11 cool facts about the periodic table

The names of the four recently discovered elements is out for public review. Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 are given names of-- Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson, respectively. The public review will end on November 8.

On this occasion, we bring to you 11 cool facts about the periodic table:

• You know why they call it the periodic table? It's because the rows are called periods

• The dreaded Periodic Table on your classroom wall is actually a giant cheat sheet. Dmitry Mendeleev, the creator of the table, was late in submitting his work on all 63 elements. In order to rush things, he made a database of all the elements according to their atomic weights

• There are 118 confirmed elements in the periodic table. Among those, 90 elements can be found in nature, others are strictly man-made. Technetium was the first man-made element

• Hydrogen is the lightest element with its atomic weight 1 and that is why it can be found in the top left corner of the periodic table

• Uranium is the heaviest element with an atomic weight of 238

• Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon are known as the Noble Gases as they were believed to be unreactive. But recent studies have shown reactive compounds of xenon, krypton and radon

• The International Union of Pure Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is responsible for maintaining the periodic table

• Most of the elements on the periodic table are metals-- almost 75 per cent

• Different forms of pure elements are called allotropes. For example, diamond, graphite, buckminsterfullerene, and amorphous carbon are allotropes of one pure element-- Carbon

• Mendeleev's periodic table was designed in the order of increasing atomic weight while the modern periodic table is designed according to increasing atomic number

• The only two elements that are liquid in room temperature are mercury and bromine.

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