Memorize the Periodic Table: All 118 Elements, Symbols and Atomic Masses

Memorizing the periodic table looks like 118 random facts, but most of the work is spotting the patterns. The Periodic Table: All 118 Elements deck (code IW4615, 118 cards) goes through the table in atomic-number order. Each front gives the number and symbol (e.g. "Element 26: Fe"), and the back gives the name, standard atomic weight and one memorable fact.

Sample cards

What's covered

Alkali metals (Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr), alkaline earth metals, halogens (F, Cl, Br, I, At), noble gases (He to Og), metalloids (B, Si, Ge, As, Sb, Te), the platinum group (Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt), all 15 lanthanides from lanthanum to lutetium, the actinides from actinium to lawrencium, and the superheavy elements 104-118. You'll also learn records like the lightest metal, the best conductor (silver), the most malleable metal (gold) and the rarest natural element (astatine), plus everyday uses: neodymium magnets, gadolinium MRI contrast, americium smoke detectors and erbium fiber amplifiers.

Learn the 11 "odd" symbols as their own set

Most symbols are just the start of the English name. Eleven aren't, because they come from Latin or German: Na (natrium), K (kalium), Fe (ferrum), Cu (cuprum), Ag (argentum), Sn (stannum), Sb (stibium), W (wolfram), Au (aurum), Hg (hydrargyrum), Pb (plumbum). Tag these 11 cards and review them as their own set. Once they stick, the other 107 decode almost by themselves.

The deck only works in one direction: number and symbol on the front, name on the back. Most exams test the reverse ("what's the symbol for tin?"), so add the reverse direction once you're past the first pass. The atomic number on the front is also a giveaway, so cover it.

Use the masses as a check

Atomic weight normally rises with atomic number, and the deck shows the famous exceptions, which are worth one card each: Ar 39.95 > K 39.10, Co 58.93 > Ni 58.69, Te 127.60 > I 126.90, Th 232.04 > Pa 231.04. This is how Mendeleev worked out that the table is ordered by something other than mass.

Two backs need a small fix. Cards 92 and 94 describe uranium as the heaviest naturally occurring element and plutonium as purely synthetic, but trace amounts of neptunium and plutonium occur naturally in uranium ore. Write "heaviest element found in significant amounts in nature".

A study order that works

1. Elements 1-20 (the core of every chemistry course).
2. Elements 21-56 by block (the transition metals are a row of similar backs, so learn them by their uses).
3. The lanthanides and actinides as two rows of 15.
4. Elements 104-118 as a namesake quiz. Eight honour people (Rutherford, Seaborg, Bohr, Meitner, Röntgen, Copernicus, Flyorov, Oganessian) and seven honour places (Dubna, Hesse, Darmstadt, Japan, Moscow, Livermore, Tennessee).

Then apply what you know with the stoichiometry and lab skills article. Find IW4615 in the library on Flip It.