Periodic Relationships of Elements

Basic Concept

Periodic Properties of Elements (or Periodicity) - The electron configurations of the atoms present a periodic variation with increasing atomic number (or atomic weight). The elements in the periodic table display periodic variations of the physical and chemical behavior. The property trend of the elements is called Periodicity.

Feature Overview

This module allows plotting of graph to illustrate element periodicity, a chart of elements vs their properties.

User Instructions

Plotting the Periodicity Chart is a two-step process. First add the data (elements and properties) into the periodicity data sheet on the Periodicity Sheet tab, then plot the chart by selecting the property on the Periodicity Chart tab.

Adding Data to the Spreadsheet

To plot the relationship chart, build the data sheet first. This can be accomplished in two ways:

1. Select the Periodicity Sheet tab from the Periodic Table module. If there is no pre-defined table, the Periodicity Wizard appears.

The upper left portion of the dialog is the Periodic Table, on its right, it is the element list box, where the selected elements enlist there. The lower left is the list of element properties available and the right is the property list box, where the selected properties enlist there.

2. To add elements to the data sheet, either double-click on the element in the Periodic Table or drag-n-drop the element from the Periodic Table to the list box. You can also add the entire group or row of elements all together by dragging the their Group/Row labels (e.g. 2A or 2) and dropping into the list box.

3. To add properties to the data sheet, select the property in the available list and click Add, the highlighted property will be added to the property list box on the right. The reverse can be done, to remove a selected item, select the item on the right and click Remove.

4. When the elements and properties desired have been added their list boxes, click OK to add them to the data sheet.

5. The Periodicity Sheet page appears. Notice the elements and properties selected are listed in the spreadsheet.

Note: A column can be sorted by double-clicking the column label. The small down-arrow symbol will be placed on the right of the label to indicate the sorted column.

Periodicity Sheet Menu Access

On the Periodicity Sheet tab, the Periodicity Sheet menu appears as shown below.

To add an element into the table, just double-click the element in the table and click x at the upper right corner to close the element pad.

To add a property into the table, just double-click the property in the list and click x at the upper right corner to close the Element Properties list.

Select the property to be plotted against the elements selected in the table, click Plot. You can also select the color, width and style of the chart by selecting the settings from the drop-down lists.

Select the desired color for the text and click OK to set it. You can also define more colors by clicking the Define Custom Colors button. The expanded color palette allows RGB colors to be selected.

The same color dialog appears and allows selection of background color.

Upon adding the data into the spreadsheet, the periodicity chart can be plotted using these data.

Plotting the Periodicity Chart

Before you can plot the chart, the data must be added into the table. You can plot only one property at a time.

1. Click on the Periodicity Chart tab or select Plot Chart from the Periodicity Sheet menu. The Select the Property dialog appears.

2. Select the property to be plotted against the elements selected in the table, click Plot. You can also select the color, width and style of the chart by selecting the settings from the drop-down lists. Click Plot to plot the chart of the selected property vs the elements in the table.

3. The line chart appears with the selected settings.

The x-axis (horizontal) is for the elements and the y-axis (vertical) is for the property selected.

Periodicity Chart Menu Access

On the Periodicity Chart tab, there is a list of menu commands available.

Here is the same plot with different settings.