Periodic

Introduction

What does Periodic do?

A periodic table of the elements is shown in standard format. Clicking on any element opens a window showing various properties of the selected element. The range of properties includes electronic, thermodynamic, and physical.

Installation

For a new installation, simply drag and drop the !Periodic application into the directory of your choice.

If you have a previous copy of !Periodic you should move the old version of !Periodic somewhere safe and replace it with the new version.

Using Periodic

!Periodic can be started from within the desktop by double clicking on the !Periodic icon in a directory viewer. Its icon is installed on the iconbar. Clicking with SELECT on the iconbar icon opens a window showing the periodic table of the elements. A selection of various properties of the element can be displayed by clicking on its symbol in the periodic table.

Use the on-line help for more information once the application is running.

The iconbar menu

The iconbar icon menu offers the following options.

Info  –  this leads to the standard information window.

Help...  –  will launch the documentation (this file) in the default browser.

Quit  –  will remove Periodic from the iconbar and terminate the program.

The iconbar icon

Clicking on the iconbar icon with the SELECT mouse button will open the periodic table display window.

Periodic table display

The periodic table display window is shown below.

The periodic table display menu is shown at the right. It allows you to choose the table headings used in the display - to have none, to have the pre-1986 IUPAC headings, or the post-1986 IUPAC headings.

Clicking with SELECT on any of the element buttons will open a new window showing some properties of the element clicked upon.

Element properties display

The top section of the element properties display window is shown below.

The main part of this section shows the element name, the element symbol, and the atomic number of the element.

To the left of the element symbol is a left pointing arrow, and to the right of the atomic number is a right pointing arrow. Clicking on these with the SELECT mouse button allows you to go to the element before (left) or next (right) in the table, on the basis of atomic number. Holding down the Shift key when clicking will move to the corresponding element in the previous or next row of the table (assuming there is a valid element). Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking will move to the start or end of the row in which the current element is located.

Clicking with the ADJUST mouse button, will carry out the same actions as above, but the direction will be reversed, as is usual with bump arrows.

The element for which the properties are being viewed will be highlighted in the main periodic table view, so you always know where you are.

Below the element details is a display field with an associated menu button. This allows you to choose the properties that are displayed. The options are:

• General information
• Physical properties
• Electronic properties
• Thermochemical properties

The chosen group of properties is shown in the lower part of the properties display, which changes when a different property group is selected. Two examples of the display are shown below.

Properties of the elements are always under review and may be redetermined or refined with the development of new experimental methods. Thus values may change with time. If you think any values used in this version of the application are seriously in error, let the author know, and they will be corrected for future versions.

Contact and feedback

The author can be contacted at

Email:chris@chris-johnson.org.uk

and is always interested in comments, bug reports, and suggestions for additions or improvements.

Screenshots

All the screen shots in these pages were obtained using Snapper, a versatile screen capture application.

Snapper is available from http://www.chris-johnson.org.uk/software/snap.html