Tabling the Elements

As chemistry began and became modern in the nineteenth century, everyone agreed that an atom is the smallest unit of matter, an element is a substance made up of one kind of atom, and a compound is two or more elements chemically bonded. Researchers discovered the world of chemistry observing how elements reacted. When they would do their experiments, they had two main ways in observing the chemical reactions which was synthesis and analysis. Synthesis is combining elements or simple compounds and then seeing how they react. Analysis is when the scientists start with the more complex compound and break it down. After many studies of elements, the scientists came to a conclusion that each element could exist in three states of matter which was either as a solid, liquid, or gas. Then in 1860, the scientist gathered for the first time in an international meeting to review each others findings and come up with names for the substances. Ivanovich Mendeleev was apart of this meeting and he was able to create a periodic table with all of the information he gathered. This periodic table helped organize the elements by atomic weight making it easier for scientists to see all of the elements.