Read the text below and mark the facts as True or False. Russians call it the Mendeleev periodic table, while in other countries people drop the name of the Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev – the scientist who came up with the concept that atomic weights of elements largely predetermine their physical and chemical properties. In the anticipation of an anniversary of this discovery (1869-1870), we decided to find out more interesting facts from the director of the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, who kindly agreed to answer our questions.
Can you tell us about the history of this discovery and its importance nowadays? It’s amazing but Mendeleev based his classification on 63 elements only, of which just 48 had atomic weights precisely determined at that time. Others had not been studied thoroughly. His first table was put on a sheet of paper with some gaps for unknown elements and he corrected the atomic weights for the elements which he thought were incorrect. All the missing elements were discovered later and all the atomic weights he thought wrong proved to be as he predicted! Now we are working on discovering the 119th of the Mendeleev table and there seems to be no limit. One of the elements discovered recently is named after Mendeleev.
Were there any attempts to classify elements before and after his discovery? Yes, just a few. The earliest was based on two large groups of acid-forming and base-forming elements. However, this broad classification proved inadequate. The second made a distinction between metals and non-metals. But it turned out to be inconsistent. The German chemist Lothar Meyer put forward similar proposals shortly after Mendeleev, but criticized Mendeleev’s predictions of incorrect atomic weights of some elements.
Can the Mendeleev periodic table be regarded as a law of nature? No one can deny that. It has been verified many times decades after Mendeleev’s death in 1907. Now it’s as valuable as the work of Copernicus in astronomy or Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Was Mendeleev nominated for a Nobel prize? Yes, three times – in 1905, 1906, 1907. Unfortunately, he failed to get a prize due to the long time that had passed since his discovery and the time when Nobel prizes were first introduced in 1901.
1901 – Mendeleev died
True? False?
118 – the current number of elements in the periodic table
True? False?
1917 – the second time Mendeleev was nominated for the Nobel Prize
True? False
1903 – Nobel prizes were first introduced
True? False?
3 – nominations of the scientist for the Nobel prize
True? False?
2.False
3.False
4.False
5.True