If you can find a copy I highly recommend Graphical Representations of the Periodic System During 100 Years by Edward G. Mazurs. The latest edition is from 1974 (which unfortunately means it is just misses including the J.F. Hyde table from 1975).
I’m not sure there really is any new insight to be gained from new arrangements of the elements, but I do feel like this work has stagnated in recent years. Even the cheapest smart phones have more graphical processing power than anything from 10-20 years ago. I would like to see more 3D arrangements (including “regular” 3D, VR/AR, and physical 3D models).
As a former Chemistry teacher, I would also love to see a “build your own” periodic table (maybe some way of coding whatever rules/constraints you think the arrangement should take and the elements are laid out accordingly, rather than directly placing each element). I think it’s important for students to realize that at one point these were original ideas that people had to think of and popularize and that new ideas are also possible. The current table is not just some ancient truth handed down since time immemorial. Though the table reflects the laws of nature, it is the product of human creation (e.g. the common form of the table with the lanthanides and actinides placed below the rest of the table is purely for practical reasons. Otherwise the table is far too wide to print and read easily).
> I think it’s important for students to realize that at one point these were original ideas that people had to think of
This part of your informative comment indicates to me that you were a great teacher. This sort of thing doesn't occur to many students, and so they find it difficult to connect with material. If they can visualize somebody else doing such work, they may be able to visualize themselves doing it, too. And that's the first step. Even if they don't go into science, though, they will gain an appreciation for what it is.
I've always thought it was quite unfortunate that some really arcane presentation of the periodic table wasn't used in H. Beam Piper's novella "Omnilingual":
I love Benfey's table. I find it the most intuitive to interpret at a glance at what's actually going on with the electrons and the filing of the orbitals (in the version where they're marked) around the nucleus. Might be just taste, but it's my fave.
Great visualization. I’ve always found it very unsatisfying to depict the lanthanides and actinides as just nebulously floating out there like Alaska and Hawaii on terrible maps of the US. Those elements are part of chemistry/physics too, and they have periodic properties. Finally a practical visual that promotes them to full citizens!
This is great. I'm bookmarking this article as an example of our neverending quest to classify and organize. And how the notion that there is a single, canonical right way to do it is a powerful motivator, where the holy grail is to lay bare a hidden structure that might (for example) be used as a predictor.
There is a caveat here though: when such a structure is found we tend to think that we have discovered everything, and forget that there are still many ways to look at things, organizing principles that may explain other things.
We often think: "there can only be one", in my experience.
There is also the Internet Database of Periodic Tables (https://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt_database.php...).
I’m not sure there really is any new insight to be gained from new arrangements of the elements, but I do feel like this work has stagnated in recent years. Even the cheapest smart phones have more graphical processing power than anything from 10-20 years ago. I would like to see more 3D arrangements (including “regular” 3D, VR/AR, and physical 3D models).
As a former Chemistry teacher, I would also love to see a “build your own” periodic table (maybe some way of coding whatever rules/constraints you think the arrangement should take and the elements are laid out accordingly, rather than directly placing each element). I think it’s important for students to realize that at one point these were original ideas that people had to think of and popularize and that new ideas are also possible. The current table is not just some ancient truth handed down since time immemorial. Though the table reflects the laws of nature, it is the product of human creation (e.g. the common form of the table with the lanthanides and actinides placed below the rest of the table is purely for practical reasons. Otherwise the table is far too wide to print and read easily).