8th Grade Science/Chapter 3: The Table of Elements/Periodic Table of Elements

The Periodic Table and what It Means

The Periodic Table is a table listing all the elements, in order from the lighest, or smallest, to the heaviest or biggest. The elements are placed in the table in order of the number of protons in the element's atoms - the number in the table represents this number of protons. Atoms are described further in the first chapter of this book. The letters in each box are the short form of the element's name, either in English or in Latin. For example, H is for hydrogen, He is for helium, and Au for aurum, which is gold in Latin.