Name:

Yr&Sec.

Date:

Activity 2
The Periodic Table: Its Element-ary!
Objectives
In this activity, you should be able to:
1. be familiar with the layout of the periodic table;
2. know some information about the elements that may be found in the periodic table; and
3. identify the group number an element it belongs to.
Material Needed: periodic table of elements
Procedure
1. Every element has a name. In each box of the
table, you will find only one name. One box
corresponds to one element.
Using the partial figure of the periodic
table on the right, find where oxygen is.
2. For the next questions, please refer to the
periodic table of the elements. Write your answers
for each question in Table 1.
Table 1. Name and symbol of some elements and the group

number it

belongs to.

Name
Q1
1.
.
2.
3.
4.
Q2 5.
.
6.
7.
8.
Q3 9.
.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Q4 14.
.
15.
16.
17.
Q5 18.
.
19.
20.
Q6 21.

Symbol

Group

Period

Number

Number

.
22.
23.
24.
Q7 25.
.
Q8 26.
.
27.

Name:
Yr&Sec.

Date:

Scientists agreed to give symbols for each element. This is very helpful especially to those
elements with long names. Instead of writing the full names, a one-letter or two-letter symbol may
be used. You can find these symbols in the periodic table too. It is written inside the same box for
that element. For instance, O is the symbol for oxygen.
Q1. What are the symbols for elements with long names such as beryllium, phosphorus,
germanium, and darmstatdtium?
Q2. What are the symbols for boron, nitrogen, fluorine and vanadium?
For the two-letter symbols, most of them start with the first letter of the element. Notice that
the second letter in the symbol may be any letter found in the elements name. Notice as well that
only the first letter is capitalized for the two-letter symbols.
Q3. What are the symbols for lithium, chlorine, argon, calcium and manganese?
There are symbols that use letters that were taken from the ancient name of the element.
Examples of ancient names are ferrum (iron), argentum (silver), hydrargyrum (mercury) and
plumbum (lead).
Q4. What are the symbols for iron, silver, mercury, and lead?
In the earlier grade levels, you already encountered elements. You studied rocks and learned
that some are composed of silicon and magnesium. Some even have gold.
Q5. What are the symbols for silicon, magnesium and gold?
When you were recycling materials, you segregated the objects according to what these are
made of. Some of them are made from aluminum, copper, tin or carbon.
Q6. What are the symbols for these 4 elements?
In nutrition, you were advised to eat enough bananas because it is a good source of
potassium.
Q7. What is the symbol for potassium?
In each box, you will find a number on top of each symbol. This is the atomic number. In the
higher grade levels, you will learn what this number represents. For now, use it as a guide on how
the elements are sequenced.
Q8. What is the elements name and symbol that comes before titanium? How about that comes
after barium?

Elements that are in the same column have similar properties. For this, each column is
called a family and has a family name. However, at this point, you will refer first to each family
with their corresponding group number. Notice that the columns are numbered 1 to 18 from left
to right.
Q9. In which group and period does each of the elements listed in Table 1 belongs to?

Name
Q1

1. Beryllium

Symbol

Group

Period

Number

Number

Be

.
2.

Phosphorus

15

3.

Germanium

Ge

14

4.

Darmstatdtium/ Darmstadium

Ds

10

Boron

13

6.

Nitrogen

15

7.

Fluorine

17

8.

Vanadium

Lithium

Li

10.

Chlorine

Cl

17

11.

Argon

Ar

18

12.

Calcium

Ca

13.

Manganese

Mn

Iron

Fe

15.

Silver

Ag

11

16.

Mercury

Hg

12

17.

Lead

Pb

14

Silicon

Si

14

Magnesium

Mg

Q2 5.
.

Q3 9.
.

Q4 14.
.

Q5 18.
.
19.

20.

Gold

Au

11

Aluminum

Al

13

22.

Copper

Cu

11

23.

Tin

Sn

14

24.

Carbon

14

Q7 25.

Potassium

.
Q8 26.

Titanium

Ti

Barium

Ba

Q6 21.
.

.
27.