A
period 7 element is one of the
chemical elements in the seventh row (or
period) of the
periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behaviour fall into the same vertical columns. The seventh period contains 32 elements, tied for the most with
period 6, beginning with
francium and ending with
ununoctium, the heaviest element currently discovered. As a rule, period 7 elements fill their 7s
shells first, then their 5f, 6d, and 7p shells, in that order; however, there are exceptions, such as
uranium.