The Three Dimensional Periodic Table (3DPT), depicts a novel rendition of the Periodic Table that replaces the flat rectangular format with a continuous unidirectional spiral that maintains all the properties of Group and Period formation. Comparisons may be made with similar models spanning the last three decades of the 20th century. In the chart form, this new rendition is referred to as the Elliptical Periodic Chart of the Elements. In the three-dimensional form, the model resembles a Christmas tree in shape with the 7 Periods represented as circular platforms situated at various levels with the elements placed appropriately at the outer edges of each of these platforms as a Period builds up. The elements may be represented as spherical objects or flat discs with radii proportionate to atomic radii (or reasonable approximations). Color schemes accentuate the four different Blocks of elements: the s-Block (green), the p-Block (blue, with the exception that the last Group is red signifying the end of a Period), d-Block (orange), and the f-Block (yellow). The grey section, called the Group-Period Interchange, is where the end of a particular Period connects to the beginning of the next Period, and, at the same time, transitions from Group 18 to Group 1.
A Brief Historical Background
The prototype for the BPSE was first devised in 1977 by Dr. Hinsdale Bernard. PhD and his students working at Northeastern College, Sangre Grande in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean. Eighteen years later Bernard’s son, Roald, challenged him to reconstruct the device while he was a freshman chemistry student at Cleveland State University (CSU) in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Bernard then worked at CSU as an assistant professor in the College of Education. By 1999, working intermittently, Dr. Bernard completed a rough draft and contemplated pursuing a U. S. patent for his efforts. With the help of Patent Attorney Gregory Turocy of Law Firm Amin, Turocy & Calvin of Cleveland, Ohio (currently Turocy & Watson, LLP), and several revisions of the model, a patent application was submitted in November, 2003. At that time Dr. Bernard was an associate professor in the School of Education at Andrews University (AU), Berrien Springs, Michigan. The U.S. patent was awarded in November, 2007, while Dr. Bernard served as a professor in the Graduate Studies Division in the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Dr. Bernard acknowledges God’s providence in this long journey, nurtured by the continuous support of his wife Barbara, and children Ishara and Roald along with his wife, Hamdellia.
Dr. Bernard gained his PhD (1991) in educational administration with a cognate in research and statistics from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. He also gained a Master of Arts (1984) in Education from the University of the Virgin Islands, and both a graduate Diploma in Education (1979) and a Bachelor of Science (1972) in Chemistry with Industrial Chemistry from The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Bernard currently serves as Dalton Professor of Research Methodology in the doctoral program in Learning and Leadership in the School of Education, a unit of the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is the founder and president of 3DPT Enterprises, LLC. The Company hopes to complete several models of the BPSE to cater to the needs of various learners and instructors.