Newland's Law of Octaves

In 1866, English scientist John Newlands arranged the elements known at that time in increasing order of their atomic masses, starting with hydrogen (the lightest element) and ending with thorium. He observed that every eighth element had properties similar to the first element. For example:

• Sodium (the 8th element after lithium) has properties similar to lithium.
• Magnesium shows similarity to beryllium.
• Chlorine resembles fluorine.

Newlands compared this repeating pattern to the octaves in music and named it the Law of Octaves, also known as Newlands’ Law of Octaves. This discovery was an early attempt to organise elements based on their periodic properties.

Musical Connection:

In the Indian music system, there are seven main notes:
Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni, forming a collection called ‘Saptak’. The frequency of these notes increases from ‘Sa’ to ‘Ni,’ and after completing one Saptak, the next ‘Sa’ appears at double the frequency of the original. This creates a repeating pattern.

Similarly, in the Western music system, the seven notes are:
Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti. After these, the eighth note ‘Do’ appears again at twice the frequency of the first ‘Do,’ forming an octave.

1. Newlands' Law of Octaves was applicable only up to calcium; beyond calcium, the pattern did not hold.

2. He arranged 56 elements in a 7 × 8 table but had to place two elements in some boxes (e.g., Co and Ni, Ce and La).

3. Some elements with different properties were placed under the same note, causing inconsistencies.

For example,

• Co and Ni (metals) were placed under ‘Do’ along with halogens.
• Fe, which is similar to Co and Ni, was placed under ‘Ti’ along with nonmetals O and S.

4. The table could not accommodate newly discovered elements, making the classification incomplete.

5. Newlands assumed that only 56 elements existed, but later discoveries did not fit into the pattern.

6. The discovery of noble gases further invalidated the Law of Octaves.