Group 4 element Group 4 element Group 4 is a group of elements in the periodic table. It contains the elements titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), hafnium (Hf) and rutherfordium (Rf). This group lies in the d-block of the periodic table. The group itself has not acquired a trivial name; it belongs to the broader grouping of the transition metals. The three Group 4 elements that occur naturally are titanium, zirconium and hafnium. The first three members of the group share similar properties; all three are hard refractory metals under standard conditions. However, the fourth element rutherfordium (Rf), has been synthesized in the laboratory;
History of the periodic table of periodic table, which he named "Vis tellurique" (the 'telluric helix'), after the element tellurium, which fell near the center of his diagram. With the elements arranged in a spiral on a cylinder by order of increasing atomic weight, de Chancourtois saw that elements with similar properties lined up vertically. His 1863 publication included a chart (which contained ions and compounds, in addition to elements), but his original paper in the "Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences" used geological rather than chemical terms and did not include a diagram. As a result, de Chancourtois' ideas received little attention until after