Helium's placement in the Periodic Table from a crystal structure viewpoint

Mikhail Kurushkin

doi:10.1107/S2052252520007769

Helium's placement in the Periodic Table from a crystal structure viewpoint

IUCrJ. 2020 Jun 13;7(Pt 4):577-578. doi: 10.1107/S2052252520007769. eCollection 2020 Jul 1.

Author

Mikhail Kurushkin¹

Affiliation

¹ Chemistry Education Research and Practice Laboratory, SCAMT Institute, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosova Str., Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg 191002, Russian Federation.

Abstract

The present paper indicates that helium has more in common with the alkaline earths than is often considered. Not only does it share an analogous electron configuration but it also has an analogous crystal structure to that of beryllium and magnesium which is, in contrast, characteristic of the bulk material rather than of isolated atoms.

Keywords: Periodic Table; crystal structure; helium.