The United Nations (UN) has proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019). For that reason, it is considered pertinent to highlight the importance of the periodic system in the scientific and technological development of the chemistry; therefore, a discussion of some applications of the periodicity of the elements for designing new materials is carried out. In this work, some periodic trends of both molecules and complex structures of materials are discussed, by selecting different cases of the chemical periodicity applied to improve and design steels with higher wear resistance, prepare refractory materials and synthesize chalcogenides glasses, among others. Finally, the proposed subjects and the regularities argued in this work are considered complementary contexts of exceptional interest to motivate the meaningful learning of the periodic table taking into account the current scientific and technological researches.
Keywords:
periodic table; teaching chemistry; materials; materials science; science education
