Group (periodic table)

The periodic table of the chemical elements

In chemistry, a group (also known as a family) is a vertical column in the periodic table of the chemical elements. There are 18 groups in the standard periodic table.

The modern explanation of the pattern of the table is that the elements in a group have similar configurations of the outermost electron shells of their atoms: as most chemical properties are dominated by the orbital location of the outermost electron. There are three conventional ways of numbering: One using Arabic numerals, and two using Roman numerals. The Roman numeral names are the original traditional names of the groups; the Arabic numeral names are those recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to replace the old names in an attempt to reduce the confusion generated by the two older, but mutually confusing, schemes.

There is considerable confusion surrounding the two old systems in use (old IUPAC and CAS) that combined the use of Roman numerals with letters. In the old IUPAC system the letters A and B were designated to the left (A) and right (B) part of the table, while in the CAS system the letters A and B were designated to main group elements (A) and transition elements (B). The old IUPAC system was frequently used in Europe while the CAS was most common in America. The new IUPAC scheme was developed to replace both systems as they confusingly used the same names to mean different things. The IUPAC proposal was first circulated in 1985 for public comments,^[1] and was later included as part of the 1990 edition of the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry.^[2]

The periodic table groups are as follows (in the brackets are shown the old systems: European and American):

Group 1 (IA,IA): the alkali metals or lithium family
Group 2 (IIA,IIA): the alkaline earth metals or beryllium family
Group 3 (IIIA,IIIB): the scandium family
Group 4 (IVA,IVB): the titanium family
Group 5 (VA,VB): the vanadium family
Group 6 (VIA,VIB): the chromium family
Group 7 (VIIA,VIIB): the manganese family
Group 8 (VIII, VIIIB): the iron family
Group 9 (VIII, VIIIB): the cobalt family
Group 10 (VIII, VIIIB): the nickel family
Group 11 (IB,IB): the coinage metals (not an IUPAC-recommended name) or copper family
Group 12 (IIB,IIB): the zinc family
Group 13 (IIIB,IIIA): the boron family
Group 14 (IVB,IVA): the carbon family
Group 15 (VB,VA): the pnictogens or nitrogen family
Group 16 (VIB,VIA): the chalcogens or oxygen family
Group 17 (VIIB,VIIA): the halogens or fluorine family
Group 18 (Group 0, VIIIA): the helium family/neon family; for the first six periods, these are the noble gases

References

↑ Fluck, E. New notations in the periodic table. Pure & App. Chem. 1988, 60, 431-436.[1]
↑ Leigh, G. J. Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry: Recommendations 1990. Blackwell Science, 1990. ISBN 0632024941.

3. Scerri, E. R. The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance, Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-530573-9.

Periodic tables

Layouts	Standard · Large table · Inline f-block · Vertical · Text only · Metals and nonmetals · Blocks · Valences · Extension beyond the 7th period · Electron configurations · Electronegativities · Alternatives · Crystal structure

List of elements by	Name etymology (symbol) (after places, after people) · Discovery · Oxidation state · Abundance (in humans) · Nuclear stability · Hardness · Atomic properties

Groups	1 (Alkali metals) · 2 (Alkaline earth metals) · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 (Boron group) · 14 (Carbon group) · 15 (Pnictogens) · 16 (Chalcogens) · 17 (Halogens) · 18 (Noble gases)

Other element categories	Periods · Metals · Transition metals · Metalloids · Nonmetals · Lanthanides · Actinides · Rare earth elements · Platinum group metals (PGMs) · Post-transition metals

Blocks	s-block · p-block · d-block · f-block

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