ISBN10: 0195305736, ISBN13: 9780195305739, [publisher: OUP USA 2006-11-16, New York |Oxford] Hardcover Language: ENG
[London, United Kingdom] [Publication Year: 2006]

ISBN10: 0195305736, ISBN13: 9780195305739, [publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, New York] Hardcover Hardcover. The periodic table is one of the most potent icons in science. It lies at the core of chemistry and embodies the most fundamental principles of the field. The one definitive text on the development of the periodic table by van Spronsen (1969), has been out of print for a considerable time. The present book provides a successor to van Spronsen, but goes further in giving an evaluation of the extent to which modern physics has, or has not, explained the periodicsystem. The book is written in a lively style to appeal to experts and interested lay-persons alike. The Periodic Table begins with an overview of the importance of the periodictable and of the elements and it examines the manner in which the term 'element' has been interpreted by chemists and philosophers. The book then turns to a systematic account of the early developments that led to the classification of the elements including the work of Lavoisier, Boyle and Dalton and Cannizzaro. The precursors to the periodic system, like Doebereiner and Gmelin, are discussed. In chapter 3 the discovery of the periodic system by six independent scientists is examinedin detail. Two chapters are devoted to the discoveries of Mendeleev, the leading discoverer, including his predictions of new elements and his accommodation of already existingelements. Chapters 6 and 7 consider the impact of physics ...