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  3. Television

  4. Understanding the Periodic Table

TELEVISION

Understanding the Periodic Table

Series: Understanding the Periodic Table
4.6
(21)
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Episodes
24
Rating
TVPG
Year
2021
Language
English
Publisher
The Great Courses

About

Refine your portrait of one of science's most iconic images and crucial organizational tools in 24 lessons that combine instructions with experiments and animated lab demonstrations. Emerge from this course with a fuller portrait of the periodic table and field of chemistry more broadly.

Related Subjects

  • Science
  • Educational

Episodes

1. The Periodic Table: Our Menu of Matter

31m

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Human beings have interacted with elements since prehistoric times. Yet large-scale efforts to organize these elements did not come about until the 19th century. In this lesson, become acquainted with the periodic table. Learn about its basic organizing principles and allow Ron to take you on a quick tour of its evolution through time.

2. From Triads to Tables and the Role of Protons

29m

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The periodic table was a collaborative effort that spanned centuries. In this lesson, dig deeper into its early history. Learn about debates surrounding the classification and categorization of elements, and explore how the discovery of subatomic particles, specifically protons, propelled a specific version of the periodic table to the forefront.

3. How Electrons Shape the Table

31m

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What gives the modern periodic table its distinctive shape? The answer: electrons. Understand the relationship between an atom's nucleus and its electrons, then discover how these peculiar subatomic particles-that do not always behave like particles-determine the number and type of bonds an element can make.

4. Periodic Trends in Element Properties

29m

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What constitutes a "group" of elements? Are neighboring groups similar in some way? And beyond proton counts and electron valences, what other chemical and physical characteristics govern the structure of the periodic table? Better understand how the periodic table brings together elements with similar properties from the size of their atomic radius to their electro-negativity.

5. The Origin and Distribution of the Elements

30m

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Here, grasp how just three elements-hydrogen, helium, and lithium-combined to create new, heavier elements like uranium or sulfur through the complicated process of nuclear fusion. Also discover how natural and cosmic events like supernovas can lead to the creation of new elements through time.

6. Elements Break Down: Radiation and Fission

30m

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A cosmic event is not the only way an element can transform. The processes of transmutation, radiation, and nuclear fission are equally capable of radically altering elements and their behaviors. Familiarize yourself with the ever-important process of transmutation and learn how elements with unstable nuclei break down to produce more stable products through radiation and nuclear fission.

7. First-Row Opposites: Hydrogen and Helium

32m

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Shifting gears, spend some time on the first and smallest row of the periodic table. Consider some important questions: What do two of the oldest, lightest elements-hydrogen and helium-have in common? How do they differ? And would they make sense somewhere else on the periodic table, given their particular characteristics and behaviors?

8. Sodium, Potassium, and the Alkali Metals

33m

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Despite the abundance of lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium in the environment, researchers did not isolate alkali metals until the 1800s. Here, focus on the elusive elements that make up the first column and major group of the periodic table and understand what led to their discovery and why they are so quick to combine with other elements.

9. Magnesium, Calcium, and the Alkaline Earths

32m

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After the alkali metals come the alkaline metals, a slightly less reactive group of elements. In this lesson, explore the characteristics of group two metals like calcium, strontium, and barium, and figure out why they oxidize slower and melt at higher temperatures than the alkali metals.

10. Enormous Variety on the Table's Right Side

33m

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What exactly stitches the p-block of the periodic table together? In this lesson, get acquainted with the metals, metalloids, and nonmetals of the p-block, a collection of diverse elements that stretches from row two to seven of the periodic table. Take a detailed walk through the chemical and physical characteristics, distinguishing behaviors, and common uses of p-block elements.

Extended Details

  • SeriesUnderstanding the Periodic Table
  • Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector
The Great CoursesProducer
Ron B. Davis Jr.Actor