The Discovery of the Periodic Table

Abstract

This paper was written in order to investigate the order of discoveries made in chemistry leading up to the discovery of the periodic table. New experimental techniques such as the pneumatic trough, voltaic piles, spectroscopy and potassium analysis led to the discovery of many new elements and their properties which enabled the discovery of the periodic table. The discoveries led to the demise of the classical theory of the elements, to the end of the phlogiston theory and to the creation of the modern ideas of the elements and of the atomic theory. The paper shows the discoveries were made in a necessary and inevitable order with new experimental techniques leading to the discovery of new elements which eventually led to the discovery of the periodic table.