A Brief History of the Periodic Table

Virtually all science classrooms will have at least one common thing posted on their walls; a poster of the periodic table. The periodic table is simply a chart of all known elements, arranging them as defined by periodic law; it orders the elements by increasing atomic number, displaying the periodicity of chemical and physical properties in the elements. The first contributions to the periodic table were made in antiquity, with the discovery of obvious elements such as gold, silver, tin, copper, lead and mercury. In 1649, the first scientific discovery of an element occurred in 1649 w…