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Periodic Table (PSE) — Examples

Hands-on paths through the Periodic Table (PSE): look up an element, explore a category, use German names, page through a series, and search by atomic number.

Back to the overview: Periodic Table (PSE) · Open the tool live: www.jpkc.com/tools/pse/

The manual explains layout, data, and controls in detail. This page adds concrete lookup paths: typical tasks, walked through step by step.

Example 1: Look up a specific element

The classic — you want the data for one element, say iron.

  1. Open the PSE and type into the search field (Search / Suche …) simply Iron — or Eisen, Fe, or 26. The search checks both language names, the symbol, and the atomic number, so all four get you there.
  2. In the grid, only the iron tile stays highlighted while everything else is dimmed. Click the tile (or focus it and press Enter).
  3. The detail view opens with the full data set: atomic number 26, atomic mass, period and group, block, state of matter, electron configuration, electronegativity, melting and boiling point (in K and °C), density, oxidation states, discovery, and CAS number.
  4. Use the × button next to the search field to clear the filter afterward.

That answers questions like "What oxidation states does iron have?" or "What's the melting point?" in seconds.

Example 2: Explore an element category

You don't want a single element but a whole group — say all the noble gases.

  1. Look at the color legend above the grid. Every entry is also a filter.
  2. Click Noble Gases (cyan). Instantly only helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon, and oganesson stay highlighted; the rest of the table dims.
  3. Now you can see at a glance how the group is distributed across the periodic table (the entire right column). Click through the individual tiles to compare their data.
  4. A second click on Noble Gases clears the filter again — or switch straight to another category.

The same way, you can explore alkali metals, transition metals, halogens, or the two f-block rows (lanthanides, actinides).

Example 3: Switch to German and work with German names

The PSE is bilingual by itself — especially handy for teaching or learning in German.

  1. Note that the table starts in English. Click the button with the translation icon at the top right; its label "DE" tells you it switches to German.
  2. Immediately the table title, all element names (Wasserstoff instead of Hydrogen, Quecksilber instead of Mercury, Blei instead of Lead), the category labels in the legend, and the field labels in the detail view change to German.
  3. Now open a tile: the detail view labels the values with "Ordnungszahl", "Schmelzpunkt", "Oxidationsstufen", and so on.
  4. Your language choice persists — your next visit opens the PSE straight in German.

The button text always shows the other language: when the table is already in German, the button reads "EN".

Example 4: Jump straight to an element by atomic number

Sometimes you know the atomic number, not the name — for instance an exercise that says "element 79".

  1. Type just 79 into the search field. The search accepts the atomic number as an exact input.
  2. Exactly one tile stays highlighted: gold (Au). Open it for the details.
  3. The same way you find any other element by its number — 1 for hydrogen, 92 for uranium, 118 for oganesson.

Handy when a task only names the atomic number and you need to identify the element.

Example 5: Page through a series of elements

You want to compare neighboring elements without searching each tile individually — for instance to follow a trend across a period.

  1. Open a starting element, for example sodium (11).
  2. In the detail view, use the arrow buttons in the footer or the left/right arrow keys to jump to the next or previous element. The order follows the atomic number.
  3. This way you page from sodium through magnesium, aluminium, silicon … and watch how properties like state of matter, electronegativity, or melting point change from element to element.
  4. At the start (hydrogen) and end (oganesson) of the series the respective arrow is disabled, so you can't page "off the edge".

It's the fastest way to follow a trend along the atomic number without closing the dialog in between.

Example 6: Tell metals, metalloids, and nonmetals apart

You want to understand how the PSE sorts the elements into classes.

  1. Make sure no filter is active (press the × button if needed). Now you see the full, color-coded grid.
  2. The colors tell the story: metals dominate in several shades (alkali and alkaline earth metals, transition and post-transition metals), the metalloids (teal) form the narrow diagonal transition, and the top right holds the reactive nonmetals (except hydrogen, top left), halogens, and noble gases.
  3. Filter one after another to Metalloids, then Reactive Nonmetals, then Noble Gases to see which elements belong to each and where the "staircase line" between metals and nonmetals runs.
  4. Open a metalloid like silicon or germanium and compare its data with a clear metal (iron) and a clear nonmetal (sulfur).

That turns the plain table into a small, self-explanatory lesson on the system behind the periodic table.

There's more: the overview for the big picture, the manual for all data and control details, and the tips & tricks for tricks and pitfalls. You can try it all directly in the tool.