Talk:Periodic table (large version)

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The numbers whithin parenthesis; what do they mean? E.g. in the entry for hydrogen, it says "1.00794(7)". Does that mean there is 7 discovered isotopes, or is it the uncertainty in the number? \Mike(z) 13:37, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It's the concise form of writing the uncertainty, giving only the corresponding last digits. http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Info/Constants/definitions.html As I understand it, 1.00794(7) means 1.00794 with one standard uncertainty of 0.00007, that is, the value can be expected with a confidence of 68% to be between 1.00794±0.00007 and with a confidence of 95% between 1.00794±0.00014. Femto 14:25, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Also—all masses (except those in square brackets) usually don't refer to specific isotopes, but to the mean value for the natural isotopic composition, as standardized by the reference given at list of elements by atomic mass. Femto 15:04, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Oh, I'm not sure. I THINK that it's the # of the most stable/common isotope, but otherwise you should listen to the members who posted earlier. They sound like they know what's going on ;) IceUnshattered (talk) 00:42, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Reformatting

I just added a whole hunk of information from the smaller version, including natural occurrence. The table looks substantially different, because I originally used it for a chemistry class and placed it in straight HTML (me being deprived of a test wiki at the time), then coded it back. There're probably several regressions, because I used a version from August, so feel free to fix 'em. alerante ✆ 23:44, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Good: Different text colours for solids, gases and liquids, and different frame styles for stable and radioactive elements. Possibly bad: I think the size of the table has grown beyond the two normal-size sheets of paper mentioned in the introduction. Any suggestions? As to regressions I'm not sure what you mean, but if errors were introduced with the reformatting I'm quite sure you'll find them before us. --Eddi (Talk) 03:27, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

By the way, all the repetitive formatting in this table really screams for templates. See for example the Norwegian version of this table, nn:Periodesystemet i stor utgåve, where the code for e.g. period 6 looks like this:

|-
! <big>[[Periode 6|6]]</big>
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |55|Cesium    |Cs|132,90545(2) |Fast|Alkalimetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |56|Barium    |Ba|137,327(7)   |Fast|Jordalkalimetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle  |57-71<br>*|Lantanid|          |Fast|Lantanid|Ukjent}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |72|Hafnium   |Hf|178,49(2)    |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |73|Tantal    |Ta|180,9479(1)  |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |74|Wolfram   |W |183,84(1)    |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |75|Rhenium   |Re|186,207(1)   |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |76|Osmium    |Os|190,23(3)    |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |77|Iridium   |Ir|192,217(3)   |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |78|Platina   |Pt|195,078(2)   |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |79|Gull      |Au|196,96655(2) |Fast|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |80|Kvikksølv |Hg|200,59(2)    |Væske|Transisjonsmetall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |81|Thallium  |Tl|204,3833(2)  |Fast|Metall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |82|Bly       |Pb|207,2(1)     |Fast|Metall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |83|Vismut    |Bi|208,98038(2) |Fast|Metall|Grunnelement}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |84|Polonium  |Po|[210]        |Fast|Halvmetall|Naturleg_radio}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |85|Astat     |At|[210]        |Fast|Halogen|Naturleg_radio}}
| {{Grunnstoff/Celle2 |86|Radon     |Rn|[220]        |Gass|Edelgass|Naturleg_radio}}
|-

The main template is nn:Template:Grunnstoff/Celle2. The last three arguments are state of matter, chemical series and stability, which govern text colour, background colour and frame style. Font size, line breaks etc. are in the template. Would anyone be interested in a more easily readable and editable table code? --Eddi (Talk) 03:27, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Font size

Would anyone mind me shrinking the font size to about 50% and redirecting the detailed version into this one? æle ✆ 2006-06-07t20:40z

I'm not sure about font size, but I do believe that someone can slim down the size of the boxes themselves. I don't have the skill--but I'll look. Above, someone posted the norweigen version, which looks much better. And I don't mind redirecting the detailed version. They seem basically the same; the differences are negligible enough that I wouldn't care, and I doubt that anyone else would really mind your doing that. IceUnshattered (talk) 00:37, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Accuracy

I changed the accuracy of the atomic masses to a maximum of 5 digits resp. 3 decimal digits. I think this more than suffices for an overview table. Also, the table becomes less wide and the boxes now have almost identical widthes as they should. For the same reason one might consider to remove the remaining inaccuracies given in the table.--Roentgenium111 (talk) 18:42, 12 May 2008 (UTC)