Naming of elements

Chemical elements may be named from various sources: sometimes based on the person who discovered it, or the place it was discovered. Some have Latin or Greek roots deriving from something related to the element, for example some use to which it may have been put. There is some debate over what unnamed elements, whether due to being hypothesised or newly discovered, should be named — whether a number (e.g. 113), a transliterated number (e.g. ununtrium), or a placeholder name.

Known elements

Periodic table
Group	1	2		3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Alkali metals	Alkaline earth metals														Pnicto­gens	Chal­co­gens	Halo­gens	Noble gases
Period 1	Hydro­gen1H																		He­lium2He
2	Lith­ium3Li	Beryl­lium4Be												Boron5B	Carbon6C	Nitro­gen7N	Oxy­gen8O	Fluor­ine9F	Neon10Ne
3	So­dium11Na	Magne­sium12Mg												Alumin­ium13Al	Sili­con14Si	Phos­phorus15P	Sulfur16S	Chlor­ine17Cl	Argon18Ar
4	Potas­sium19K	Cal­cium20Ca		Scan­dium21Sc	Tita­nium22Ti	Vana­dium23V	Chrom­ium24Cr	Manga­nese25Mn	Iron26Fe	Cobalt27Co	Nickel28Ni	Copper29Cu	Zinc30Zn	Gallium31Ga	Germa­nium32Ge	Arsenic33As	Sele­nium34Se	Bromine35Br	Kryp­ton36Kr
5	Rubid­ium37Rb	Stront­ium38Sr		Yttrium39Y	Zirco­nium40Zr	Nio­bium41Nb	Molyb­denum42Mo	Tech­netium43Tc	Ruthe­nium44Ru	Rho­dium45Rh	Pallad­ium46Pd	Silver47Ag	Cad­mium48Cd	Indium49In	Tin50Sn	Anti­mony51Sb	Tellur­ium52Te	Iodine53 I	Xenon54Xe
6	Cae­sium55Cs	Ba­rium56Ba		Lute­tium71Lu	Haf­nium72Hf	Tanta­lum73Ta	Tung­sten74W	Rhe­nium75Re	Os­mium76Os	Iridium77Ir	Plat­inum78Pt	Gold79Au	Mer­cury80Hg	Thallium81Tl	Lead82Pb	Bis­muth83Bi	Polo­nium84Po	Asta­tine85At	Radon86Rn
7	Fran­cium87Fr	Ra­dium88Ra		Lawren­cium103Lr	Ruther­fordium104Rf	Dub­nium105Db	Sea­borgium106Sg	Bohr­ium107Bh	Has­sium108Hs	Meit­nerium109Mt	Darm­stadtium110Ds	Roent­genium111Rg	Coper­nicium112Cn	Nihon­ium113Nh	Flerov­ium114Fl	Moscov­ium115Mc	Liver­morium116Lv	Tenness­ine117Ts	Oganess­on118Og
				Lan­thanum57La	Cerium58Ce	Praseo­dymium59Pr	Neo­dymium60Nd	Prome­thium61Pm	Sama­rium62Sm	Europ­ium63Eu	Gadolin­ium64Gd	Ter­bium65Tb	Dyspro­sium66Dy	Hol­mium67Ho	Erbium68Er	Thulium69Tm	Ytter­bium70Yb
				Actin­ium89Ac	Thor­ium90Th	Protac­tinium91Pa	Ura­nium92U	Neptu­nium93Np	Pluto­nium94Pu	Ameri­cium95Am	Curium96Cm	Berkel­ium97Bk	Califor­nium98Cf	Einstei­nium99Es	Fer­mium100Fm	Mende­levium101Md	Nobel­ium102No
black=solid green=liquid red=gas gray=unknown Color of the atomic number shows state of matter (at 0 °C and 1 atm) Primordial From decay Synthetic Border shows natural occurrence of the element Background color shows subcategory in the metal–metalloid–nonmetal trend: Metal Metalloid Nonmetal Unknown chemical properties Alkali metal Alkaline earth metal Lan­thanide Actinide Transition metal Post-​transition metal Polyatomic nonmetal Diatomic nonmetal Noble gas

As shown by the table above, as of March 2014, there are 118 known elements.^[1]

Etymology

Element names can refer to:

• a mythological concept or character (including an astronomical object),
• a mineral or similar substance,
• a place, or geographical region,
• a property of the element, or
• a scientist.

People

Chemical elements are commonly named after people. However, very few are named after their discoverers, and very few are named after living people. The element seaborgium was named after Glenn Seaborg, who was alive at the time.^[2] It has also been suggested that Lecoq de Boisbaudran named the element gallium after himself (Boisbaudran's first name means "rooster" and the Latin word "gallus" also means "rooster").^[3] Most of the human namesakes of the transfermium elements are also recipients of the Nobel Prize. Such elements include lawrencium, rutherfordium, seaborgium, bohrium, and roentgenium, but not mendelevium, nobelium, or copernicium.^[4][5] Other elements that are named after people include fermium, einsteinium, curium, and gadolinium.^[6][7] Additionally, samarium is named after a mineral, which is in turn named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets.^[8]

Places on earth

Some chemical elements are named after places on the planet earth. Three are named after currently existing countries – polonium (named after Poland^[9]), francium (named after France^[10]) and germanium (named after Germany,^[11] and the only one of the three which is stable and occurs in more than trace amounts on Earth) – whilst americium is named after the Americas.^[12] Other elements are named after modern states or cities, including berkelium and californium named after the American city and state where they were discovered,^[13] and dubnium, similarly named after Dubna, Russia.^[14]

Several places in Scandinavia have elements named after them. Yttrium, terbium, erbium, and ytterbium are all named after the Swedish village of Ytterby^[15] and holmium after the Swedish capital Stockholm.^[15] Scandium is derived from the Latin word for Scandinavia and thulium is named after the mythical word for the same region.^[15][16]

A number of elements are named after the Latin words for various places. The element ruthenium is named for the region including Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.^[17] Lutetium is named after Lutetia, the Latin name for Paris and hafnium is named for Hafnia, the Latin name for Copenhagen.^[18][19] Holmium is named after Holmia, which is Latin for Stockholm.^[20] Copper's name comes from an Old English word for the Latin name for Cyprus.^[21]

The names of both magnesium and manganese derive from the Greek region of Magnesia.^[22]

Astronomical objects

A few elements are named after astronomical places, including moons, dwarf planets, and planets. Uranium, neptunium, plutonium and cerium were all named after the planets Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Ceres respectively (although Pluto and Ceres are now considered dwarf planets).^{[23][24][25][26][27]} The element selenium derives from the Greek word for the Moon (Σελήνη, Selene). Helium is named after the Greek word for the Sun (Ἢλιος, Helios). This is because the first evidence for helium was in spectroscopy lines from the Sun that, at the time, could not be explained by any other known element.^[28]

Minerals

Many elements are named after the minerals in which they are found, e.g. calcium after Latin calx (lime), silicon is named after Latin silex (sand), sodium after soda and potassium after potash.

Temporary names

In 1979, IUPAC published recommendations for their systematic element names to be used for yet unnamed or undiscovered elements^[29] as a placeholder, until the discovery of the element is confirmed and a permanent name is decided on. The recommendations are mostly ignored among scientists, who simply call these elements by their atomic number Z, for example "element 119" (instead of "ununennium"), with the symbol of (119) or even simply 119.^[30]

Since 2002, the IUPAC Inorganic Chemistry Division has been the official body responsible with assigning official names to new elements, with the IUPAC Council making the final decision.^[31]

Chemical symbol

Once an element has been named, a one-, two-, or three-letter symbol must be ascribed to it so it can be easily referred to in such contexts as the periodic table. The first letter is always capitalised. While the symbol is often a contraction of the element's name, sometimes the symbol and name do not match up as the symbol is based on non-English words, such as "Pb" for lead (plumbum in Latin) or "W" for tungsten (Wolfram in German).

Naming controversies

The naming of the synthetic elements dubnium and seaborgium generated a significant amount of controversy, referred to as the Transfermium Wars. The Americans wished to name element 105 hahnium, while the Russians preferred the name dubnium. The Americans also wished to name element 106 seaborgium. This naming dispute ran from the 1970s (when the elements were discovered) to the 1990s, when the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry created a tentative list of the element names for elements 104 to 109. The Americans, however, refused to agree with these names because seaborgium was not in the list. Thus, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry reconsidered, and in 1996 named element 105 dubnium and element 106 seaborgium.^[32]

Alternative forms of an element, names indicating molecular structure, and names of compounds

When a pure element, comprising only one type of atom, nevertheless exists in multiple forms (allotropes) with different structure and properties, they are generally given different names; for example graphite and diamond are both forms of the element carbon. Even for elements such as nitrogen having only one stable allotrope, a name such as dinitrogen may be used to indicate its molecular structure N₂ as well as its elemental composition. The naming of chemical compounds comprising more than one element is a complex subject, discussed at length in the article on chemical nomenclature.

References

Bibliography

• Theodore Gray (2009), The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc. 
• Sam Kean (2011), The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements, Back Bay Books/Little Brown and Company 
• John Emsley (2011), Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements — New Edition, Oxford University Press