Groups (Vertical Columns) Elements are grouped into columns based on their chemical properties. This image color-codes the different categories of elements. This helps to visually organize the elements and makes it easier to understand their properties and characteristics. Not to miss out, element 102, Nobelium, No, is named in honor of Alfred Nobel, who set aside his vast fortune to establish Nobel Prizes. The periodic table is organized into groups and periods. Color coding is the process of assigning different colors to different elements on the periodic table. Mendeleev never received a Nobel Prize for his work, but element 101 was named Mendelevium, Md, after him. Be sure to check out our other printable periodic tables. The worksheet includes a blank periodic table with all the elements labeled by their symbol and atomic number. As with the color table, the PDF of this table will produce the best results. The printable worksheet is designed to help students learn about the families of elements on the periodic table. For instance they discovered phosphorus when they isolated it from urine. The white areas are left clear to print on any color paper you choose. Over time these gaps have gradually been filled in as scientists unearthed new elements. Not only did Mendeleev arrange the elements in the correct way, but he also had the foresight to leave gaps for undiscovered elements. At that time, he had only 50 elements to arrange. He wrote the properties of the elements on pieces of card and rearranged them until he realised that, by putting them in order of increasing atomic weight, certain properties of elements regularly occurred. Periodic Table of the Elements color-coded to indicate probable element origins. Then in 1869, a Russian scientist called Dmitri Mendeleev produced one of the first practical periodic tables. Several other attempts were made to group elements together over the coming decades. The earliest attempt to classify the elements was in 1789, when Antoine Lavoisier grouped the elements based on their properties into gases, non-metals, metals and earths. The discovery of other elements followed regularly and soon it became necessary to arrange them in some sort of order. However, the first scientific discovery of an element occurred in 1649 when Hennig Brand discovered phosphorous. Copper has been used by humans for as much as 7000 years and elements such as gold, silver, tin, lead and mercury have been known for many thousands of years.