Celebrating the Elements on National Periodic Table Day!

National Periodic Table Day is observed annually on February 7.

To understand the development of the periodic table, we first must understand the discovery of elements and their effect on science.

Elements known to ancient man were few. Gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, mercury, sulfur and carbon were the earliest known elements. These were all known prior to the 1st century A.D.

Over time, arsenic, antimony, phosphorus and zinc were discovered. By 1809 there were 47 discovered elements.

One of the earliest attempts to organize the elements was by Johann Döbereiner in 1817. He organized elements into groups of three, or triads, based on similar qualities.

On February 7, 1863, English chemist John Newlands published one of the first table of elements, which divided the known 56 elements into 11 groups based on the “Law of Octaves.” This suggested that any one element will have similar properties to elements eight places before and behind it on the table.

Arranging the elements according to increasing atomic weight, Newlands was one of the first scientists to detect a pattern to the properties of elements. As a result, his table left room for new discoveries, predicting future discovered elements would complete the table. Newlands correctly predicted the discovery of Germanium.

For more information visit the National Day Calendar page for National Periodic Table Day.

Celebrating the Elements

Being from New Mexico, science was always a big part of my life. Recently, my pal, Josiah, introduced me to The National Nuclear Science Museum in Albuquerque, NM.

Since today is National Periodic Table Day, I wanted to share some photos from my day with Josiah at the museum where I got to experience the periodic table up close! I did a special photo shoot for my fellow Breaking Bad fans too...

Soon I will be sharing more from my day at the museum. Also, I was invited to be a very special pup for an event that Sandia Laboratories had to help teach science to elementary school children. Let's just say, I am a trained CSI pup now!

In the meantime, checkout all the elements. Do you have a favorite? I am a bit partial to carbon...since it is the element in diamonds! Let's hear it for symbol C today!

#NationalPeriodicTableDay #diamonds #nuclearmusum #SandiaLabs #nationaldaycalendar