How much do you know about the Periodic Table?

This holiday is being celebrated for the first time this year on 7 February with the goal being to promote the challenges that were overcome to develop the current periodic table.

The day has been chosen as it is on this date that the first periodic table was published in 1863. The periodic table serves to bring order to chemical elements and help scientists understand the world around us.

Here are five facts on the periodic table:

1. Dmitri Mendeleev is most cited as the inventor of the modern periodic table.

2. 90 of the elements on the periodic table occur in nature, the other elements being strictly man-made.

3. Technetium was the first element to be artificially made .

4. The International Union of Pure Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) revises the periodic table as new data becomes available.

5. Most elements on the periodic table are metals.

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