How was the Periodic Table of Elements developed?

Although elements such as gold, silver, tin, copper, lead and mercury have been known since earliest times, the first scientific discovery of an element occurred in 1649. Hennig Brand, a German alchemist, treated urine to a series of processes that resulted in the production of the element phosphorus. read more

These elements were almost entirely main group elements, but in 1868 he incorporated the transition metals in a much more developed table. This 1868 table listed the elements in order of atomic weight, with elements with the same valency arranged in vertical lines, strikingly similar to Mendeleev’s table. read more

The periodic table is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements, ordered by their atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties, whose structure shows periodic trends. read more