Gold, silver, copper, lead, and mercury are some of the ancient elements. Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus the first element. After the discovery of phosphorus, many more elements were discovered. Johann Dobereiner discovered that elements could be grouped in three sets and proposed the Law of Triads. Later, A.E.Beguyer de Chancourtois arranged the elements according to their atomic mass and created the first geometrical representation of the periodic table. John Newlands proposed the Law of Octaves which states the elements repeat the chemical properties after every eighth element. Lothar Meyer and Demetriv Mendeleev published their own periodic table. Mendeleev arranged the elements in order of increasing atomic weight and grouped the elements of similar properties together. William Ramsay and Lord Rayleigh discovered the noble gases, which were added to the periodic table as group 0. Ernest Rutherford showed that the nuclear charge was proportional to the atomic weight of the element. Glen Seaborg found the transuraniun elements and rearranged the period table.
In ancient times, some elements like gold, silver, copper, lead, and mercury were known but it was not until 1649 when Hennig Brand discovered the first element. Hennig Brand tried to make a Philosopher’s stone, which was an object that could possibly turn metal into gold. Brand heated residues from boiled urine to make the Philosopher’s stone. However, a liquid dropped out and it burst into flames. This experiment was the discovery of phosphorus. In the next two hundred years, chemists found the properties of the elements and their compounds (The Periodic Table). Sixty three elements were discovered by 1869. As more and more elements were being discovered, scientists started to see patterns in characteristics and properties.
Between 1817-1829, Johann Dobereiner began to group elements with similar properties into groups of three or triads (History of the Development of
Cited: N.a. (2012, April 15). History of the Development of the Periodic Table of Elements. Retrieved from http://www.bpc.edu/mathscience/chemistry/history_of_the_periodic_table.html #beginnings_of_the_periodic_table N.a. (2013). Periodic table history. Retrieved from http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/history/ history-periodic-table.htm N.a. (1997). The Periodic Table. Retrieved from http://homepage.smc.edu/wissmann_paul/ HuBiochemistry/1delaperiodictable.html