Mystery #2Tier 2-3periodic table / electrons
Why is the periodic table that funny shape?
The periodic table is not a tidy rectangle. It has a tall bit on the left, a tall bit on the right, a wide block sagging in the middle, and two lonely rows floating underneath like an afterthought. It looks like someone got bored halfway through drawing a grid. But that strange staircase shape is not random at all: every bump and gap is telling you something true about atoms. So why that shape?
Your guess
Why do you think elements in the same vertical column, like the metals down the left edge, behave so similarly to each other?
There's no single magic word to type, have a go in your own words, then reveal the answer to see how close you got.
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