Here are some more ideas for analyzing the periodic table files. Thanks again to Mary Ellen Verona for her time in developing these.

%plotting hvap and Boiling Point
plot(hvap,'b');
hold on;
plot(BoilingPt,'y');
hold off;

%Plotting Melting Point and Boiling Point;  Circle noble gases; find
%Tungsten
plot(MeltingPt,'r');
hold on;
plot(BoilingPt,'y');
%make sure zoom is off at this point!
el=ginput(1);
elnum=round(el(1));
disp(Symbol(elnum,:))
hold off;


%Label early
plot(Date);
hold on;
[firstD,firstE]=sort(Date);
% circle first 14 elements discovered
plot(firstE(1:14),firstD(1:14),'oc');
% Note - Symbols can have 1 or 2 'columns' - use :
text(firstE(1:10),firstD(1:10),Symbol(firstE(1:10),:));
firstG=Group(firstE(1:12));
% circle last elements discovered
plot(firstE(80:106),firstD(80:106),'om');
disp('now use zoom');
disp('remember to turn zoom off before using ginput');


And some more ideas to try with the newest databases:

1. Plot Ionization Energy vs. Electron affinity.  Note: Ionization Energy
is in eV and Electron affinity is in kJ/mol so you need to do some unit
conversions on one of the data files first.

2. Related to 1.  Ionization Energy and Electron Affinity are used to
develop electronegativity scales.  Can you find the relationship used to
develop the Pauling scale (which is the basis of the file here?)

3. Plot hvap and hfus on the same graph.  On a second figure, plot bp and
 mp. Look for patterns.  Plot a horizontal line at 273 K on the bp, mp
graph - this indicates phases of the elements at room temp.  Which
elements will 'melt' in your hand? 

4. Plot number of isotopes and number of radioactive isotopes on the same
graph.  What happens to the number of isotopes as the atomic number
increase?  Above what atomic number are only radioactive isotopes found? 
Compare this to a plot of the discovery dates.

5. Compare atomic radius to covalent radius.  Then on a second graph,
compare atomic radius to ionic radius.  What do these graphs  indicated
about non-metals?  Metals? 



Possible solutions to some of the above:

% Compare Ionization Energy, Electron Affinity and 
% Electronegativity
% First convert Electron Affinity to ev
Eaf = ElecAff * 1000/(6.02e23 * 1.6e-19);
plot (Eaf,'r');
hold on;
plot (IonE, 'g');
plot (ElecNeg, 'y');

% Compare melting point and boiling point
% Add a room temperature line
% Look for low melting solids
plot (MeltingPt,'r');
hold on;
plot(BoilingPt,'y');
roomt = 298 * ones(106);
plot (roomt,'g');
zoom;
% Click on the plot near atomic number 30
% Look for low melting solids
% use ginput to try and identify