Scientists use the periodic table to quickly refer to information about an element, like atomic mass and chemical symbol. The periodic table's arrangement also allows scientists to discern trends in element properties, including electronegativity, ionization energy, and atomic radius.

An extended periodic table theorizes about chemical elements beyond those currently known and proven. The element with the highest atomic number known is oganesson (Z = 118), which completes the seventh period (row) in the periodic table. All elements in the eighth period and beyond thus remain purely hypothetical.

The Royal Society of Chemistry's interactive periodic table features history, alchemy, podcasts, videos, and data trends across the periodic table. Click the tabs at the top to explore each section.

Summary. To summarize, the periodic table is important because it is organized to provide a great deal of information about elements and how they relate to one another in one easy-to-use reference. The table can be used to predict the properties of elements, even those that have not yet been discovered.