a GOOD flat table

Some time ago, Prof. Michelle Francl, at Bryn Mawr College in PA, mentioned her preference for a periodic table that she could tuck into her pocket, rather than a 3D table.

So our Engineering Lab set about reversing the creation of the Alexander Arrangement concept, with some success.

I was able to send her what I referred to as the non–electronic pocket periodic table of the future (NEPPTOF) 'tacti–holo–converto' (THC), a de–dimensionalized replica of the real periodic table, the Alexander Arrangement of Elements (AAE). The THC I sent is missing all the breaks in the periodic table obvious in the standard flat table, and is only several times thicker. It can safely be handled without protective gloves, and looked at for extended periods without safety or 3D glasses – although generally held and observed only briefly, for reference purposes and showing–off.

It can be seen from back or front; manipulated simply and easily by even the untrained; is full sized at all times; and never fades or has diminished full opacity (as do the earlier attempts, i.e.; Star Wars). Amazingly, the molecular properties of the unit have been able to be retained, and are an exact simulation of contemporary card stock!

All these features except the multi–dimensional character of the AAE and the Pen/Pencil Caddy Adaptation are carried over from the original DeskTopper (DT).

My group's creative flattening sequence began with the constructed 'tacti–holo–nonconverto' (THNC)AAE DT, and step–by–step precisely reduce it carefully to two dimensions – road–kill style – (much as Mendeleev, inadvertently, I would like to assume, squashed the original periodic table, the “telluric screw” of Alexandre–Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois, my long–named buddy; 'Alex', who’s table preceded Dmitri's by a decade).

caption: Converted NEPPTOF THC AAE DT to the THNC AAE DT of the NEPPTOF

As a result, this incredibly handy adaptation, (thinner, but a mite taller than standard pocket–books) by flipping blocks, reveals all of the elements' data boxes with none of the dozen or so broken connections in the element sequence so prominently featured in the flat table, and so contrary to the periodic law;
            truly – and FINALLY – a GOOD flat periodic table ;–)