Question

What is Debereiner's law of triads? Explain with the help of one example of a Dobereiner's triad.

Answer 1

According to Dobereiner's law of triads, when elements are arranged in increasing order of their atomic masses, a group of three elements with similar chemical properties is obtained. This group is called a triad. The atomic mass of the middle element is equal to the arithmetic mean of the atomic masses of the other two elements.

For example, the set of elements: calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba), with atomic masses 40, 88 and 137 respectively form a triad because they have similar chemical properties, and the atomic mass of strontium is approximately equal to the average of the atomic masses of calcium and barium.
Arithmetic mean of atomic masses of calcium and barium = $\frac{40+137}{2}=88.5$