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Written by Kar Hoe
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Wednesday, 11 November 2009 00:00 |
I'm not studying Chemistry anymore, but I do remember very well what a Periodic table is, it looks something like this. It was one of my favourite part in Chemistry, although I had difficulties studying it initially. Even today, I can still proudly read out the first 20 elements in the period table. 
But apparently, my youngest brother might not be studying this periodic table anymore, but instead something like that below.
It's a whole new graphical representation of the elements, a revamp from the one created by Dmitri Mendeleev. I won't go into detail because it's so technical even I myself won't understand.
- So why change it? According to Mohd Abubakr from Microsoft Research in Hyderabad, the table can be improved by arranging it in circular form. He says this gives a sense of the relative size of atoms--the closer to the centre, the smaller they are--something that is missing from the current form of the table.
- It preserves the periods and groups that make Mendeleev's table so useful. And by placing hydrogen and helium near the centre, Abubakr says this solves the problem of whether to put hydrogen with the halogens or alkali metals and of whether to put helium in the 2nd group or with the inert gases.
- That's worthy but flawed. Unfortunately, Abubakr's arrangement means that the table can only be read by rotating it. That's tricky with a textbook and impossible with most computer screens.
I can only imagine having a pop up in the future text book, where the table can be rotated.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 01 November 2009 23:43 |
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