Periodic table been slowly expanded and refined with the discovery or synthesis of further new elements and the development of new theoretical models to explain chemical behaviour. The modern periodic table now provides a useful framework for analyzing chemical reactions, and continues to be widely used in chemistry, nuclear physics and other sciences. All the elements from atomic numbers 1 (hydrogen) through 118 (oganesson) have been either discovered or synthesized, completing the first seven rows of the periodic table. The first 98 elements exist in nature, although some are found only in trace amounts and others were synthesized in laboratories before being
Period (periodic table) total of 118 elements have been discovered and confirmed. Modern quantum mechanics explains these periodic trends in properties in terms of electron shells. As atomic number increases, shells fill with electrons in approximately the order shown at right. The filling of each shell corresponds to a row in the table. In the s-block and p-block of the periodic table, elements within the same period generally do not exhibit trends and similarities in properties (vertical trends down groups are more significant). However, in the d-block, trends across periods become significant, and in the f-block elements show a high degree of similarity