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The team at Periodic Videos has created a TED-Ed Lesson for every element of the periodic table.

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Tables charting the chemical elements have been around since the 19th century, but this modern version has a short video about each one: http://www.periodicvideos.com/
This interactive periodic table shows a picture that represents each element. Click on the photos to learn more: http://periodictable.com/
This interactive periodic table allows you to explore each of the elements: http://www.webelements.com/

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The genius of Mendeleev's periodic table

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The elements had been listed and carefully arranged before Dmitri Mendeleev. They had even been organized by similar properties before. So why is Mendeelev's periodic table the one that has endured? Lou Serico explains via Ekaaluminium, an element whose existence Mendeelev predicted decades before it was discovered.

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Solving the puzzle of the periodic table - Eric Rosado

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How did the periodic table of elements revolutionize our understanding of the world? What scientists contributed to the table we have today? Eric Rosado discusses the key people and discoveries that have molded our understanding of chemistry today.

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What is an atom? Atoms are building blocks. If you want to create a language, you'll need an alphabet. If you want to build molecules, you will need atoms from different elements. Elements are the alphabet in the language of molecules.

Each element is a little bit different from the rest. In English, you know that "B" is different from "C." In chemistry, "B" is also different from "C" because boron (B) and carbon (C) are different elements with atoms that have different structures. Atoms are defined as the smallest units of matter that have the properties of an individual element.

Are there pieces of matter smaller than an atom? Sure. Atoms are made up of smaller and even smaller particles of matter. However, those smaller particles don't have the properties of an element. The electrons in a gold (Au) atom are the same as the electrons in an atom of neon (Ne). In chemistry, we like to study atoms because the Universe revolves around the properties of elements, not necessarily the properties of an electron or proton.

For example, let's say you have bar of gold. You know that bar is made of matter because everything is made of matter. Because it is pure gold, there are only gold atoms in the bar. If you only had one atom of gold in your hand, it would have the same properties as every other gold atom in that bar. But what if you only had one electron from a gold atom? That electron would not have the properties of gold anymore. It would just be an electron doing electron stuff. The atom is the smallest unit that has the properties of an element.

We can teach you about the general structure of an atom, but you need to study atoms from different elements to really learn how atoms work.

Let's work with the alphabet idea again. If you read a book, you will find words on each page. Letters make up those words. In English, we only have twenty-six letters, but we can make thousands of words. In chemistry, you are working with almost 120 elements. When you combine them, you can make millions of different molecules.

Molecules are groups of atoms in the same way that words are groups of letters. An "A" will always be an "A" no matter what word it is in. A sodium (Na) atom will always be a sodium atom no matter what molecule it is in. While atoms from different elements have different masses and structures, they are all built with the same parts. Electrons, protons, and neutrons are the basic subunits for all atoms across the Universe.

If you want to do a little more thinking, imagine the smallest particles of matter. Super-tiny subatomic particles are used to create the parts of atoms. Protons, neutrons, and electrons can then organize to form atoms. Atoms are then used to create the molecules around us. As we just learned, there are almost 120 elements that can be found in the molecules we know. Smaller molecules can work together and build macromolecules. It just goes on. Everything you see or imagine is built from something else.

You could start really small...
- Particles of matter
- Atoms
- Molecules
- Macromolecules
- Cell organelles
- Cells
- Tissues
- Organs
- Systems
- Organisms
- Populations
- Ecosystems
- Biomes
- Planets
- Systems with Stars
- Galaxies
- The Universe
...And finish really big.

Wow! All of that is possible because of atoms.

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What is an atom? Atoms are building blocks. If you want to create a language, you'll need an alphabet. If you want to build molecules, you will need atoms from different elements. Elements are the alphabet in the language of molecules. Each element is a little bit different from the rest.

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If only I'd seen this when I was a kid, high school chemistry would have made more sense! And maybe I would have been loudly singing, "Elephants are mostly made of four elements!" like my kiddos were singing around here last night.

From Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants: Meet the Elements.

Learn more offline...

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Meet the Elements - They Might Be Giants

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If only I'd seen this when I was a kid, high school chemistry would have made more sense! And maybe I would have been loudly singing, "Elephants are mostly made of four elements!" like my kiddos were singing around here last night.

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Starting from atoms, see how many molecules you can build. Collect your molecules and see them in 3D!

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Sortify: Elements of the Periodic Table - GameUp - BrainPOP.

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In this free science and chemistry game, students sort elements of the periodic table by attributes, including atomic number, metal or nonmetal, chemical symbol, and number of valence electrons.

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Build an atom out of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and see how the element, charge, and mass change. Then play a game to test your ideas!

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Learn about different types of radiometric dating, such as carbon dating. Understand how decay and half life work to enable radiometric dating. Play a game that tests your ability to match the percentage of the dating element that remains to the age of the object.

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Username: gsdenver

Password: brainpop

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In this educational animated movie about Science learn about fossils, isotopes, nitrogen, and paleontology.

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Researchers in Sweden have confirmed the existence of element 115. It sticks around for a surprisingly long time. Scientists believe it may bring them closer to the mythical "island of stability" a whole slew of super-heavy elements that could last for days or even years.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Remember the periodic table from your school days? Well, it's still growing. Scientists say they've created one of the heaviest chemical elements ever seen. Element 115 doesn't even have a name yet. But as NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports, the researchers say even heavier elements may be just around the corner.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Rodi Herzberg says making super-heavy elements is just like baking.

DR. RODI HERZBERG: You take all the ingredients and then you throw them all together in a very controlled way.

BRUMFIEL: If you've done your whisking, set the oven at just the right temperature...

HERZBERG: What you get out is a perfectly baked cake.

BRUMFIEL: Or if you're a nuclear physicist like Herzberg, a new element, element 115. OK. So it's not exactly like baking a cake. Scientists start with elements that already exist in nature and combine them together. This creates big new elements packed to the brim with positively charged protons. But positive charges repel, so...

HERZBERG: If you just put positive charges into it, you get something that tries to rip itself apart eventually. And that is why it is very, very difficult to create these super-heavy elements.

BRUMFIEL: In fact, that's one reason element 115 isn't official. Russian scientists first spotted it a few years ago, but they couldn't be sure. They couldn't measure it before it blew itself apart. Now, Herzberg at the University of Liverpool in the U.K., together with colleagues in Europe, the U.S. and Japan, have detected an X-ray signal that makes it much more likely 115 exists, if only briefly. The work will appear in Physical Review Letters. So what's this exotic new element good for?

HERZBERG: It has nothing, nothing whatsoever to do with antigravity devices or spaceships or anything else. It really is a down-to-earth element 115.

BRUMFIEL: But 115 could be on the edge of something really magical. Nuclear researchers call it the island of stability. Elements on this island are even heavier than 115, but strange quantum effects keep them from breaking apart. They can stick around for minutes, days, maybe even years.

HERZBERG: It could well be that there are elements that live long enough to make milligram or microgram quantities eventually and do something with them.

BRUMFIEL: In the meantime, 115 doesn't even have a name. If further study shows it really, really exists, an international committee will decide which of its many discoverers around the world will get naming rights. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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Element 115 Could Be Near Elusive 'Island Of Stability'

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Researchers in Sweden have confirmed the existence of element 115. It sticks around for a surprisingly long time. Scientists believe it may bring them closer to the mythical "island of stability" a whole slew of super-heavy elements that could last for days or even years.

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Chem4Kids.com: Elements & Periodic Table

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Chem4Kids.com! This tutorial introduces basics of elements and their organization. Other sections include matter, elements, reactions, and biochemistry.

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Scroll to the bottom of the page to find element list.

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Science >> Chemistry for Kids

The Periodic Table is a way of listing theelements. Elements are listed in the table by the structure of their atoms. This includes how many protons they have as well as how many electrons they have in their outer shell. From left to right and top to bottom, the elements are listed in the order of their atomic number, which is the number of protons in each atom.

Periodic Table of Elements
Click for larger view

Why is it called the Periodic Table?

It is called "periodic" because elements are lined up in cycles or periods. From left to right elements are lined up in rows based on their atomic number (the number of protons in their nucleus). Some columns are skipped in order for elements with the same number of valence electrons to line up on the same columns. When they are lined up this way, elements in the columns have similar properties.

Each horizontal row in the table is a period. There are seven (or eight) total periods. The first one is short and only has two elements, hydrogen and helium. The sixth period has 32 elements. In each period the left most element has 1 electron in its outer shell and the right most element has a full shell.

Groups

Groups are the columns of the periodic table. There are 18 columns or groups and different groups have different properties.

One example of a group is the noble or inert gases. These elements all line up in the eighteenth or last column of the periodic table. They all have a full outer shell of electrons, making them very stable (they tend not to react with other elements). Another example is the alkali metals which all align on the left-most column. They are all very similar in that they have only 1 electron in their outer shell and are very reactive. You can see all the groups in the table below.

This lining-up and grouping of similar elements helps chemists when working with elements. They can understand and predict how an element might react or behave in a certain situation.

Element Abbreviations

Each element has its own name and abbreviation in the periodic table. Some of the abbreviations are easy to remember, like H for hydrogen. Some are a bit harder like Fe for iron or Au for gold. For gold the "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold "aurum".

Who invented it?

The periodic table was proposed by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Using the table, Mendeleev was able to accurately predict the properties of many elements before they were actually discovered.

Fun facts about the Periodic Table

Carbon is unique in that it is known to form up to 10 million different compounds. Carbon is important to the existence of life.

Francium is the rarest element on earth. There are probably no more than a few ounces of it on earth at any given time.

The only letter not in the periodic table is the letter J.

The country Argentina is named after the element silver (symbol Ag) which is argentum in Latin.

Although there is helium on Earth, it was first discovered by observing the sun.

Activities

Take a ten question quiz on this page.

Listen to a reading of this page:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Full Periodic Table

Periodic Table with detailed information
(click for larger view)

More on the elements and the Periodic Table

Elements

More Chemistry Subjects

Science >> Chemistry for Kids

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Science >> Chemistry for Kids The Periodic Table is a way of listing theelements. Elements are listed in the table by the structure of their atoms. This includes how many protons they have as well as how many electrons they have in their outer shell.

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Tables charting the chemical elements have been around since the 19th century - but this modern version has a short video about each one.

We've done all 118 - but our job's not finished. Now we're updating all the videos with new stories, better samples and bigger experiments.

Plus we're making films about other areas of chemistry, latest news and occasional adventures away from the lab.

All these videos are created by video journalist Brady Haran, featuring real working chemists from the University of Nottingham.

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The Periodic Table of Videos - University of Nottingham

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Short videos about every element on the periodic table, plus other cool experiments and chemistry stuff