Periodic Table: Classifications - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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The Periodic Table contains 3 Major Classifications when describing its elements
The Periodic Table:3 Major Classifications
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Periodic Table: Classifications
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When observing the elements of the periodic table, realize that they can be separated into 3 classifications. Now here, the first classification has to do with all of the elements that are marked as red. And as you can see, a majority of the elements of the periodic table are red. Now before we actually talk about these elements, realize here that these last two rows, they're actually found in between here. So from LA, we actually go to c e all the way to l u, and then come back around to h f. And then after AC, we go to TH and then we go all the way down to LR and then back to RF. Typically, this row is taken out of the periodic table just to make it look better and more organized. But realize that these two last rows here on the bottom, they're actually within the periodic table. They just pull it out for appearance sake. Now these elements in red are called our metals. So all these elements in red are metals. Next, we're gonna see that we have the elements in blue. So h over here, which stands for hydrogen, is all by itself, but then all the other blue ones are found on the far right here. So these elements that are on the right side of the periodic table majority wise, they are our non metals. And then finally, we have those in green. Now to help us remember where those in green are, imagine that there is an invisible staircase. Now whatever periodic table that you might be using as a sheet, try to color in this staircase that's in dark black lines here on our example of the periodic table. It'll help you remember where these elements in green are located. So there's this invisible staircase starting from b and it goes all the way to at. Okay. So these are on the staircase, these element these 5 elements. Then below the staircase are these 2 elements, g e and s b. So in total, we have 7 of these green elements. These green elements are called our metalloids. So just remember, we have elements of the periodic table. They can be thrown into 3 classifications, metals, nonmetals, and metalloids. Now that we know these three classifications, let's continue onward and let's talk a little bit more about each one.
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Periodic Table: Classifications
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Now the metals represent the largest classification for elements on the periodic table. We can see a lot more elements in red than in either blue or green. So they greatly outnumber the nonmetals and metalloids. Now, with these metals come metallic properties, and these metallic properties can be explained through physical properties. For the first physical property of a metal, we have here, this piece of metal. And what we're trying to convey in this image is that metals possess a luster. When we're talking about luster, we're talking about how shiny they are. Metals tend to be extremely shiny. For the next one, we have 2 wires and between them we have electricity. What this is trying to tell us is that metals are conductors, good conductors. So we're talking about their conductivity. When we refer to conductivity, we're talking about how we're able to run a current of electricity through any typical metal. Later on, we'll learn about why that is when it comes to the surface of metals. But for now, just realize that metals are good conductors of electricity. For the next one, we're gonna say that metals are opaque. Opaque just means that you cannot see through them, they're not transparent. And then finally, another great physical property for metals is that they are malleable. Now, if we're talking about malleability, that means that we can hammer them into different shapes or into thin sheets without them breaking apart. K? So, if you've seen, like, renaissance movies, night movies, you might see the blacksmith and they're hammering away at a sheet of metal. That can only happen with metals. Metals are highly malleable. You can flatten them into thin sheets without having to worry about them crumbling and falling apart. So again, when it comes to metals, they represent the largest classifications and these are the most important physical properties associated with them. Now that we've looked at metals, let's move on to the other classifications of the periodic table.
Metals make up the majority of the elements on the periodic table. Using their physical properties we can describe metals as being shiny, conductive, opaque and malleable.
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Periodic Table: Classifications Example 1
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So here in this example question it says, which of the following elements has physical properties most similar to barrier? So we have carbon, which is represented by the symbol c, calcium, which is c a, arsenic, which is a s, xenon, which is XE, and chlorine, which is CL. Now, in order to understand which one has physical properties similar to barium, we have to know what the classification of barium is. Is barium a metal, a nonmetal, or a metalloid? So if we go up, here we've highlighted the element barium in black, and then the other five choices in blue. We can see here that barium is shaded red, so barium represents a metal. Therefore, we're looking for another element that is a metal because then they would share similar physical properties, such as opaqueness, malleability, conductivity, etcetera. Now, calcium looks like the only other one that's red. Right? So calcium is our metal. Arsenic is a metalloid because it's green. Carbon, chlorine, and xenon are nonmetals because they're shaded blue. So coming back down to our question, we see that calcium is our answer, so b would be would be the correct choice. So So just remember, when they're giving you an element and asking you to determine which one has similar physical properties, look for the classification of the element. Is it a metal, a nonmetal, or metalloid? Use that to guide you to the right answer.
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Periodic Table: Classifications
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So non metals represent the 2nd largest classification for elements. So they're the ones shaded in blue like we said up above. Now a key way to remember the physical properties of nonmetals is in comparing them to metals. Just remember here that nonmetals tend to have the opposite trend of metals when it comes to their physical properties. Metals have a luster, they're shiny. Nonmetals are dull. Metals are good conductors, but nonmetals are poor conductors. Metals are opaque because they're not see through, but non metals, some of them are transparent and see through. And then finally, we said that metals have a malleability where we can hammer them without them falling apart. The opposite of being malleable is being brittle. If you were trying to hammer some non metals, they would literally crumble in your hands. So just remember, if you can remember the, physical properties of metals, nonmetals are basically the opposite trend.
Non-metals make up the 2nd largest classification and posses physical properties that are opposite of metals.
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Periodic Table: Classifications
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Now we've finally reached our 3rd classification, the metalloids. Now the metalloids, we're going to say, they have characteristics of both metals and nonmetals, and because of this, we call them semi metals or semiconductors. Now we're gonna say here that the metalloids lie on an imaginary staircase starting from boron, which is b, to astatine, which is at. So if you come back up here to our periodic table, remember those in green represent our metalloids. So from boron all the way down to astatine, They lie on the staircase, above the staircase, and then below the staircase we have g e, which is germanium, and s b, which is antimony. So here we have 7 metalloids. We're going to say here that they act as a border with the metals lying to the left, and most of the non metals line to the right. Remember, on the periodic table, hydrogen is was here in the top left corner, but then all the rest of the nonmetals were here on the right side. Okay. So most of the nonmetals are found on the right side and except for hydrogen, which is on the far left over there. Now, here it says, which of the following is a metalloid for this example question? So out of the choices that we saw up above, go back up, we have what? We have boron, silicon, arsenic, tellurium, astatine, germanium, and antimony. So these are the names for these different types of metalloids. Again, we'll get to names and symbols later on, but realize these are our 7 metalloids. Now based on our options, only a, we can see all the choices, so we have a as the only option because here we have s, b r, p b, and c. The other 4 are not metalloids. Now SI stands for silicon. You might have heard of that term when it comes to Silicon Valley. So we know that Silicon Valley exists in California. It's a hub for major tech companies, in the country. So it's a place of innovation and technology, But Silicon Valley isn't named after those tech companies. In actuality, it's named after original settlers there who were developing silicon chips. So that's where the name Silicon Valley comes from. Now these silicon chips are incredibly important because they're found in so many of our, technology. They're found within our computers, our laptops, even our phones. And the reason for this is because silicon is a metalloid. It works as a semi metal or semiconductor. So it's the ideal type of element that can function properly within all of these pieces of technology. So again, you might have heard of Silicon Silicon Valley, you've definitely heard of different tech companies, you know what microchips are, so this is real day applications that are based in chemistry, and that's gonna happen from time to time. You might think something is boring but then realize that, oh, it has a real world use that you benefit from every day. So just remember, when it comes to the classifications of the periodic table, we have our metals, our nonmetals, and, of course, our betaloids.
Metalloids posses characteristics of both metals and non-metals.
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