Periodic Table API

About the Periodic Table API

Pass either a chemical symbol or full element name to query the element directory. Each lookup returns classification details, physical state, discoverer history, and X/Y grid coordinates for table rendering. Paid plans include thermodynamic values like melting and boiling points, density, electron affinity, electronegativity, and electron shell configurations.

What people use it for

Interactive Table UI

When building web-based periodic tables, developers plot tiles using provided grid coordinates and apply CPK hex values for element color schemes.

Chemistry Learning Apps

Educational platforms display atomic numbers, physical phases, and discoverer records to students reviewing fundamental chemical properties in study flashcards.

Laboratory Sample Inventory

Chemical inventory systems cross-reference raw element symbols against standardized names, blocks, and groups during reagent intake and cataloging.

Molecular Model Visualization

Render 3D molecular structures in browser viewports by mapping chemical symbols directly to standardized CPK coloring codes and classification categories.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — GET /v1/periodictable

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/periodictable?name=hydrogen" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — GET /v1/periodictable

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "count": 1,
    "elements": [
      {
        "name": "Hydrogen",
        "appearance": "colorless gas",
        "atomic_mass": 1.008,
        "boil": 20.271,
        "category": "diatomic nonmetal",
        "density": 0.08988,
        "discovered_by": "Henry Cavendish",
        "melt": 13.99,
        "molar_heat": 28.836,
        "named_by": "Antoine Lavoisier",
        "number": 1,
        "period": 1,
        "group": 1,
        "phase": "Gas",
        "source": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen",
        "summary": "Hydrogen is a chemical element with chemical symbol H and atomic number 1. With an atomic weight of 1.00794 u, hydrogen is the lightest element on the periodic table. Its monatomic form (H) is the most abundant chemical substance in the Universe, constituting roughly 75% of all baryonic mass.",
        "symbol": "H",
        "xpos": 1,
        "ypos": 1,
        "wxpos": 1,
        "wypos": 1,
        "shells": [
          1
        ],
        "electron_configuration": "1s1",
        "electron_configuration_semantic": "1s1",
        "electron_affinity": 72.769,
        "electronegativity_pauling": 2.2,
        "ionization_energies": [
          1312
        ],
        "cpk-hex": "ffffff",
        "block": "s"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 1 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive Periodic Table form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — Periodic Table API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1