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Talk:3242: Aperiodic Table

2026-05-06T21:51:27Z

Vekkizunt: Comment

And the award for turning the periodic table into Chutes and Ladders goes to... 18:18, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:Actually, I was first, I just took a while explaining it. {{unsigned|Teddy|18:46, 6 May 2026}}

FIRST! also how has this not been explained? explain it! {{unsigned ip|2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:2583:32c8:f9de:2888|18:31, 6 May 2026}}
:Well, you weren't first, were you. Moved you to chronologically after the actual first comment here. HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:26, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

Hey guys, don't forget to sign your comments with 4 tildes. 18:54, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:Hmm, something seems to be wrong with the signature code. It's putting in the timestamp, but not the username. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:55, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
::And now the username is back! [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:56, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:::If you sign with "<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>" (''five'' tildes), you get just "20:26, 6 May 2026 (UTC)" (for this edit, note that it is identical to the timestamp this edit's end-signature of four tildes will have given). You/whoever else might have accidentally done that. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:26, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

The first paragraph currently ends with "and the elements increase in size when reading it left-to-right and top-to-bottom (like a book)." This is incorrect. Actually, they do get larger going down a column, but they get smaller going left to right along a row. This causes a staircase effect. The short explanation is that as you add protons, they pull in the electron cloud more tightly, making the atom smaller, but when you add an electron in a new primary energy level, it's enough larger to overcome the effect of the additional protons resulting in a larger atom. [https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Introductory_Chemistry_(CK-12)/06:_The_Periodic_Table/6.15:_Periodic_Trends-_Atomic_Radius This page] has a more complete explanation. So, should we just remove the claim that the atoms get larger in size? We could make it accurate, but I'm not sure how to phrase it in a way which actually adds to the explanation. [[User:Mootstrap|Mootstrap]] ([[User talk:Mootstrap|talk]]) 20:50, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:Increase in 'size' is differently interpretable. The atomic number itself increases. The typical nucleon count/atomic weight (''almost'' identically) tends to rise (give or take choice of isotopic variation), and the nucleus itself will therefore be larger by the same degree (if not slightly more, for the same reason as the electron shells/orbitals get pulled inwards a bit for any given model) if that's something that you care to measure.
:Maybe just a different word, to replace the ambiguous "size". Although I'm also personally not enamoured of the "like a book" bit, which seems to be trying to just say that the table ''isn't'' unusually ordered, like it potentially could have been (e.g. a bottom-up version). [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:16, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

The "they don't have enough enrichment in their enclosures" is a suggestion that scientists are being treated as zoo animals, and unless they have enough toys to play with they start coming up with strange concepts. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 21:00, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

It should be noted that element 81 in the table is incorrectly labeled “Ti” (as in titanium) instead of “Tl” (Thallium) [[User:Vekkizunt|Vekkizunt]] ([[User talk:Vekkizunt|talk]]) 21:11, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:Strange that Name Explain had a YouTube video recently, where he made the same error. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:21, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
::The colors are also peculiar to me, in particular, why is hydrogen colored as an alkali metal, or bismuth colored as a metalloid? [[User:Vekkizunt|Vekkizunt]] ([[User talk:Vekkizunt|talk]]) 21:51, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3242: Aperiodic Table

2026-05-06T21:50:46Z

Vekkizunt: Comment

Talk:3242: Aperiodic Table

2026-05-06T21:37:58Z

Vekkizunt:

Talk:3242: Aperiodic Table

2026-05-06T21:11:35Z

Vekkizunt: Comment on error in xkcd 3242

And the award for turning the periodic table into Chutes and Ladders goes to... 18:18, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:Actually, I was first, I just took a while explaining it. {{unsigned|Teddy|18:46, 6 May 2026}}

FIRST! also how has this not been explained? explain it! {{unsigned ip|2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:2583:32c8:f9de:2888|18:31, 6 May 2026}}
:Well, you weren't first, were you. Moved you to chronologically after the actual first comment here. HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:26, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

Hey guys, don't forget to sign your comments with 4 tildes. 18:54, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:Hmm, something seems to be wrong with the signature code. It's putting in the timestamp, but not the username. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:55, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
::And now the username is back! [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:56, 6 May 2026 (UTC)
:::If you sign with "<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>" (''five'' tildes), you get just "20:26, 6 May 2026 (UTC)" (for this edit, note that it is identical to the timestamp this edit's end-signature of four tildes will have given). You/whoever else might have accidentally done that. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:26, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

The first paragraph currently ends with "and the elements increase in size when reading it left-to-right and top-to-bottom (like a book)." This is incorrect. Actually, they do get larger going down a column, but they get smaller going left to right along a row. This causes a staircase effect. The short explanation is that as you add protons, they pull in the electron cloud more tightly, making the atom smaller, but when you add an electron in a new primary energy level, it's enough larger to overcome the effect of the additional protons resulting in a larger atom. [https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Introductory_Chemistry_(CK-12)/06:_The_Periodic_Table/6.15:_Periodic_Trends-_Atomic_Radius This page] has a more complete explanation. So, should we just remove the claim that the atoms get larger in size? We could make it accurate, but I'm not sure how to phrase it in a way which actually adds to the explanation. [[User:Mootstrap|Mootstrap]] ([[User talk:Mootstrap|talk]]) 20:50, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

The "they don't have enough enrichment in their enclosures" is a suggestion that scientists are being treated as zoo animals, and unless they have enough toys to play with they start coming up with strange concepts. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 21:00, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

It should be noted that element 81 in the table is incorrectly labeled “Ti” (as in titanium) instead of “Tl” (Thallium)[[User:Vekkizunt|Vekkizunt]] ([[User talk:Vekkizunt|talk]]) 21:11, 6 May 2026 (UTC)