Question

According to Lother Meyer, how should we arrange the elements in increasing order?

Answer 1

• Lothar Meyer proposed that in arranging the elements to increase atomic weights, similarities appear in physical and chemical properties.
• Meyer produced several Periodic Tables between 1864-1870, and he was just four years older than Mendeleev. His first table comprises 28 elements, organized by their valency.
• These elements were almost entirely main group elements, but in 1868 he incorporated the transition metals in a much more developed table.
• Lothar Meyer plotted certain physical properties such as atomic volumes against atomic weights and obtained different curves.
• He observed that elements with similar physical properties occupied a similar position in the curve.

Lothar Meyer’s periodic classification was not that much appreciated. There may be two reasons for this:

(1)Meyer’s periodic table was incomplete compared with Mendeleev’s periodic table published in the same year with remarkable predictions of discoveries of certain elements.

(2)Meyer’s classification was supported by studying various physical properties such as atomic volumes, malleability, brittleness, and electrochemical behaviour related to atomic weights with no empirical or logical basis for classification.