Law of octaves, in chemistry, the generalization made by the English chemist John Alexander Newlands in 1865 that, if the chemical elements are arranged according to increasing atomic weight, those with similar physical and chemical properties occur after each interval of seven elements.

Law of Octaves is a periodic law that was proposed by John Alexander Newlands in the year 1864. This law is considered as one of the earliest attempts to classify the elements in a periodic manner based on their atomic weights.

Explanation:

The following are the points that explain the Law of Octaves:

- According to the Law of Octaves, every eighth element in the periodic table resembles the first element in its physical and chemical properties.
- Newlands compared the elements with the musical notes and called it the Law of Octaves. He noticed that when the elements were arranged in the increasing order of their atomic weights, every eighth element had similar properties to the first element.
- Newlands also named the groups of the elements based on this law as the Newlands’ Law of Octaves. He classified the elements into seven groups, and the eighth element resembled the first element in its properties.
- However, Newlands’ Law of Octaves was criticized because it could not accommodate all the known elements at that time. Moreover, the idea of octave was restricted to only the lighter elements, and the heavier elements did not show any periodicity.
- Later, Dmitri Mendeleev and Lothar Meyer independently proposed the modern periodic table, which was based on the atomic number rather than atomic weight. This table was able to accommodate all the known elements and also predicted the existence of the undiscovered elements.
- Despite its limitations, the Law of Octaves was a significant step towards the discovery of the periodicity in the properties of the elements. It laid the foundation for the development of the modern periodic table.

Therefore, the correct answer to the question is option 'C' - John Alexander Newlands.

Newlands proposed Law of Octaves Dobereiner proposed law of triadsMendeleev prepared periodic tablelother meyer prepared atomic volume curves