Revision Notes

Class 10 Science
Chapter 5 - Periodic Classification of Elements

Introduction:
● In the beginning, scientists had classified elements into two broad
categories as metals and non-metals. Some elements exhibited properties
because of which they could neither be classified as metals nor non-metals
and hence were called metalloids. This classification was not sufficient
for scientific study. Over the years, many chemists attempted to make a
rational and systematic classification. It was based on the physical and
chemical properties of each element. These results were then tabulated in
the form of a table.
● Periodic table – The table giving the arrangement of the known elements
according to their properties so that similar elements fall within the same
vertical column and dissimilar elements are separated.

Dobereiner's Triads:
● In 1817, a German chemist named Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner arranged
the elements with similar properties into groups.
● He identified many such groups which had three elements in them.
Hence, these groups were termed as triads.
● In a triad, the elements were arranged in increasing order of their atomic
masses. When the arithmetic mean of the atomic mass of the first and the
third element was taken, it came out to be approximately the same as that
of the second or the middle element. This is a distinctive feature that can
be used to identify if elements form a triad.
● This classification was also not sufficient as not many triads could be
identified. Only three were identified as:

1
Newlands' Law of Octaves:
● In 1866, an English scientist, John Newlands arranged many of the then
known elements in the increasing order of their atomic masses. So, he
started with the element having the lowest atomic mass (hydrogen) and
ended at Thorium which was the 56th element. He noticed that the eighth
element was similar in properties to the first element.
● It was concluded that there exists some systematic relationship between
the order of atomic masses and the repetition of properties of elements.
This relationship, when represented in a tabular form, presented a periodic
repetition of the properties of the elements. Hence, the term periodicity
was introduced.
● This had a resemblance to the eight musical notes in both Western as well
as Indian music.

● It was found that the Law of Octaves was applicable only up to Calcium
because after Calcium, every eighth element did not possess properties
similar to that of the first. John Newlands had assumed that only 56

2
 elements existed in nature and no more elements would be discovered in
the future. But several new elements were discovered later on, whose
properties did not fit into the Law of Octaves. So, this was not sufficient
either.

Mendeleev's Periodic Table:

● In 1869, a Russian chemist, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev classified the
then known 63 elements based on their physical and chemical properties
in the increasing order of the atomic masses in the form of a table.
● He had observed that properties of the elements recur cyclically when they
were arranged in the order of their increasing atomic masses. This
observation led to the conclusion that the physical and chemical properties
of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic masses. This came
to be known as the law of chemical periodicity.
● Periodic Table is the tabulation of all the known elements in a tablular
format based on this law. It contains eight vertical columns called
'groups' and seven horizontal rows called 'periods'. Each of the eight
groups has two sub-groups A and B. The properties of elements of a sub-
group resemble each other more markedly than the properties of those
between the elements of the two sub-groups.

Achievements of Mendeleev's Periodic Table:

Some of the important contributions of Mendeleev's periodic table are as
follows:
1) Systematic Study of Elements – The table provided the arrangements of
elements showing similar properties into groups. This was very useful in
studying and remembering the properties of a large number of elements in
a systematic way.
2) Prediction of New Elements – Mendeleev had predicted new elements
and had left three blanks for these undiscovered elements. He was able to
predict their properties more or less accurately. He named them eka-
boron, eka-aluminium and eka-silicon.
3) Correction of Atomic Masses - Based on the elements’ positions in the
periodic table, Mendeleev was able to correct their atomic masses. The
atomic mass of beryllium was corrected from 13.5 to 9.0.

Limitations of Mendeleev’s classification:

Although Mendeleev's periodic table has many advantages, it could not explain
certain things, which are considered as its limitations. They are as follows:

3
 1) Assigning a position to Hydrogen: Hydrogen has a electronic
configuration as that of alkali metals and combines with halogens, oxygen,
sulphur to form compounds, like HCL,H2O,H2S and at the same time it

exists as a diatomic molecule like halogens. So, Mendeleev was not able
to assign a proper position for hydrogen.
2) Assigning position to isotopes: The isotopes have similar properties but
differ in their atomic masses. Mendeleev’s classification would place
them in different groups due to their different atomic masses, but isotopes
were not placed so as their properties were similar.
3) Anomalous pairing of some elements: Mendeleev did not follow the
increasing atomic masses but grouped some elements based on similar
properties. Argon with an atomic mass of 39.9 was placed before
potassium with atomic mass of 39.1. Also some elements with similar
properties like copper (Cu) and mercury (Hg) were placed separately, and
some very dissimilar elements were placed in one group. Copper was
placed in group I, the elements of which had no similarities with copper.

The Modern Periodic Table:

● In the year 1913, an English physicist named Henry Mosely found that
the atomic number of an element, which was denoted by symbol ‘Z’ was
a more basic property to group them instead of their atomic masses. Thus
Mendeleev's periodic table was modified for the same. The elements were
now grouped based on the increasing atomic number.
● This came to be known as the Modern Periodic Law and it states,
‘properties of the elements are a periodic function of their atomic number’.
Hence the new classification of the elements based on this came into
existence and was termed as ‘Modern Periodic Table’.
● With this system of grouping it was easy to predict the properties of the
elements when they were arranged in the order of increasing atomic
numbers. It is to be noted that the periodicity of the elements is based on
the electronic configuration or the number of protons in the nucleus.

4
Salient features of the Modern Periodic Table:
The table has 18 vertical columns that are known by the name of groups and 7
horizontal rows that are named as periods.

1) Periods:

● There are 7 periods in this table. The periods have the sameelements
that have the same valence shell or the energy shell. Example - Na,
Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl are placed in the same shell as they have the
electronic shells as K, L and M.

● In a period, the number of electrons present in the energy shells

increase by 1 on moving from left to right within a period. Example
- Na - 1, Mg - 2, Al - 3, and so on.

● The number of elements present in a period can be determined by

the formula 2n2 , where n is the number of the shell from the

nucleus. Example:

5
6
 ● The first period consists of two elements only namely, hydrogen
and helium as they have only 1 valence shell. Example - hydrogen
(Z = 1 or shell as K = 1), helium (Z = 2 or shell as K = 2)

● The second period has 8 elements with 2 shells and it starts with
lithium (Z = 3 or shells as K = 2, L = 1) and ends with neon (Z = 10
or shells as K = 2, L = 8).

● The third period has 8 elements with 3 shells and it starts with
sodium (Z = 11 or shells as K = 2, L = 8, M = 1) and ends with
argon (Z = 18 or shells as K = 2, L = 8, M = 8).

● Similarly the fourth period has 18 elements with 4 shells and starts
with potassium (Z = 19) and ending with krypton (Z = 36).

● The fifth period having 18 elements with 5 shell starts with

rubidium (Z = 37) and ends with xenon (Z = 54).

● The sixth period with 32 elements has 6 shells and it starts with
caesium (Z = 55) ending with radon (Z = 86).

● The seventh and last period is incomplete with 19 elements starts

francium (Z = 87) and goes on till oganesson (Z = 118).

2) Groups:

● There are 18 groups in the periodic table. The group consists of

elements that have the same number of electrons in the valence shell
or outermost shell of the atom.

● The valence shell predominantly decides the physical or chemical

properties of the elements, so the elements of the same group have
the same properties due to the same number of valence electrons.
Example - fluorine and chlorine have valence electrons as 7 and
they belong to group 17.

7
 ● The number of shells increases by one unit as the elements move
down in the periodic table in a group.

3) Blocks:

● The periodic table is also divided into 4 blocks that is based on the
subshell of the valence electrons. They are:

● s-Block elements: All the elements of group 1 and 2 are included

in this block and their general electronic configuration is ns12

Example - Hydrogen (H), Sodium (Na), etc from group 1 and

Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), etc from group 2.

● p-Block elements: This includes the elements from group 13 to 18.

They have an electronic configuration as ns2np16 .

● d-block elements: This includes group 3 to 12 elements. They have

a general electronic configuration as  n 1d110ns12 .
● f-block elements: This block has sets of elements, lanthanides and
the actinides. They have the electronic configuration of
n  2 f 114 n 1d01ns2 . The lanthanides starts from Lanthanum
(La) - Lutetium (Lu) and the actinides starts from Actinium (Ac) -
Lawrencium (Lr).

Position of elements in the periodic table:

● The position of the various elements are decided on the basis of their
valence shells and the number of electrons present in their valence
shells. Example - Sodium (Z - 11, 2,8,1), so it has 3 shells, so it is place
in period 3 and since it has 1 valence electron in outermost shell, it is
placed in group 1.

8
● The position of an element in the periodic table determines its chemical
nature. Based on the position of the elements in the periodic table, they
can be classified as follows:
1) Noble gases: These are a group of elements placed in group 18,
which are tasteless, odourless monoatomic gases that have very low
chemical reactivity. There are 6 such gases, namely, Helium (He),
Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe), Radon (Rn).
They are also referred to as inert gases and due to their inertness,
they are suitable to be used where reactions are not required.
Example - He is used by deep-sea divers in the breathing gas to
prevent toxicity of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

2) Normal elements: All the elements that are placed in groups 1 to 7

are included in this.
3) Alkali metals: The elements in group 1, namely Lithium (Li) -
Francium (Fr), except Hydrogen (H) are termed as alkali metals as
they tend to form hydroxide with water which are strong alkalis.
Thus alkali metals are very reactive and react quickly with water or
air. Example - Sodium (Na) reacts violently with oxygen in the air,
so it stored in mineral oil.

4) Alkaline earth metals: These include the group 2 elements starting

from Beryllium (Be) - Radium (Ra). They are less reactive than the
alkali metals that are found as a compound.

5) Transition elements: These include the elements from group 3 to

11. These are so named as they exhibit a transition in their
properties from the left to the right, including increase in atomic
size, ionization energy, electronegativity.

6) Inner transition elements: These are elements with similar

properties, placed at the end of group 3 in period 7 and 8. These are
called as the lanthanide series starting from Lanthanum (La) -
Lutetium (Lu) in period 6 with 14 elements. The period 7 contains
14 elements starting from Actinium (Ac) - Lawrencium (Lr).

7) Halogens: These include a group of elements in group 17 that are

generally non-metals that can exist in solid, liquid and gas form.

9
 They react with the metals to form salts. They are Fluorine (F),
Chlorine (Cl), Bromine (Br), Iodine (I), Astatine (At) and
Tennessine (Ts).

Properties of the periodic table:

1) Valency:

● The term valency denotes the number of electrons that are gained
or lost by an atom in order to complete its outermost shell to have a
stable electronic configuration. This valency is the number of
electrons present in the valence shell.

● It can be noted that the valency increases from left to right in a

period, and then decreases.

● The valency in the group remains the same through the group,
going downward.

● Example - Period 2 elements have atomic number from 3 to 10, so

they have 2 shells with increasing number of valence till C and then
it decreases. But all the group 2 elements have 2 electrons in their
outermost shell, so their valency is 2.

2) Atomic size:

● The atomic size is determined by the atomic radius of the atom and
it can be termed as the distance from the centre of the nucleus of the
atom to its outermost shell.

10
 ● It is seen that the elements are placed across a period from left to
right, the atomic radius decreases. This is because an increased
nuclear charge has the tendency to pull the electrons towards the
nucleus, thereby decreasing the radius of the atom, and thus the
atomic size too decreases.

● It is not the same in a group. As the elements move down a group,

there is an addition of an extra shell, hence their atomic radius and
thus atomic size increases. Example -

3) Ionization energy:

● It is termed as the amount of energy that is required to remove the

electrons that are present in the outermost shell of the atom.

● Across the period, since the atomic radius decreases, these electrons
in the outermost shell are much closer to the nucleus and therefore
it requires more energy to remove them. So, ionisation energy
increases across a period.

● In the groups, since a shell is being added down the group, so the
atomic radius increases which leads to the electrons in the
outermost shell being far from the nucleus and therefore it is easy
to remove them. Hence in a group, the ionisation energy decreases
going from top to bottom.

11
4) Electron affinity:

● It is termed as the amount of energy change as a result of an addition

of an electron to the atom or the ability of an electron to accept
electrons.

● In a period, from left to right as the nuclear charge increases and

atomic size decreases, it is easy for the addition of electrons, which
leads to generation of more energy. Hence electron affinity
increases across a period.

● In the group, as atomic size increases, nuclear charge decreases, so

lesser number of electrons can be added which leads to lesser
energy generation. Hence electron affinity decreases from top to
bottom in a group.

5) Metallic and non-metallic properties:

● The metals are those elements that have a tendency to lose electrons
and attain a positive charge. So, the metallic nature of elements
means that they are electropositive and have low ionization energy.
This metallic character decreases along a period.

● Non-metallic nature of elements indicate that they have an ability

to gain electrons and attain a negative charge. So, this non-metallic
nature indicates that they are electronegative and have high
ionization energies.

● Hence this non-metallic nature increases along a period. Hence,

moving along a period from left to right, the metallic character
decreases and non-metallic character increases and there is a semi-
metallic nature in between them.

12
 ● The metallic nature increases down a group as the atomic size
increases and they have an increased tendency of losing electrons.
Example -

6) These trends can be summarised with the chart for easy reference:

13