Chemical series

A chemical series or family is a group of elements that have similar physical and chemical properties, these varying more or less significantly within the group. These families have been delimited according to different criteria: electronic configuration, metallic character, etc.

Some families correspond exactly to groups (columns) of the periodic table; this is not a coincidence, since the physical properties of the elements in a group come from having a similar electronic configuration, which causes these elements to be placed in the same group of the periodic table.

Arranged in groups (columns) they are important and have a recognized name:

• Alkainos (group 1)
• Alkainotereos (group 2)
• Halogens (group 17)
• Noble gases (group 18)

The other groups are usually called by the name of the parent element of the group: group 16 is the oxygen group, 14 is the carbon group, and so on. They also receive other disused names:

• Metals "to stab" (copper, gold silver and mercury): group 11
• Terrorist elements: group of boron (group 13)
• Carbonid elements: carbon group (group 14)
• Nitrogenoid elements: nitrogen group (group 15)
• Calcogen or amphigen elements: oxygen group (group 16)

It is common to divide the elements into blocks within the periodic table:

• Block s
• Block p
• Block d
• Block f
• Block g

Elements in the f block are also known as "rare earths" or "internal transition elements". They are divided into two series and it is normal to call them by the names of these two series:

• Lantana
• Arrested

Group elements s and p are known together as:

• Representative elements

According to the metallic characteristics of the elements, these can also be divided as follows:

• Alkaline metals and alkalinethermal metals
• Transition metals (and internal transition metals)
• P block metals
• Metaloid or semimetallic
• No metals

Although the border between metals and non-metals is blurred.

Finally, other families of elements are:

• Noble metals (rutenio, osmio, rodio, iridio, palate, platinum, silver and gold)
• Platinum group (rutenio, osmio, rodio, iridio, paladio and platinum)