Periodic Table Flashcards

Periodic Table flashcards — the free 19

Every question and answer on the free cards, written out. Check them against your own textbook before you spend anything.

Group 1 — the alkali metals

Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr — one valence electron; react with water to form a strong alkali. Hydrogen is not one

Group 2 — the alkaline earth metals

Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra — two valence electrons, so they form 2+ ions

Group 13 — the boron group

B, Al, Ga, In, Tl — three valence electrons; B is a metalloid, Al to Tl are metals

Group 14 — the carbon group

C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb — four valence electrons; runs nonmetal to metalloid to metal

Group 15 — the pnictogens

N, P, As, Sb, Bi — five valence electrons; their compounds are called pnictides

Group 16 — the chalcogens

O, S, Se, Te, Po — six valence electrons; their compounds are called chalcogenides

Group 17 — the halogens

F, Cl, Br, I, At — seven valence electrons, one short of a full shell, so highly reactive

Group 18 — the noble gases

He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn — a filled valence shell, so almost unreactive

Groups 3–12 — the transition metals

The d-block — d subshells fill across each row. Also the transition elements, though IUPAC may exclude group 12

Are Zn, Cd and Hg transition metals?

Group 12 is d-block, but many sources leave it out — IUPAC records that it is 'not always included'

The lanthanoids

La to Lu, elements 57–71 — the 4f series. IUPAC prefers 'lanthanoid' to 'lanthanide'

The actinoids

Ac to Lr, elements 89–103 — the 5f series; every one is radioactive

The rare earth metals

Sc, Y and the 15 lanthanoids — 17 elements. Neither rare nor earths

Group 3 — the unsettled group

Sc and Y, then either La and Ac or Lu and Lr. IUPAC's task group found no objective way to decide

The f-block

The lanthanoids and actinoids — f subshells fill. Also called the inner transition elements

Main group elements

Groups 1, 2 and 13–18, hydrogen excepted — IUPAC's name for the s- and p-block columns

A period

A row of the table. There are seven, and the number is the outermost occupied shell — except palladium's, which is 4

Hydrogen's place

Group 1, at the head of the column — but not an alkali metal: a nonmetal that resembles both group 1 and group 17

How the columns are numbered

IUPAC numbers them 1–18, left to right. Older CAS (IA/IIIB) and European (IA/IIIA) labels persist

Periodic Table flashcards — questions people ask

How many cards are in the Periodic Table flashcard deck?

The Periodic Table deck on PuzzlePage has 19 cards, and all 19 are free to play and free to download with no account and no payment. 19 cards. The table has 18 groups and a short, closed list of IUPAC-approved collective names, and this deck covers the named ones once each. Padding past that would mean inventing families no standards body recognises.

What is on the periodic table flashcards?

The periodic table by family, numbered IUPAC 1–18: alkali metals to noble gases, lanthanoids, actinoids, rare earths. Companion to periodic-table-elements. Cards look like this: Group 1 — the alkali metals → Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr — one valence electron; react with water to form a strong alkali. Hydrogen is not one; Group 2 — the alkaline earth metals → Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra — two valence electrons, so they form 2+ ions. The deck is written for grades 9–12 and filed under science.

Can I study periodic table flashcards online for free?

Yes. All 19 cards of the Periodic Table deck play free in any web browser at puzzlepage.app, with no account, no app and no card details. It works on a phone, tablet, Chromebook, laptop or classroom projector. Practice mode flips through the cards with nothing scored; quiz mode makes you answer each card before it flips, times the run and scores it.

Are the periodic table flashcards accurate?

Every card in the Periodic Table deck cites two independent published sources — two different organisations, not a standards body and a site reprinting it — and a script checks that, rather than taking the writer's word for it. A second specialist then re-verified the deck against sources of their own, without reading the citations first. That is the difference from a user-generated flashcard site, where the cards are whatever a stranger typed and nobody is accountable for them.

Can I print the periodic table flashcards?

Yes. The Periodic Table cards are available as a printable double-sided PDF to cut up, as well as playable in the browser. The whole 19-card printable is free to download, with no account.

How should I use the Periodic Table deck to revise?

Start in practice mode and go through the Periodic Table deck once without scoring, to find out which cards you already know — the deck is dealt in a different order every time you open it, so you are recalling the card rather than its position. Then switch to quiz mode, which times and scores the run and lets you re-run only the cards you missed. Use the "flip deck" control to swap which side is the question: recognising an answer is much easier than producing one, so a deck you find easy one way round is usually the harder and more useful drill the other way. Two or three short sessions across a week beat one long one, which is the whole reason flashcards work.

What grade level are the periodic table flashcards for?

The Periodic Table deck is written for grades 9–12. Because the cards are plain term-and-answer pairs, they are also used outside that band — by adults revising science, and by teachers running them as a whole-class starter on a projector.