than tools that the scholar had at his disposal at the time.
- Oil Expert
Mendeleev was the first man to invent the modern forms of the transportation of bitumen and oil products using pipelines. The scholar recommended oil companies to transport oil not in carts and leather bags, but using storage tankers and pump oil through pipelines. Mendeleev carefully studied oil products and proved using data and numbers that oil-processing plants should be built in areas where petroleum products are consumed, instead of putting up factories near oil fields as oil companies initially had planned on doing.
UNI/Agencies