Chemical series - Definition and Overview

A chemical series is a group of chemical elements whose physical and chemical characteristics vary progressively from one end of the series to another.

Chemical series were discovered before the creation of the periodic table of the chemical elements, which was created to try to organise the elements according to their chemical properties.

Several chemical series correspond exactly to periodic table groups: this is not a coincidence, as the physical properties that group them arise from the same atomic orbital configurations that place them in the same group in the periodic table.

The chemical series of the periodic table are the:

• Alkali metals (periodic table group 1)
• Alkaline earth metals (periodic table group 2)
• Lanthanides
• Actinides
• Transition metals
• Other metals
• Metalloids
• Nonmetals
• Chalcogens (periodic table group 16)
• Halogens (periodic table group 17)
• Noble gases (periodic table group 18)

See also

• Coinage metal
• Noble metal
• Base metal
• Platinum group