Single Idea 17416

[catalogued under 27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 3. Periodic Table]

Full Idea

The prevailing reductionist climate implies that quantum mechanics inevitably provides a more fundamental explanation for the periodic system.

Gist of Idea

Orthodoxy says the periodic table is explained by quantum mechanics

Source

Eric R. Scerri (The Periodic Table [2007], 08 'Concl')

Book Reference

Scerri,Eric R.: 'The Periodic Table' [OUP 2007], p.224


A Reaction

Scerri has argued that chemists did much better than physicists in working out how the outer electron shells of atoms worked, by induction from data, rather than inference from basic principles.