Unknown Elements Lab Report

The purpose of the whole lab is to use my knowledge of the periodic table to determine the identity and physical properties of each unknown element. To find the unknown elements we looked at the characteristics of the other elements and grouped the ones that were similar and belonged in the same column. By looking at the characteristics of the unknown elements if it seemed to belong in a group with others with a blank we assumed it belonged there.
Mendeleev was a scientist who came up with the original periodic table which he founded 25 years before knowing the existence of electrons. He wrote the periodic law and knew for a fact that the holes in the element he spotted would be discovered. The holes Mendeleev spotted were discovered and used to make the periodic table we use now. The way my group and I placed the unknown elements is similar to how the periodic table is set up. On the periodic table the elements in each column share the same characteristics the ones above and below them. To try to figure out which element the unknown was, we looked at the periodic table to see which column had the same characteristics as the unknown. …show more content…
Once having all the known elements in their proper columns we read the characteristics of an unknown element and compared it to the rest. If the characteristics of an unknown were similar to a certain column of elements we would place the unknown element in the column. Unknown element number 8 is silicon because of its matching characteristics with the other elements in the group. Silicon was alike with the other elements by the colors and density they all had. The only place silicon belongs is column 14 it is a dark grey element with a metallic luster. Elements in the same column are a dark grey close to black unlike the rest of the elements in the periodic