The periodic table isn’t just a list of elements—it’s a map of predictable patterns called periodic trends. These trends, like atomic radius, electronegativity, and ionization energy, help scientists ...

Ever stop to contemplate the size of an atom or ion? Martin Rahm, Roald Hoffmann, and Neil W. Ashcroft have. For consistency’s sake, these Cornell University scientists have just completed a ...

The news broke that a railroad car, loaded with pure sodium, had just derailed and was spilling its contents. A television reporter called me for an explanation of why firefighters were not allowed to ...

IN the nineteenth century, the table of atomic weights and the periodic classification of the elements were obtained by classical chemical methods. In the twentieth century, X-ray methods have added ...