9/15/2019 The Difference Between an Element Group and Period

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The Difference Between an Element Group

and Period
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by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Updated August 10, 2019

Groups and periods are two ways of categorizing elements in the periodic table. Periods are
horizontal rows (across) the periodic table, while groups are vertical columns (down) the table.
Atomic number increases asPique Yourdown
you move Curiosity
a group or across a period.
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Element Groups
Elements in a group share a common number of valence electrons. For example, all of the
elements in the alkaline earth group have a valence of two. Elements belonging to a group
typically share several common properties.

The groups in the periodic table go by a variety of different names:

IUPAC Common Family Old CAS notes

Name Name IUPAC
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Group 1 alkali metals lithium
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and little-known facts IA excluding hydrogen

Group 2 alkaline earth Email address

beryllium family IIA SIGN UP
IIA
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metals

Group 3 scandium family IIIA IIIB

Group 4 titanium family IVA IVB

Group 5 vanadium family VA VB

Group 6 chromium family VIA VIB

Group 7 manganese family VIIA VIIB

Group 8 iron family VIII VIIIB

Group 9 cobalt family VIII VIIIB

Group 10 nickel family VIII VIIIB

Group 11 coinage copper family IB IB

metals

Group 12 volatile metals zinc family IIB IIB

Group 13 icoasagens boron family IIIB IIIA

Group 14 tetrels, carbon family IVB IVA tetrels from the Greek
crystallogens tetra for four

Group 15 pentels, nitrogen family VB VA pentels from the Greek

pnictogens penta for five

Group 16 chalcogens oxygen family VIB VIA

Group 17 halogens fluorine family VIIB VIIA

Group 18 noble gases, helium family or Group VIIIA

aerogens neon family 0

Another way to group elements is based on their shared properties (in some cases, these
groupings do not correspond to the columns in the periodic table). Such groups include alkali
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metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals (including rare earth elements or lanthanides
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and also actinides), basic metals, metalloids or semimetals, nonmetals, halogens, and noble
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gases. Within this classification system, hydrogen is a nonmetal. The nonmetals, halogens, and
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9/15/2019 The Difference Between an Element Group and Period

noble gases are all types of nonmetallic elements. The metalloids have intermediate properties.
All of the other elements are metallic.

Element Periods
Elements in a period share the highest unexcited electron energy level. There are more elements
in some periods than others because the number of elements is determined by the number of
electrons allowed in each energy sub-level.

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9/15/2019 The Difference Between an Element Group and Period

There are seven periods for naturally occurring elements:

Period 1: H, He (does not follow the octet rule)

Period 2: Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne (involves s and p orbitals)

Period 3: Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ar (all have at least 1 stable isotope)
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Period 4: K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Br, Kr (first period
with d-block elements)

Period 5: Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sn, Te, I, Xe (same number
of elements as period 4, same general structure, and includes first exclusively radioactive
element, Tc)

Period 6: Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf, Ta, W,
Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, Po, At, Rn (first period with f-block elements)

Period 7: Fr, Ra, Ac, Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Bk, Cf, Es, Fm, Md, No, Lr, Rd, Db, Sg,
Bh, Hs, Mt, Ds, Rg, Cn, Uut, Fl, Uup, Lv, Uus, Uuo (all elements are radioactive; contains
heaviest natural elements)

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