With a periodic table for life

2019 was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly ( A / RES / 72/228 ) and approved by UNESCO General Conference ( 39 C / 60 ) as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements in honor of the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Periodic Law of Chemical Elements D.I. Mendeleev. In 1869, D.I. Mendeleev first published his first scheme of the Periodic Table in the article “Correlation of Properties with the Atomic Weight of Elements” in the journal of the Russian Chemical Society.

It is regrettable to realize, but for the vast majority of people, acquaintance with the periodic system of elements of D. I. Mendeleev (and the table of the same name) begins, and usually ends in high school (they often only remember “invented vodka”) In the case of a small part of the population, acquaintance continues in the first years of the institute, and only a very small part of the lucky ones can boast that they actively use the periodic table throughout their lives. I belong to the latter category, so I’ll try to make my best contribution to the celebration of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements and tell about my experience with one of the greatest achievements in world chemical science. So, if it’s interesting to follow the evolution of the periodic tables from the ancient Palm and Casio Pocket Viewer to the modern and ubiquitous Android, and to find out which table is not embarrassing (= all the best to Habr’s readers) to install a professional chemist on your gadget - go under the cat, read another story from life.

From distant school years, it somehow happened that for me the importance of the periodic table was on the same level as the multiplication table. This is connected, I suspect, with a rather successful participation in chemical olympiads. It is recalled how often during joint gatherings, friends checked me "for lice", asking the atomic mass of the first element that came to mind. And since the average student (that is, far from chemical science), at best, came up with a maximum of 10-15 names of common elements, it was probably possible to learn their atomic masses, provided the Olympiad calculation problems were almost constantly solved absolutely anyone. I did not consider the ability to remember the atomic masses of the main elements ( macro-) something out of the ordinary, also because of the so-called hi-level olympiads (like the republican one) met people who, besides the fact that they knew the atomic masses of all lanthanides / actinides, could also call these masses accurate to the third decimal place.

Lyrical digression about the analog tables of the periodic table

In general, it’s clear that from school I had respect for the periodic table, and like any practicing chemist-olympiad, I always tried to have a table on hand that would simultaneously meet the requirements of the technical regulations of the olympiads (= had no tips), and at the same time as informative as possible. Not surprisingly, being a Swiss knife for the Olympiad, the table was everywhere wherever possible - in the diary, on calendars, even on business cards. By the way, I ask the reader not to strictly evaluate what I use as a synonym for the phrase “periodic table”, “periodic table”, “periodic table”. In all these cases, a periodic table of chemical elements is clearly implied . So, we continue about business cards.

On business cards, due to their small size, it is extremely difficult to place maximum information. It has been experimentally established that the best option for printing (scalable) is the original IUPAC table . Conciseness and readability. IUPAC = International Union for Theoretical and Applied Chemistry, a kind of “trendsetter” in world chemical science.


It turns out about these business cards, if necessary, some data can be discarded (for example, the name, if there is enough chemical education to navigate the symbols, although I must confess, I also sometimes confuse the names of actinides, especially recently discovered ones). For those who want to repeat, I made a transparent, minimalistic PNG file.


In addition to business cards, you sometimes need a “manual” analog table, which, for example, can be printed in A2 format and laid on a table / wall, etc. Below are just such, the most informative options (purely IMHO, I accept additions).

As my favorite chemistry teacher often said, Liliya Halilovna Poluyan “chemistry cannot be learned, chemistry must be felt ... understood.” So, the pictures proposed below, in my opinion, help to understand that chemistry is not an abstract task, a glass with blue liquid and magic tricks with liquid nitrogen in some regular museum of science, but rather a thing from real life, with which everyone of us encounters several times a day. The options below, in addition to being tied to real life, will also help you learn English.


As for the "adult" versions of the tables, they are listed below. During the absence of sufficiently powerful portable devices (PDAs) or the necessary software, so to speak, a paper-ready table was the main source of information (even on a camera in the form of a scalable picture I had to carry it with me). Under the spoiler - just such a "field-proven" option.


Isotopes deserve special mention. As a rule, in the conditions of the “traditional” table of the periodic system, there is a catastrophic lack of space for posting information about isotopes. Well, in general, information about isotopes is appreciated (~ $ 0.99 - see below). Therefore, isotopes often go on a separate sheet. An excellent example is the isotope table from IUPAC ( IPTEI 2018 ). Below the spoiler is a clickable picture of an earlier version than the IPTEI, but the difference will be noticeable only to narrow specialists :)

Per aspera ad astra. The thorny path from analog to digital

On Habré periodically pop up articles on the "personal evolution" of user devices using the example of a conktor author. Most often, hardware is observed, sometimes software features. I also want to talk about the evolution of my zoo handheld computers, but through a professional prism - the prism of a chemist and the related main tool - a table of the periodic system of elements D.I. Mendeleev. Often, to check the devices for compatibility with a particular person, this person tries to run either windows 3.11 or Doom II on the device. Your humble servant is trying to run the periodic table.

I will not say that there is any originality here. It is logical that when developing a new field for himself, a person first of all tries to transfer familiar things into it. And what can be more usual for any normal chemist than a relative tablet :). My confirmation was the fact that at the time when I was looking for another mobile assistant, my dear friend Seryozha ( happy birthday, by the way, how do you read it! ) Aka navanax with his remote Russian colleague Johnny_B wrote in assembler ... of course the periodic table ( period ) for miniature KolibriOS (on Habré there is even an authentic blog from KolibriOS Project Team ).


So, we continue our conversation, and return to the PDA. Like many of the 80-90xx generation, Palm became my first PDA / PDA - the black-and-white model m125 with two AA batteries. Consider, dear reader, that “duckling syndrome”, but here’s how I open the photos of this “palm” - it floods with such warmth, as anyway, my beloved grandfather stayed overnight for the weekend ...



Perhaps my opinion gives subjectivity, but since then I have not seen platforms on which such ergonomic and convenient software would be. In the case of Palm, this was the ChemTable v2.32 application , which has become for me for many years a role model applicable to periodic table of elements.


Of the pluses, I would like to note, in addition to the extensive, if not exhaustive reference information, also the ability to correct the data / enter their positions. There is even detailed instruction here, such an application will never become obsolete.

Separately, I, as a student of the Department of Radiochemistry, liked the fact that isotopes and their correlation in the earth's crust were indicated in ChemTable. Somehow by itself I began to use this characteristic as an indicator of the quality of the periodic table. A comparative analysis of the free / PRO versions of many sabzha applications shows that not only I use this indicator. By the way ...


My next minimalistic PDA (and the main requirement, as a rule, was far from having wifi and a rich color screen, and energy saving - maximum working time + easily replaceable batteries) was the legendary Casio PV-S450 (the American version of the PV-400plus without a jog-dial wheel )


Software for handheld computers Casio was initially a little, but surprisingly, as in the case of Palm m100 4 mb of native memory was enough for most tasks. There were notes, a good calculator, a periodic table, a book reader and a program for working with databases in CSV format. It was storing all the data in a flash memory (i.e., the data did NOT disappear after the battery was discharged - today it’s hard to believe that this is possible at all), nice blue backlighting and AAA battery operation (some wild numbers of work by today's standards one set of batteries for months (!)). Well and above all else, Pocket Viewers are a series of keyboardless PDAs that work based on x86 architecture. I know that there are specialists who can recall the masterpiece Nokia 9110, which worked on a built-in AMD 486 processor with a frequency of 33 MHz. But that,


Well, a little I deviated from the topic of my story. So, Casio PV had its own periodic table, with the uncomplicated name Periodic . She was able to show the series / period, atomic mass, ionization energy, electronic configuration. Simple and nothing more. But given the abundance of software for this platform, it would be foolish to demand something else. I carried the necessary additional information in the form of a CSV file (the same isotopes mentioned at the beginning of the story). The picture below shows the actual look of Periodic.

Thanks: I would like to express my special gratitude to my wife for her diligence and ability to photograph a squirrel (my note is a picture of the PVOS localizer) that appears on the screen for a split second. Himself, how many did not try, and could not catch, apparently in the woman from birth this instinct / affinity for small animals is inherent.


I would like to note that since in the choice of companion devices, I most often proceeded from considerations of economy, it is not surprising that PocketPC / WinMobile systems somehow did not touch my heart (although there was, there was an iPAQ H2210 with two types of cards, though I sold it I’m quick enough - so if someone talks about the best Windows Mobile Periodic Table - I’ll gladly complete the article) and I smoothly jumped from Palm to, with permission, Nokia EPOC smartphones - the legendary 9300/9500. The only drawback of these phones is the lack of keyboard backlight. The keyboard is IMHO - 98% close to ideal, 100% ideal - the older brother keyboard of these smartphones - PSION Series 5MX. The hardware differences between 9300 and 9500 were not critical for me, I wore 9300, because it is smaller and more ergonomic.

So, in the case of Symbian Series 80, there was one single version of the periodic table. This is Periodic Table 1.03 from Finnish programmer Sami Vuori . Having worked closely with the application, I found several shortcomings and errors in it, I judged that the programmer-creator had probably spat on this matter for a long time, took it and wrote to him with a request to share the source. As a result, we started talking closely with the fin, and in the end we already forgot about this utility. Sami turned out to be a great guy. We are still friends. But his application worked as long as my 9300i worked.


The keyboardless Nokia E53 and E90 with S60.3 on board followed the untimely “tired” 9300i. Here, unfortunately, the choice was small. Let commentators, if they correct anything, but for Series 60 there was no adequate periodic table (only rather weak crafts in the form of java midlets). Therefore, therefore, I had to return to analog tables and carry pictures with me. Fortunately, the power of Nokia smartphones made it easy to scale the picture and find the information you need.

After losing my working Series 60 Nokia E53, I immediately switched to the final version - “the last of the Magikans” / “best Nokia smartphone” - Nokia 808 PureView (+ Symbian Belle FP2), which, by the way, with pleasure I use now. I suspect that I will switch from it to something else only either in case of serious damage, or in case of failure of mobile operators from the frequency range available for this phone. Both a camera and a dialer are ideal. There are no updates, a long working time, and, in principle, the entire gentleman's set of programs (and in addition to the periodic table, there is even a very functional OBD scanner for cars).


For Symbian Belle, in spite of its “platinum” (according to the level of reduction to mind) status, there are not many periodic tables. In my subjective chemical view, the most beautiful and convenient for Symbian S ^ 3 / S ^ 5 is the Periodic Table v 1.3 program from Naveen CS. The data reserve is standard, of the bonuses - a graphical display of the electronic configuration, a list of all the elements, the ability to compare two elements, a link to the Wikipedia page on the element. It works smartly, though the list of isotopes is not.


As I established for myself from the university bench, the phone should ring, and the pocket computer should help (because the PDA , the English Personal Digital Assistant, PDA - "personal digital assistant"). Therefore, any modern Android smartphone, without a SIM card, acts as an excellent PDA (even in terms of battery life). The approach may be orthodox enough, but in my case it is also as comfortable as possible (due to the separation of objects in space, you can not be afraid that you will miss an important call due to a battery that is discharged due to wifi).

So, it would be surprising if, with the incredible popularity of Android devices, there weren’t high-quality periodic tables for them. Of course, there are such tables, however, a huge number of applications coexist with them, where the table itself acts only as a pleasant addition. It’s enough to write magic keywords in the playmarket (“periodic table”) and now you are offered to download 100500 different applications. There are a lot of applications for the “for children” level, the impression is that the developers mean that “an adult will find information in books ...”. Therefore, the search for an adequate, “adult” periodic system is a whole R&D. Well, in addition to the already mentioned infantilization, it seems that people often forget why the table is needed. There can be anything inside, from a video showing how an element burns in a fluorine environment, to solving school problems for grades 6-7-9, etc. All that is possible, except what is needed. Therefore, since I have a reason, I turn to programmers who undertake natural science projects without a proper professional foundation. Guys, do not save on scientific consultants! (knock on facebook if that;))

On the "people's" w3bsit3-dns.com for some reason, the Android program directory does not have links to normal software, but again there are these ubiquitous "children's applications." Elements , Periodic Table, The periodic table - IMHO they do not stand up to criticism and seriously lag behind the applications described below. The only thing is that in spirit and content they are all close to Periodic from my Casio PV-S400 + :)

In general, taking into account all the above, I will venture to voice my favorites among the host of periodic tables for Android and, if I suddenly have something (some an incredible application) I missed, I will gladly listen to the additions in the comments and correct the article. We move from the lyrics to the top three.

The app is the first Periodic Table from the Royal Society of Chemistry. Passes the "isotope test", each isotope has its own "card", which even indicates the types of decay.


Appendix 2 Merck PTE from Merck KGaA. Passes the "isotope test", the isotope content is indicated in the style of Palm ChemTable ([isotope] - [mass fraction]). Although, in general, the table is more informative (what is the sorting and search for the desired element by a dozen parameters). Well, prettier, Merck still ...


The programs mentioned above are absolutely free, the only thing that someone (most likely schoolchildren, rather than professional chemists) can confuse is the lack of the Russian language. If, after all, the language is critical - then your attention is the third application - the periodic table 2019 PRO - Chemistry costing "only $ 0.99". There is also a free light version - Periodic Table 2019 - Chemistry .


Interestingly, the main difference between Pro and light is precisely in the presence of information about isotopes (that is, the free version of the "isotope test" does not pass, but because of the low cost of the program, I decided to turn a blind eye to this). In general, I noticed an interesting feature of Russian-language programs - everyone is trying to sell isotopes for money :)

In general, the table is made quite beautifully, which is an animated electronic configuration. Plus, there are undeniable advantages in the form, for example, of the emission spectrum of radiation (I have not seen this in other PDA tables).


Honestly, he hesitated for a while, but whether to pay the author a meager $ 0.99. But then he calmed down and decided that the animation and the Russian language in the periodic table are certainly good, but it’s better to somehow do it the old way, I can manage without the emission spectrum of radiation. As the singer Tanya Tereshina sang during the years of my student years, " Do not try to buy what I will give you for free ... ".

Well ... Honestly, throw me tomatoes, but I trust Merck (not to mention the Royal Society of Chemistry), which are known not only for their scientific achievements, but also for excellent databases (I still have Merck Database somewhere then on cd-rom rolls around). In this regard, a certain "widely known in narrow circles" company August SoftwareIt looks, of course, weaker. But the reviews on PlayMarket are purely positive (the question is, from whom).

I’m going to round off on this, I tried in the article to honestly tell about my experience in communicating with paper and digital periodic tables Mendeleev. The things described in the article, literally suffered and tested in harsh field "during hack" conditions, which means I can safely recommend them :) Choose you, and I hope my comments will be useful. Once again…



Addition: and of course, the periodic table is actively used on a PC. The best, in my opinion, variation for netbooks / laptops / tablets / PCs on Windows is the PL Table app by Konstantin Polyakov. True, the author apparently abandoned his brainchild, since on the website you can find anything except the table itself. But as always, Google will help.


Interesting and quite detailed (I’m afraid to use the word “exhaustive” without checking) the web version of the table was suggested by Bov87


And my impromptu rating of “desktop” tables concludes, an option for unix systems called Kalzium (KDE). Great application, with lots of background information and beautiful graphical implementation. As the saying goes, search the repositories

ps here all of a sudden @ andrei.raiski , whom I really appreciate and respect for his chemical advice (and not only this particular person led me to the thought “I need a personal computer”) once again surprised me. Very nice miniature periodic table with pieces of fruit of all elements except radioactive.