Periodic table Periodic table The periodic table, or periodic table of elements, is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements, ordered by their atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties, whose structure shows "periodic trends". Generally, within one row (period) the elements are metals to the left, and non-metals to the right, with the elements having similar chemical behaviours placed in the same column. Table rows are commonly called periods and columns are called groups. Six groups have accepted names as well as assigned numbers: for example, group 17 elements are the halogens; and group 18 are the noble gases. Also
History of the periodic table known as isotopes, from the Greek "" ("same place"). In 1914, a year before he was killed in action at Gallipoli, the English physicist Henry Moseley found a relationship between the X-ray wavelength of an element and its atomic number. He was then able to re-sequence the periodic table by nuclear charge, rather than by atomic weight. Before this discovery, atomic numbers were sequential numbers based on an element's atomic weight. Moseley's discovery showed that atomic numbers were in fact based upon experimental measurements. Using information about their X-ray wavelengths, Moseley placed argon (with an atomic number Z=18) before potassium