The Periodic Table is arranged based off of A) chemical properties of elements and B) Atomic numbers. When what im assuming your chemistry teacher says four families, he is referring to the four main families of the periodic table that are used in high school chemistry, these are A) Group 1 : The Alkali earth metals , which are all highly reactive metals B) Group 2 : The Alkaline earth metals C) Group 17 : The Halogens, these are all very stable substances which bond very well with the Alkali earth metals to form salts and D) Group 18 : The Noble gasses or Inert gasses , these are all highly stable gasses due to their full valency shell, they do not generally bond with other metals
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Families (or groups) are the vertical columns of the periodic table. Period is horizontal rows.
The vertical columns.
The main families of the periodic table are the alkali metals, the alkaline earth metals, the halogens, and the noble gasses. see them here to view where they are one the periodic table.. hopefully this answers your question.
Metals, Non-metals, metaloids, and gases.
In chemistry, a group (also known as a family) is a vertical column in the periodic table of the chemical elements. There are 18 groups in the standard periodic table.