The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights, exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.

Meaning of the quote

Mendeleev noticed that when you list all the different types of atoms and arrange them by their weight, you see a pattern in their properties. This pattern repeats, like a cycle, as you move from one atom to the next. This discovery helped him create the periodic table, which is used to understand the relationships between all the elements.

About Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Mendeleev was a Russian chemist who is best known for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the Periodic Law to correct the properties of some known elements and predict the properties of three elements that were yet to be discovered.

More about the author

More quotes from Dmitri Mendeleev

No one nor anything can silence me.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

I have achieved an inner freedom.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

The most all penetrating spirit before which will open the possibility of tilting not tables, but planets, is the spirit of free human inquiry. Believe only in that.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

Elements which are similar as regards their chemical properties have atomic weights which are either of nearly the same value (eg. Pt, Ir, Os) or which increase regularly (eg. K, Ru, Cs).

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights, exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

Work, look for peace and calm in work: you will find it nowhere else.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

The establishment of a law, moreover, does not take place when the first thought of it takes form, or even when its significance is recognised, but only when it has been confirmed by the results of the experiment.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

It is the function of science to discover the existence of a general reign of order in nature and to find the causes governing this order. And this refers in equal measure to the relations of man – social and political – and to the entire universe as a whole.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

Pleasures flit by – they are only for yourself; work leaves a mark of long-lasting joy, work is for others.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

No law of nature, however general, has been established all at once; its recognition has always been preceded by many presentiments.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

There exists everywhere a medium in things, determined by equilibrium.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

There is nothing in this world that I fear to say.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

I want you to have this feeling too – it is my moral responsibility to help you achieve this inner freedom.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of the element, just as the magnitude of the molecule determines the character of a compound body.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

Certain characteristic properties of elements can be foretold from their atomic weights.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

We could live at the present day without a Plato, but a double number of Newtons is required to discover the secrets of nature, and to bring life into harmony with the laws of nature.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist

We must expect the discovery of many as yet unknown elements-for example, elements analogous to aluminum and silicon- whose atomic weight would be between 65 and 75.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian chemist