Periodic Table with Charges

About this periodic table with charges

Free printable periodic table with charges — the common ion charge of every element, plus symbols, names, atomic numbers and atomic masses. Color-coded PDF + PNG, Letter size. Every square is drawn from real element data — atomic number, symbol, name and atomic mass — rendered at high resolution so it stays crisp when you print it. There are 118 elements, laid out in the standard 18-column form with the lanthanide and actinide series shown below.

Elements are color-coded by category, and a legend printed on the table names every color so you can quickly tell metals, metalloids, nonmetals and noble gases apart.

Reading the charges

The red number in the top-right corner of each square is the charge of the ion the element usually forms. Metals lose electrons and become positive ions (Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Al³⁺); nonmetals gain electrons and become negative ions (Cl⁻, O²⁻, N³⁻). Where an element commonly forms more than one ion, both are shown with the most common first.

The main groups follow a simple pattern: group 1 is 1+, group 2 is 2+, group 13 is 3+, group 15 is 3−, group 16 is 2−, group 17 is 1−, and the noble gases in group 18 are 0. Transition metals do not follow the pattern, which is why their names carry a Roman numeral in compounds — iron(II) is Fe²⁺ and iron(III) is Fe³⁺. Elements 104 and up have no charge shown: too few atoms have ever been made to measure one.

To write an ionic formula, balance the charges to zero. Calcium (2+) and chlorine (1−) make CaCl₂; aluminum (3+) and oxygen (2−) make Al₂O₃.

How to read the periodic table

Each element occupies one square showing four things: the atomic number (how many protons the atom has), the element's symbol (one or two letters), its name, and its atomic mass (the average mass of one atom). The columns are called groups — elements in the same group share similar chemical behavior — and the rows are called periods. Reading left to right, top to bottom, follows increasing atomic number.

Element categories

Elements fall into families with shared properties. From the reactive metals on the left to the stable gases on the right, here is what each color group means:

• Alkali metals. Group 1 (except hydrogen) — soft, silvery, highly reactive metals such as lithium and sodium.
• Alkaline earth metals. Group 2 — reactive metals such as magnesium and calcium.
• Transition metals. Groups 3–12 — the large central block, including iron, copper, silver and gold.
• Post-transition metals. Softer metals to the right of the transition block, such as aluminum, tin and lead.
• Metalloids. Elements with properties between metals and nonmetals, such as boron and silicon.
• Reactive nonmetals. Elements essential to life, including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur.
• Halogens. Group 17 — very reactive nonmetals such as fluorine, chlorine and iodine.
• Noble gases. Group 18 — stable, largely unreactive gases such as helium, neon and argon.
• Lanthanides. The upper series (57–71), the rare-earth elements.
• Actinides. The lower series (89–103), including uranium and plutonium.

How to print

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