von Antropoff(1926)

[Rene]

Several items of note with respect to the attached table follow:

Bringing out the colours

I found this nicely coloured version of von Antropoff’s system here:

https://www.facebook.com/QuimicaETESC/photos/a.336963609712522/3021873337888189/?type=3

According to von Antropoff, the colours mean:

H = colour of the sea, ultramarine blue

Alkali metal and halogens = strongest base and acid formers: blue and red after the litmus reaction

C group = black

B group = green spectrum of B and Tl

N group = nitrogen peroxide, antimony sulfide, pervanadic acid: red-brown to "cancer" (orange)

O group = sulfur, chromium yellow

Mg group = Mg and Hg or sources of UV light (violet)

Noble gases and metals of the Fe and platinum group = colourless or silver grey.

Neutronium (Nn)

is included as element zero in the top left corner.

Schaltenbrand (1921)

Note the similarity to Schaltenbrand’s table (also attached).

The allure of symmetry

In his article von Antropoff wrote:

"The picture we get in the new form of periodic system is of an astonishing, almost monumental symmetry."

"C is also in an axial position below H. Both together are the basis of the organic world. This is certainly not a coincidence. The countless possible connections between C and H through which the organic chemistry comes are undoubtedly based on the fact that both elements have an equal number of positive and negative valences."

"Further down comes silicon - alongside O, it is the main builder of the Earth’s crust and a main representative of the inorganic world. Below this iron and nickel are again the main symmetrical components of the earth’s interior and practically our most important metals."

Group numbers

The modern scheme (included in von Antropoff’s article) is listed above the Ln row.

René

• Von Antropoff, A 1926, Eine neue Form des periodischen Systems der Elemente, Zeitschrift Für Angewandte Chemie, vol. 39 no. 23, pp. 722–725