The periodic table arranges all the elements in order of atomic number. Its rows (periods) and columns (groups) are not random — an element’s position tells you its properties, how it reacts, and what it has in common with its neighbours.
Every material around you is built from these elements. Once you can read the table, chemistry stops being memorisation and becomes a pattern you can predict.
Elements are ordered by their number of protons — that is the atomic number.
Elements in the same column share similar chemical properties.
Each row is a period; properties change gradually across it.
Colours group metals, non-metals, metalloids and noble gases.
Start at hydrogen (1) and count up. Each step adds one proton, and elements line up so that similar ones stack into the same column.
Group 1 metals are highly reactive; Group 18 noble gases barely react at all. An element’s column predicts how it behaves.
Turn the concepts above into a skill — play the game and get instant feedback.