Periodic Table
Mastery of the periodic table means understanding elemental properties — electron configuration, ionization energy, electronegativity, atomic radius, oxidation states, and periodic trends — and applying that knowledge to predict material behavior and design new compounds. As a hard skill it requires being able to reason from first principles about which elements will form stable oxides or sulfides, which will alloy with lithium, and which transition metals offer the right redox potential for a battery cathode. Battery researchers rely on this fluency to select cathode and anode chemistries, anticipate corrosion and compatibility issues, and interpret spectroscopic and electrochemical data by reference to known elemental behavior.
