Period (periodic table) across periods. Seven periods of elements occur naturally on Earth. For period 8, which includes elements which may be synthesized after 2016, see the extended periodic table. A group in chemistry means a family of objects with similarities like different families. There are 7 periods, going horizontally across the periodic table. The first period contains the least elements than any other, with only two, hydrogen and helium. They therefore do not follow the octet rule. Chemically, helium behaves like a noble gas, and thus is taken to be part of the group 18 elements. However, in terms of its nuclear
History of the periodic table the Periodic Law for the chemical elements". He contributed the word 'periodic' in chemistry. The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev was the first scientist to make a periodic table similar to the one used today. Mendeleev arranged the elements by atomic mass, corresponding to relative molar mass. It is sometimes said that he played 'chemical solitaire' on long train journeys, using cards with various facts about the known elements. On March 6, 1869, Mendeleev gave a formal presentation, "The Dependence Between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements", to the Russian Chemical Society. In 1869, the table was published