The Periodic Table: A visual guide to the elements

The Periodic Table: A visual guide to the elements

The periodic table is the ultimate infographic.

It presents the fabric of the Universe (at least the bits of it we can see) as 118 units, and we can learn a lot about these units – the chemical elements – just by looking at where they sit among the rest.

The elements are substances that cannot be refined or purified into simpler ingredients. Each one is unique, with a set of physical and chemical properties that arises from the structure of its atoms. Every element has a unique collection of subatomic particles – electrons, protons and neutrons – and the way these particles are arranged gives an element its set of characteristics.

Inside the pages of this book you will find out how the particles do that, and see the great range of properties that elements have to offer. Despite following the same set of rules, the diversity of the elements is staggering.

Some atoms have existed since the dawn of time – and will exist until the last moment of the Universe – while others fade away in a millisecond after being formed inside the crucible of a dying star (or inside an earthbound laboratory).

Not every element can offer up a superlative; most occupy a middle ground. However, that middle ground is the sum total of material in the Universe.

It includes the metals that make our magnets, engines and electrical devices. It contains the semiconductors that have created the modern world through computing and look set to save the future with solar power. And it consists of the non-metal elements that fuel and maintain life on Earth, and, it is assumed, elsewhere, too. So let’s begin a visual journey into the stuff of nature.