ABSTRACT
Before embarking on this topic we would advise you to be familiar with atomic structure (see 4 and 7) and the periodic table (see 15). Our purpose here is to describe systematically some essential chemical properties and common chemical reactions of the different elements. Although there are 92 naturally occurring elements, this topic is less complex than it appears owing to the similarity of chemical behaviour within groups of elements; in fact it is these groups which constitute the columns in the periodic table. We start with hydrogen, which has unique properties, and then move through the groups of elements that comprise the main block of the periodic table.
