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Information, Textbooks, Media, Resources
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The Place of Zinc, Cadmium, and Mercury in the Periodic Table
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William B. Jensen
Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0172
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August 2003
Vol. 80 No. 8
p. 952
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| Abstract |
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Following an earlier article on the positions of lanthanium and lutetium in the periodic table (J. Chem. Educ. 1982, 59, 634-636), the author notes that introductory textbooks, inorganic textbooks, and advanced monographs on coordination and organometallic chemistry are increasingly treating zinc, cadmium, and mercury as transition or d-block elements, rather than as main-block elements. The author reviews the historical evolution of the concepts of transition elements and d-block elements, evaluates the chemical and spectrosopic evidence for each placement, and concludes that these elements are unambiguously main-block elements and that there is a fundamental bifurcation of group 2 at magnesium into a Ca–Ra branch and a Zn–Hg branch. The author also reviews various ways of representing this bifurcation using spatial position in the periodic table and various labeling schemes.
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| More Information |
 Citation |
Jensen, William B. J. Chem. Educ. 2003 80 952.
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Keywords |
Cadmium; General Chemistry; History / Philosophy; Inorganic Chemistry; Mercury; Periodicity / Periodic Table; Textbooks; Zinc
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History |
Created:
Last Updated: |
June 30, 2003
February 28, 2005
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