Newlands' Law of Octaves worked well with:

The correct answer is lighter elements only.

Key Points

• Newlands' Law of Octaves
  • ​British chemist John Newlands attempted the 62 elements that were known at the time in 1864.
  • Based on their atomic masses, he arranged them in ascending order and discovered that each eighth element shared similar properties. Newland's law of octaves was developed based on this observation.
  • The law of octaves states that every eighth element has similar properties when the elements are arranged in the increasing order of their atomic masses.
  • The octaves of music, in which every eighth note is comparable to the first, was used by Newlands to illustrate the similarity between the elements. 

Additional Information

• Limitations of Newland’s Law of Octaves
  • ​In Newland's periodic classification, a number of elements shared the same slots.
  • Nickel and cobalt, for instance, were inserted into the same slot.
  • Some metals, like cobalt, nickel, and platinum, were included in the group that included the halogens.
  • Only elements up to calcium were subject to Newland's law of octaves.
  • Octaves were unable to accommodate elements with higher atomic masses.
  • The octave pattern could not accommodate the subsequent discoveries of elements.