Periodic Table Explorer
Click any element to learn about it. Tap a category below to highlight that family.
About the Periodic Table Explorer
A printed periodic table poster is useful right up until a student asks what makes a transition metal different from a post-transition metal, and you're pointing at colors on laminated paper from across the room. This explorer puts all 118 elements in their correct periods and groups, color-coded by category, and clicking any element pulls up its atomic number and classification up close.
I use the category filter constantly. Clicking "noble gas" dims every other element and leaves just that column lit up, which makes group-based patterns obvious in a way that scanning a static chart never quite manages.
How to use it in your classroom
- Click any element tile to see its name, symbol, atomic number, and category in the detail panel above the table.
- Click a category button — alkali metal, transition metal, halogen, and so on — to dim every element outside that category and highlight the ones that belong to it.
- Click the same category button again to clear the filter and return to the full-color table.
- Note that lanthanides and actinides are displayed in their own rows below the main table, matching how printed periodic tables typically lay them out.
Tips from the classroom
- Have students filter by "noble gas" first since that group is visually obvious — one element per row, all the way down the rightmost column — and gives them confidence reading the layout before tackling messier groups.
- Use the alkali metal and halogen filters side by side (one after the other) to set up a discussion about reactivity trends across groups, since both filters isolate clean single columns.
- Click on carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen back to back during a chemistry intro, since their atomic numbers and shared nonmetal category make a natural three-element comparison.
- Assign a scavenger-hunt worksheet where students have to find one element from each of the eleven categories and record its atomic number — the click-to-select panel makes self-checking fast.
Frequently asked questions
How many elements does this periodic table include?
All 118, from hydrogen through oganesson, arranged in their correct periods and groups including the lanthanide and actinide rows.
What information shows up when I click an element?
The detail panel displays the element's full name, chemical symbol, atomic number, category, and — for elements in the main table body — its period and group numbers.
Can students compare elements within the same category?
Yes, clicking a category button dims everything else on the table, so only elements in that category (like all the halogens or all the noble gases) stay fully visible.