The periodic table isn't a list, it's a map, and once you can read it, it predicts how elements behave before you ever test them. We look at how Mendeleev arranged it while leaving gaps for elements nobody had found, why the rows and columns mean what they mean, and what actually happens at the strange, unstable bottom edge.

You'll come away understanding why elements in the same column behave alike, what makes the noble gases so aloof, and why there is a hard limit on how many elements can exist.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: Royal Society of Chemistry periodic table; IUPAC element data; The Disappearing Spoon (Sam Kean).