Period (periodic table) eighth period. Period (periodic table) A period in the periodic table is a horizontal row. All elements in a row have the same number of electron shells. Each next element in a period has one more proton and is less metallic than its predecessor. Arranged this way, groups of elements in the same column have similar chemical and physical properties, reflecting the periodic law. For example, the alkali metals lie in the first column (group 1) and share similar properties, such as high reactivity and the tendency to lose one electron to arrive at a noble-gas electronic configuration. As of
Extended periodic table due to its much higher atomic weight. Unseptbium should be a strong Lewis acid, forming fluorides and oxides, similarly to its lighter congener xenon. Because of this analogy of elements 165–172 to periods 2 and 3, Fricke et al. considered them to form a ninth period of the periodic table, while the eighth period was taken by them to end at the noble metal element 164. This ninth and final period would be similar to the second and third period in that it should have no transition metals. Immediately after element 172 (unseptbium, the last period 8 element), the first