Challenges for the Periodic Systems of Elements: Chemical, Historical and Mathematical Perspectives

Abstract

We celebrate 150 years of periodic systems that reached their maturity in the 1860s. They began as pedagogical efforts to project corpuseso fs ubstances on the similarity and order relationshipso ft he chemical elements. However,t hese elements are not the canned substances wrongly displayed in many periodic tables, but rather the abstract preserved entitiesi nc ompound transformations. We celebrate the systems, rather than their tables or ultimate table. The periodic law,w ea rgue, is not an all-encompassing achievement, as it does not apply to every property of all elements and compounds.P eriodic systemsh ave been generaliseda so rdered hypergraphs, which solves the longlasting question on the mathematical structureo ft he systems. In this essay,i ti ss hown that these hypergraphs may solve current issues such as order reversals in super-heavy elements and lacko fs ystem predictivep ower.W ed iscuss research in extending the limits of the systemsi nt he superheavy-atom region and draw attention to other limits:t he [a] Dr.

The periodic table and the physics that drives it

“…Subtle shell structure effects cause irregularities and anomalies in the chemical and physical behaviour of the elements within a specific group. Fuzzy concepts like chemical similarity 265 often lead to unnecessary disputes concerning the PTE. The ambiguity of clearly assigning a specific element into the right place of the PTE, as for the lanthanides and actinides, shows the limitation of such concepts or approximations [266][267][268][269] , but in our opinion should not be over-interpreted as it is sometimes done.…”

The value of vague ideas in the development of the periodic system of chemical elements

“…in ferrous metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Pd), lanthanides, and actinides. For more detail see Restrepo (2019a and2019b). There are many properties one can use to establish relationships between elements and therefore there can be thousands of different PTE.…”

Das periodische System und die Evolution des chemischen Raums

“…Anhand der Verbindungen, die bereits zu Meyers und Mendelejews Zeiten bekannt waren, entstand ein System, das geprägt war von Ähnlichkeits-und Ordnungsbeziehungen. 2,3) Die auffallenden Stöchiometrien der Halogenide, Hydroxide, Sulfate, Arsenate, Hydride und anderer Verbindungen der Alkalimetalle führte zur Vorstellung, dass diese einander ähneln. Daraus folgt letztlich das Konzept der Valenz.…”