Latin names elements

Hafinia, Latin name for Copenhagen) Many years before its discovery in 1932 (credited to D. Coster and G. von Hevesey), Hafnium was thought to be present in various minerals and concentrations. On the basis of the Bohr theory, the new element was expected to be associated with zirconium. 

The atomic symbol is one or two letters chosen to represent an element ("H" for "hydrogen," etc.). These symbols are used internationally. Typically, a symbol is the truncated name of the element or the truncated Latin name of the element. Click here for... 

Whereas zirconium was discovered in 1789 and titanium in 1790, it was not until 1923 that hafnium was positively identified. The Bohr atomic theory was the basis for postulating that element 72 should be tetravalent rather than a trivalent member of the rare-earth series. Moseley s technique of identification was used by means of the x-ray spectra of several 2ircon concentrates and lines at the positions and with the relative intensities postulated by Bohr were found (1). Hafnium was named after Hafma, the Latin name for Copenhagen where the discovery was made. 

In chemistry, an element is identified by its symbol. This consists of one or two letters, usually derived from the name of the element. Thus the symbol for carbon is C that for aluminum is Al. Sometimes the symbol comes from the Latin name of the element or one of its compounds. The two elements copper and mercury, which were known in ancient times, have the symbols Cu (cuprum) and Hg (hydrargyrum). 

Each element has been named and, for convenience, has been given a nickname—a shorthand symbol of one or two letters. Thus the element carbon is symbolized by the letter C, the element neon by the letters Ne. The symbols are adopted by international agreement among chemists. Eleven of the elements have names derived from the capitalized first letter of the Latin name of the element and, if necessary, by a second letter (uncapitalized). These eleven include seven common metals known to the ancients. (See Table 2-V.)... 

The name copper and the symbol Cu are derived from the Latin cuprum, after the island of Cyprus, where the Romans first obtained copper metal. The symbols Ag and Au for silver and gold come from the Latin names for these elements argentum... 

An internationally accepted chemical notation makes use of symbols to represent elements and compounds, and advises on naming chemical compounds. In this notation, the elements are represented by one or two letters, many of which are drawn from the elements Latin or Greek names. The number of atoms of an element in a molecule is represented by a subscript written after the symbol thus Au (the first two letters of aurum, the Latin name for gold) represents an atom of gold Cu (the first two letters of cuprum, the Latin name for copper), an atom of copper and C (the first letter of carbon), an atom of carbon O represents an atom of oxygen and 02, a molecule of oxygen. The symbols listed below provide examples of the presently accepted form of chemical notation ... 

Ruthenium was recognized as a new element hy G.W. Osann in 1828. He found it in insoluhle residues from aqua regia extract of native platinum from alluvial deposits in the Ural mountains of Russia. He named it Ruthen after the Latin name Ruthenia for Russia. The discovery of this element, however, is credited to Klaus who in 1844 found that Osann s ruthenium oxide was very impure and isolated pure Ru metal from crude platinum residues insoluhle in aqua regia. 

Titanium was discovered in 1790 by Engfish chemist William Gregor. Five years later in 1795, Klaproth confirmed Gregor s findings from his independent investigation and named the element titanium after the Latin name Titans, the mythical first sons of the Earth. The metal was prepared in impure form first by Nilson and Pettersson in 1887. Hunter, in 1910, prepared the metal in pure form by reducing titanium tetrachloride with sodium. 

For his symbols he took the first letter of the Latin name of each element — C for carbo, S for sulfur. Where two names started with the same letter, he added a small letter to one of the symbols to... 

The old Romans actually knew nine of the substances we call elements today. They called them, of course, by their Latin names (the same we use today in chemical symbols) carbo (carbon—C), sulfur (S), aurtim (gold — Au), argentum (silver —... 

By 1800, thirty-four elements had been discovered. Within the next ten years, thirteen more had heen added and had been given made-up Latin names — among them natrium (sodium — Xa), kalium (potassium— K), and aluminium (aluminum — Al). By the beginning of the twentieth century, eighty-four elements were known. 

Latin name for the German stale of Hessen where the institute is located. There was an element naming controversy as to what the elements from 101 to 109 were to be called thus FUPAC adopted unniluclium (symbol Unot as a temporary name for this element In 1994 a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 108 be named hahnium. The name hassiunt was adopted internationally, however, in 1997. 

Ca for calcium and Cl for chlorine. Some symbols seem to have no relationship to the name of the element, for example Na for sodium and Pb for lead. These symbols come from their Latin names, natrium for sodium and plumbum for lead. A list of some common elements and their symbols is given in Table 2.4. 

Table 2.4 Some common elements and their symbols. The Latin names of some of the elements are given in brackets.

Symbols for elements with Greek or Latin names Berzelius, a Swedish chemist, solved the problem by giving symbols from their original Latin or Greek names. For example,... 

The discoverers of gallium, scandium, and germanium proudly named their new elements after their home countries. Gallium comes from Gallia, the Latin name for France. Scandium was named for Scandinavia, whereas germanium was named after Germany. How did all the other elements get their names ... 

Each element is made up of very small entities called atoms all atoms of the same element behave identically chemically. The study of chemistry, therefore, can logically begin with elements and the atoms of which they are composed. Each element is designated by an atomic number, a name, and a chemical symbol, such as carbon, C potassium, K (for its Latin name kalium) or cadmium, Cd. Each element has a characteristic atomic mass (atomic weight), which is the average mass of all atoms of the element. 

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