The answer is: another name for groups of elements is family.
There are 18 numbered groups in the periodic table.
The elements in a group have similar physical or chemical characteristics and some groups have a specific name, for example group 17 (the halogens).
Elements in the group have the same number of valence electrons, for example, chemical elements in group 15 of the periodic table have neutral atom with a valence electron configuration of ns²np³.
