The Cycle of Eight
The Periodic Table of Elements (PTE) shows a regularity that has been pointed out since it inception, the recurring cycle of 8. This cycle was given the name "Law of Octaves" by J.A.R. Newlands in 1865. He noticed that when elements are arranged by increasing weight, every 8th element had similar properties. He suggested this resembled the 8 notes of the musical scale, hence the name law of octaves. This discovery led to further advancements of the PTE.
Both the 2nd and 3rd row of the periodic table have 8 elements. The valence for the elements in the 2nd row from left to right follows the cycle of eight (1, 2, 3, 4/-4, -3, -2, -1, 0). This is because they are made from one nuclet, the structure must follow this cycle. In the third row the first 4 elements follow the cycle of eight, however phosphorous and sulfur deviate from the pattern. This is because the elements in the 3rd row are composed of 2 nuclets which means there are now 2 places where nuclets can grow. The atoms grow on both places and this results in the deviation.
For example Oxygen is so different from the other elements in the 'Oxygen group" that it's often left out when characterizing that group. Growth appears to prefer the nuclet growing phase over the capping phase as discussed here. This explains why most of the elements are metals and why a diagonal line crosses the PTE between the transition metals and non-metals.
Wikpedia i states the following:
The chalcogens are the chemical elements in group 16 of the periodic table. This group is also known as the oxygen family. It consists of the elements oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), and the radioactiveelement polonium (Po). The chemically uncharacterized synthetic element livermorium (Lv) is predicted to be a chalcogen as well.[1] Often, oxygen is treated separately from the other chalcogens, sometimes even excluded from the scope of the term "chalcogen" altogether, due to its very different chemical behavior from sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcogen.
Starting with the 4th row of the PTE we have the transition metals. As the nucleus gets larger and has even more branches the number of growing points increases even more, the cycle of 8 gets lost in all the complexity. This explains the wide diversity found in the transition metals.
| Valence | Row 2 of PTE | Row 3 of PTE |
|---|---|---|
| +1 |
LithiumLithium 7
|
SodiumSodium 23 |
| +2 |
BerylliumBeryllium 9 |
MagnesiumMagnesium 24 |
| +3 |
BoronBoron 11 ALT |
Aluminum
|
| +4/-4 |
CarbonCarbon 12 |
SiliconSilicon 28 |
| -3 |
NitrogenNitrogen 14 |
PhosphorousPhosphorus 31 |
| -2 |
OxygenOxygen 16 |
Sulfur
|
| -1 |
FluorineFluorine 19 |
ChlorineChlorine 36 |
| 0 |
NeonNeon 20 |
ArgonArgon 36 |
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Comments
Oxygen and Sulfur are not…
Oxygen and Sulfur are not similar:
The first expectation would be that all elements in the column of Oxygen should be similar just like the elements in the Alkali metals group for example. Chemistry always ha pointed out that Oxygen is in fact quite different from the others that are part of the column.
The only conclusion here is that either there is an element to be found that is similar to Oxygen with one extra "initial backbone" extra or
That particular construct / number of protons is inherently not stable and decays (immediately) to the Sulfur configuration. This is suspected to be the case.
2 Oxygen fusing together would create Sulfer, however the structure lacks support of the neutral cappings which support the underlying icosahedrons with their Tetrahedron structure. (see "the gap" explanation). This would be 2 integrated icosahedrons (inital backbones) without the proper structural integrity. One of the 2 Icosahedrons of 1 Oxygen remains its structure and the second falls back to the Carbon nuclet (gap disappears on this icosahedron) state and has to release 1 proton to make the icosahedron fit due to the one overlapping proton. The 4 protons that makes up the neutral ending of that Oxygen plus the 1 yielded proton migrate to the other 4 of the neutral cappings of the other Oxygen and form the Boron nuclet turning the whole into the Sulfur atom as is depicted here with its particular properties including not being similar to Oxygen itself.