Let's start with a naked periodic table. They say it sorta looks like a castle, with its 18 columns and 7 rows with 2 extra rows hanging below. The castle is made of 112 bricks, a.k.a. elements, which are simply not interchangeable. 75% of these elements are metals. The the columns on the left are the metals and the columns to the right are the gases. The middle, row 3 through 12 are the transitional metals.
There's a lot more to the elements than their placements. The negative particles in an atom are the electrons which are stored in different energy levels inside of the atom. Levels are nested inside each other and needs to fill itself with the electrons. Atoms first fill their inner, lower energy levels with their own electrons before they steal or share to make sure they have enough. "Atoms that don't have enough electrons in the outer level will fight, barter, beg, make and break alliances, or do whatever they must to get the right number." Electrons are the most important part of an atom. As we move horizontally to the right on the periodic table, each element has one more electron than its left neighbor. So as the elements keep growing they start storing the electrons into shells. Left elements with 2 electrons store in an s-shell, right side with 6 electrons store in a p-shell, 4th to 7th row with 10 electrons store in d-shells (and hide the rest of the electrons), and first row of floating rows, also known as the lanthanides or the rare earths, store their electrons in f-shells. The lanthanides store their electrons even more deeply and it is impossible to find a pure sample. Noble gases have enough electrons to satisfy themselves. Making them independent. Atoms also have positive particles called protons. The elements usually have the same number of electrons and protons which means they are electrically neutral. The atomic number plus the number of neutrons is the atomic weight. The number of positive protons, also known at the atomic number, makes the atomic identity, meaning elements cannot change their number of protons without becoming a whole different element. |
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