Naming of chemical elements

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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.

Contents

Known elements

All 118 discovered elements are confirmed and have a formal name and symbol, as decided by IUPAC. The last four names and symbols were added on November 28, 2016. [1] [2] Currently there are no unconfirmed discoveries and all seven periods (rows) of the periodic table are completed.

Periodic table
Group 1 2   3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Hydrogen &
alkali metals		Alkaline earth metalsTrielsTetrelsPnicto­gensChal­co­gensHalo­gensNoble
gases
Period

1

Hydro­gen1H​1.0080 He­lium2He​4.0026
2 Lith­ium3Li​6.94 Beryl­lium4Be​9.0122 Boron5B​10.81 Carbon6C​12.011 Nitro­gen7N​14.007 Oxy­gen8O​15.999 Fluor­ine9F​18.998 Neon10Ne​20.180
3 So­dium11Na​22.990 Magne­sium12Mg​24.305 Alumin­ium13Al​26.982 Sili­con14Si​28.085 Phos­phorus15P​30.974 Sulfur16S​32.06 Chlor­ine17Cl​35.45 Argon18Ar​39.95
4 Potas­sium19K​39.098 Cal­cium20Ca​40.078 Scan­dium21Sc​44.956 Tita­nium22Ti​47.867 Vana­dium23V​50.942 Chrom­ium24Cr​51.996 Manga­nese25Mn​54.938 Iron26Fe​55.845 Cobalt27Co​58.933 Nickel28Ni​58.693 Copper29Cu​63.546 Zinc30Zn​65.38 Gallium31Ga​69.723 Germa­nium32Ge​72.630 Arsenic33As​74.922 Sele­nium34Se​78.971 Bromine35Br​79.904 Kryp­ton36Kr​83.798
5 Rubid­ium37Rb​85.468 Stront­ium38Sr​87.62 Yttrium39Y​88.906 Zirco­nium40Zr​91.224 Nio­bium41Nb​92.906 Molyb­denum42Mo​95.95 Tech­netium43Tc​[97] Ruthe­nium44Ru​101.07 Rho­dium45Rh​102.91 Pallad­ium46Pd​106.42 Silver47Ag​107.87 Cad­mium48Cd​112.41 Indium49In​114.82 Tin50Sn​118.71 Anti­mony51Sb​121.76 Tellur­ium52Te​127.60 Iodine53I​126.90 Xenon54Xe​131.29
6 Cae­sium55Cs​132.91 Ba­rium56Ba​137.33 Asterisks one.svg Lute­tium71Lu​174.97 Haf­nium72Hf​178.49 Tanta­lum73Ta​180.95 Tung­sten74W​183.84 Rhe­nium75Re​186.21 Os­mium76Os​190.23 Iridium77Ir​192.22 Plat­inum78Pt​195.08 Gold79Au​196.97 Mer­cury80Hg​200.59 Thallium81Tl​204.38 Lead82Pb​207.2 Bis­muth83Bi​208.98 Polo­nium84Po​[209] Asta­tine85At​[210] Radon86Rn​[222]
7 Fran­cium87Fr​[223] Ra­dium88Ra​[226] Asterisks 2 (vertical).svg Lawren­cium103Lr​[266] Ruther­fordium104Rf​[267] Dub­nium105Db​[268] Sea­borgium106Sg​[269] Bohr­ium107Bh​[270] Has­sium108Hs​[269] Meit­nerium109Mt​[278] Darm­stadtium110Ds​[281] Roent­genium111Rg​[282] Coper­nicium112Cn​[285] Nihon­ium113Nh​[286] Flerov­ium114Fl​[289] Moscov­ium115Mc​[290] Liver­morium116Lv​[293] Tenness­ine117Ts​[294] Oga­nesson118Og​[294]
Asterisks one.svg Lan­thanum57La​138.91 Cerium58Ce​140.12 Praseo­dymium59Pr​140.91 Neo­dymium60Nd​144.24 Prome­thium61Pm​[145] Sama­rium62Sm​150.36 Europ­ium63Eu​151.96 Gadolin­ium64Gd​157.25 Ter­bium65Tb​158.93 Dyspro­sium66Dy​162.50 Hol­mium67Ho​164.93 Erbium68Er​167.26 Thulium69Tm​168.93 Ytter­bium70Yb​173.05  
Asterisks 2 (vertical).svg Actin­ium89Ac​[227] Thor­ium90Th​232.04 Protac­tinium91Pa​231.04 Ura­nium92U​238.03 Neptu­nium93Np​[237] Pluto­nium94Pu​[244] Ameri­cium95Am​[243] Curium96Cm​[247] Berkel­ium97Bk​[247] Califor­nium98Cf​[251] Einstei­nium99Es​[252] Fer­mium100Fm​[257] Mende­levium101Md​[258] Nobel­ium102No​[259]

Etymology

Element names can refer to:

People

Chemical elements are sometimes named after people, especially the synthetic elements discovered (created) after c. 1940. Very few are named after their discoverers, and only two have been named after living people: the element seaborgium was named after Glenn Seaborg, who was alive at the time of naming in 1997; [5] and in 2016 oganesson was named after Yuri Oganessian (still living as of July 2024).

Many transuranic elements are named after Nobel Prize winners:

Other transuranic elements are named after scientists who did not receive the prize: [6] [7]

The transuranic element flerovium was named after the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, which in turn was named after Georgy Flyorov. The IUPAC stated that the element was named after the laboratory, not Flyorov, [8] but Yuri Oganessian, who led the team at the laboratory that discovered the element, said that the intention of the naming was to honor Flyorov. [9]

The element samarium is named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, [10] and gadolinium is indirectly named (via the mineral gadolinite) after Johan Gadolin. [11] [12]

Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who named the element gallium after his native land of France (from Latin Gallia meaning Gaul) denied that the element's naming was for a pun on his own name ("le coq" means "the rooster" in French, as does "gallus" in Latin). [13] [14]

Places on earth

Some chemical elements are named after places on the planet earth. Elements which are named after currently existing countries and cities are as:

Several places in Scandinavia have elements named after them.

A number of other elements are named after classical words for various places.

Astronomical objects

The naming of elements from astronomical objects stems from the ancient association of metals with the various planets and their gods, as follows: mercury with Mercury; copper with Venus; iron with Mars (named for the Roman god of war); tin with Jupiter (named for the Roman king of the gods); and lead with Saturn (named for the ancient, slow god who was the father of Jupiter). The Sun and the Moon were associated with gold and silver, respectively.

A few other elements are directly named for astronomical bodies, including planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon. Uranium, neptunium, plutonium, cerium, and palladium were named after Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Ceres, and Pallas, respectively. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] The name selenium comes from the Greek word for the Moon (Σελήνη, Selene). Similarly, the name helium is derived from the Greek word for the Sun (Ἢλιος, Helios), as the first evidence for helium came in the form of distinctive emission lines from the Sun that were not explainable by any of the known elements in the 1870s. [37] Tellurium is named after the Latin word tellus, meaning "earth".

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.[ citation needed ]

Temporary names

In 1979, IUPAC published recommendations for their systematic element names to be used for yet unnamed or undiscovered elements [38] 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, for example "element 119" (instead of "ununennium"), with the symbol of (119) or even simply 119. [39]

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. [40]

Suffixes

There are some standard suffixes for the element names. The suffix -ium, or less commonly -um, usually denotes a metallic element, or at least one that was thought to be metallic when it was discovered (helium is not a metal, and germanium, selenium, and tellurium are more typically termed metalloids or nonmetals). It arose from the Latin suffix of metals such as aurum (gold) and ferrum (iron). The suffix -on is used by some nonmetals (boron, carbon, silicon) as well as the noble gases from neon downward. For the noble gases, it arises from the Greek-adjective names of the stable noble gases (neon, argon, krypton, and xenon), with radon matching its source radium as well as adding the -on suffix. For the nonmetals, the -on was generalised to boron and silicon from the ending of "carbon". The -ine suffix is used only for the halogens, with chlorine being named first, and the others being named to match. The suffix -gen is used for three other nonmetals forming diatomic molecules (hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen). Suffixes were used more inconsistently before 1784, with tungsten (discovered 1783) the last element discovered whose English name lacks a standard suffix. [41]

The naming rules promulgated by IUPAC in 2002 declared that all newly discovered elements should have names ending in -ium, for linguistic consistency. [40] In 2016, this was amended so that elements in the halogen and noble gas groups would receive the traditional -ine and -on suffixes. This amendment was put into practice for tennessine (element 117) and oganesson (element 118); it was noted that the 2002 recommendations had apparently not anticipated that these elements would be reached as quickly as they were. [42]

Chemical symbol

Once an element has been named, a one- or two-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 capitalized. While the symbol is often a contraction of the element's name, it may sometimes not match the element's English name; for example, "Pb" for lead (from Latin plumbum) or "W" for tungsten (from German Wolfram). Elements which have only temporary systematic names are given temporary three-letter symbols (e.g. Uue for ununennium, the undiscovered element 119).

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 (IUPAC) 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, IUPAC reconsidered, and in 1996 named element 105 dubnium and element 106 seaborgium. [43]

In the past, elements would sometimes be renamed if the original discovery claim was successfully challenged: this occurred for elements 43 (technetium replacing masurium), 61 (promethium replacing illinium), and 85 (astatine replacing alabamine). [44] To avoid confusion, this is no longer done, e.g. element 102 is still called nobelium even though that discovery claim was refuted. [42]

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.

See also

Related Research Articles

Bohrium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Bh and atomic number 107. It is named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr. As a synthetic element, it can be created in particle accelerators but is not found in nature. All known isotopes of bohrium are highly radioactive; the most stable known isotope is 270Bh with a half-life of approximately 2.4 minutes, though the unconfirmed 278Bh may have a longer half-life of about 11.5 minutes.

A chemical element is a chemical substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by chemical reactions. The basic particle that constitutes a chemical element is the atom. Elements are identified by the number of protons in their nucleus, known as the element's atomic number. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8, meaning each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its nucleus. Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, known as isotopes of the element. Two or more atoms can combine to form molecules. Chemical compounds are molecules made of atoms of different elements, while mixtures contain atoms of different elements not necessarily combined as molecules. Atoms can be transformed into different elements in nuclear reactions, which change an atom's atomic number.

Dubnium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Db and atomic number 105. It is highly radioactive: the most stable known isotope, dubnium-268, has a half-life of about 16 hours. This greatly limits extended research on the element.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Periodic table</span> Tabular arrangement of the chemical elements ordered by atomic number

The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the elements, is an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements into rows ("periods") and columns ("groups"). It is an icon of chemistry and is widely used in physics and other sciences. It is a depiction of the periodic law, which states that when the elements are arranged in order of their atomic numbers an approximate recurrence of their properties is evident. The table is divided into four roughly rectangular areas called blocks. Elements in the same group tend to show similar chemical characteristics.

Rutherfordium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Rf and atomic number 104. It is named after physicist Ernest Rutherford. As a synthetic element, it is not found in nature and can only be made in a particle accelerator. It is radioactive; the most stable known isotope, 267Rf, has a half-life of about 48 minutes.

Seaborgium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Sg and atomic number 106. It is named after the American nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg. As a synthetic element, it can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. It is also radioactive; the most stable known isotopes have half lives on the order of several minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synthetic element</span> Chemical elements that do not occur naturally

A synthetic element is one of 24 known chemical elements that do not occur naturally on Earth: they have been created by human manipulation of fundamental particles in a nuclear reactor, a particle accelerator, or the explosion of an atomic bomb; thus, they are called "synthetic", "artificial", or "man-made". The synthetic elements are those with atomic numbers 95–118, as shown in purple on the accompanying periodic table: these 24 elements were first created between 1944 and 2010. The mechanism for the creation of a synthetic element is to force additional protons into the nucleus of an element with an atomic number lower than 95. All known synthetic elements are unstable, but they decay at widely varying rates: the half-lives of their longest-lived isotopes range from microseconds to millions of years.

The transuranium elements are the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 92, which is the atomic number of uranium. All of them are radioactively unstable and decay into other elements. With the exception of neptunium and plutonium which have been found in trace amounts in nature, none occur naturally on Earth and they are synthetic.

Oganesson is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Og and atomic number 118. It was first synthesized in 2002 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, near Moscow, Russia, by a joint team of Russian and American scientists. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of the international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. It was formally named on 28 November 2016. The name honors the nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian, who played a leading role in the discovery of the heaviest elements in the periodic table. It is one of only two elements named after a person who was alive at the time of naming, the other being seaborgium, and the only element whose eponym is alive as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical symbol</span> Abbreviations used in chemistry

Chemical symbols are the abbreviations used in chemistry, mainly for chemical elements; but also for functional groups, chemical compounds, and other entities. Element symbols for chemical elements, also known as atomic symbols, normally consist of one or two letters from the Latin alphabet and are written with the first letter capitalised.

The names for the chemical elements 104 to 106 were the subject of a major controversy starting in the 1960s, described by some nuclear chemists as the Transfermium Wars because it concerned the elements following fermium on the periodic table.

A systematic element name is the temporary name assigned to an unknown or recently synthesized chemical element. A systematic symbol is also derived from this name.

Moscovium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Mc and atomic number 115. It was first synthesized in 2003 by a joint team of Russian and American scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. On 28 November 2016, it was officially named after the Moscow Oblast, in which the JINR is situated.

Tennessine is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It has the second-highest atomic number and joint-highest atomic mass of all known elements and is the penultimate element of the 7th period of the periodic table. It is named after the region of Tennessee, where key research institutions involved in its discovery are located.

Flerovium is a superheavy synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Fl and atomic number 114. It is an extremely radioactive element, named after the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, where the element was discovered in 1999. The lab's name, in turn, honours Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov. IUPAC adopted the name on 30 May 2012. The name and symbol had previously been proposed for element 102 (nobelium), but was not accepted by IUPAC at that time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Ghiorso</span> American nuclear scientist

Albert Ghiorso was an American nuclear scientist and co-discoverer of a record 12 chemical elements on the periodic table. His research career spanned six decades, from the early 1940s to the late 1990s.

A period 7 element is one of the chemical elements in the seventh row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behavior of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behavior begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behavior fall into the same vertical columns. The seventh period contains 32 elements, tied for the most with period 6, beginning with francium and ending with oganesson, the heaviest element currently discovered. As a rule, period 7 elements fill their 7s shells first, then their 5f, 6d, and 7p shells in that order, but there are exceptions, such as uranium.

Superheavy elements, also known as transactinide elements, transactinides, or super-heavy elements, or superheavies for short, are the chemical elements with atomic number greater than 103. The superheavy elements are those beyond the actinides in the periodic table; the last actinide is lawrencium. By definition, superheavy elements are also transuranium elements, i.e., having atomic numbers greater than that of uranium (92). Depending on the definition of group 3 adopted by authors, lawrencium may also be included to complete the 6d series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuri Oganessian</span> Russian nuclear physicist (born 1933)

Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian is a Soviet and Russian nuclear physicist who is best known as a researcher of superheavy chemical elements. He has led the discovery of multiple elements of the periodic table. He succeeded Georgy Flyorov as director of the Flyorov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in 1989 and is now its scientific director. The heaviest element known of the periodic table, oganesson, is named after him, only the second time that an element was named after a living person.

References

  1. ↑ "IUPAC announces the names of the elements 113, 115, 117, and 118". IUPAC. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  2. ↑ Öhrström, Lars; Reedijk, Jan (2016-12-28). "Names and symbols of the elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 (IUPAC Recommendations 2016)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 88 (12): 1225–1229. doi:10.1515/pac-2016-0501. eISSN   1365-3075. hdl: 1887/47427 . ISSN   0033-4545. S2CID   99429711.
  3. ↑ Meija, Juris; et al. (2016). "Atomic weights of the elements 2013 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry . 88 (3): 265–91. doi: 10.1515/pac-2015-0305 .
  4. ↑ Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (2022-05-04). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN   1365-3075.
  5. ↑ Kean, 129
  6. ↑ Gray, 230-231
  7. ↑ Kean, 273
  8. ↑ "Element 114 is Named Flerovium and Element 116 is Named Livermorium" (Press release). IUPAC. 30 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2 June 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Oganessian, Yu. Ts. (2015-10-10). "Гамбургский счет" [Hamburg reckoning] (Interview) (in Russian). Interviewed by Orlova, O. Public Television of Russia . Retrieved 2020-01-18.
  10. ↑ Emsley, 464
  11. ↑ Gray, 220-229
  12. ↑ Emsley, 188
  13. ↑ Kean, 55
  14. ↑ Weeks, Mary Elvira (1932). "The discovery of the elements. XIII. Some elements predicted by Mendeleeff". Journal of Chemical Education . 9 (9): 1605–1619. Bibcode:1932JChEd...9.1605W. doi:10.1021/ed009p1605.
  15. ↑ Emsley, 412
  16. ↑ Emsley, 185
  17. ↑ Emsley, 197
  18. ↑ Helmenstine, Anne (2020-08-15). "Elements Named After Places". Science Notes and Projects. Retrieved 2021-10-05. Beryllium – Named for the mineral beryl, which makes it indirectly named for Belur, India
  19. ↑ Troberg, Michelle; Burnett, Heather (2017-08-24). "From Latin to Modern French: A punctuated shift". Oxford Scholarship Online: 104–124. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198747840.003.0008. ISBN   978-0198747840.
  20. ↑ Helmenstine, Anne (2020-08-15). "Elements Named After Places". Science Notes and Projects. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  21. ↑ "C&EN: IT'S ELEMENTAL: THE PERIODIC TABLE - AMERICIUM". pubsapp.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  22. ↑ "Periodic Table of Elements: Los Alamos National Laboratory". periodic.lanl.gov. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  23. ↑ Emsley, 157
  24. 1 2 3 Kean, 62
  25. ↑ Emsley, 299
  26. ↑ Emsley, 210
  27. ↑ Emsley, 224
  28. ↑ Emsley, 468
  29. ↑ Emsley, 458
  30. ↑ Emsley, 145
  31. ↑ Emsley, 310
  32. ↑ Emsley, 405
  33. ↑ Emsley, 345
  34. ↑ Emsley, 594
  35. ↑ Emsley, 120
  36. ↑ Emsley, 475
  37. ↑ Gray, Theodore. The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe.
  38. ↑ Chatt, J. (1979). "Recommendations for the naming of elements of atomic numbers greater than 100". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 51 (2): 381–384. doi: 10.1351/pac197951020381 .
  39. ↑ Haire, Richard G. (2006). "Transactinides and the future elements". In Morss; Edelstein, Norman M.; Fuger, Jean (eds.). The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN   1-4020-3555-1.
  40. 1 2 Koppenol, W. H. (2002). "Naming of new elements(IUPAC Recommendations 2002)" (PDF). Pure and Applied Chemistry. 74 (5): 787–791. doi:10.1351/pac200274050787. S2CID   95859397.
  41. ↑ Thornton, Brett F.; Burdette, Shawn C. (31 March 2013). "The ends of elements". Nature Chemistry. 5 (5): 350–352. Bibcode:2013NatCh...5..350T. doi:10.1038/nchem.1610. PMID   23609073.
  42. 1 2 Koppenol, W. (2016). "How to name new chemical elements" (PDF). Pure and Applied Chemistry. DeGruyter. doi:10.1515/pac-2015-0802. hdl: 10045/55935 . S2CID   102245448.
  43. ↑ Kean, 127-128
  44. ↑ Paneth, F. A. (4 January 1947). "The Making of the Missing Chemical Elements". Nature. 159 (4027): 8–10. Bibcode:1947Natur.159....8P. doi:10.1038/159008a0. S2CID   4089837.

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