Element Oddities: 11 Confusing Chemical Symbols Explained

The majority of the chemical symbols for elements within the regular dining table make sense; you will find a little selection, nevertheless, that seem to bear no regards to their element’s title. A few days ago, questions about these elements came up, so here’s a look at their confusing symbols, along with the reasons behind them after the periodic table of rejected element names.

Sodium – Natrium (Na)

Sodium’s Latin name, ‘natrium’, derives through the Greek ‘nítron’ (a true title for salt carbonate). Its initial supply is going to be the Arabic work ‘natrun’. Lots of contemporary languages nevertheless call the element natrium in place of salt, plus it’s this title that its chemical expression, Na, originates from.

Potassium – Kalium (K)

‘Kalium’ is potassium’s Latin name, and derives from the Arabic ‘al qal ī y’, meaning “calcined ashes” (the ashes remaining whenever plant product is burned). Much like salt, an amount of modern languages nevertheless relate to potassium as kalium, as well as the name lends the element its chemical icon, K.

Iron – Ferrum (Fe)

Iron’s Latin title, ‘ferrum’, offers it its icon Fe; it simply means ‘iron‘sword’ or’, and it is possibly of Semitic origin. The element is famous by many different names in various languages, with a few sources suggesting there are over 200 different names for it. There’s an inventory of 213 of these right right right here.

Copper – Cuprum (Cu)

There’s no shortage of elements known as after places, but copper’s title is more subdued than most. Copper’s Latin title had been ‘cyprium’, which it self originates from ‘kypros’, the Greek title for Cyprus. The area of Cyprus ended up being famous hundreds of years ago for the copper reserves. The title had been fundamentally simplified to ‘cuprum’, and also this sooner or later morphed to the English variation, copper.

Silver – Argentum (Ag)

The Latin title for silver, ‘argentum’, is believed to derive initially from a language that is indo-european most most most likely referring into the metal’s shininess. The united states Argentina is termed after silver (albeit indirectly as mention of the Río de la Plata) and it is the only country to be known as after a chemical element, as opposed to the other means around.

Tin – Stannum (Sn)

Tin’s Latin title, ‘stannum’, could be produced by the Indo-European ‘stag’ (dripping) because tin melts at a temperature that is low. There’s also speculation maybe it’s produced by the Cornish ‘stean’ as a result of Cornwall’s tin that is famous, though likewise, other people declare that this term is just based on the Latin.

Antimony – Stibium (Sb)

The Latin ‘stibium’ derives through the Greek word ‘stíbi’, meaning attention paint, talking about the utilization of antimony substances being an eye cosmetic that is ancient. This term is in turn likely produced from Arabic or Egyptian. Few nations relate to antimony as stibium today, despite its expression.

Tungsten Wolfram that is)

Wolfram had been called following the mineral it had been present in, wolframite. This really is from the‘wolf that is german, or ‘wolf’s foam’, talking about the actual quantity of tin ‘eaten’ by the steel during its removal. Wolfram continues to be utilized in a few languages. Tungsten is from Swedish, and means hefty rock – notably apt, since it’s the 7th element that is densest when you look at the regular dining dining table.

Silver – Aurum (Au)

The Latin title for gold had been ‘aurum’, meaning ‘yellow’, derived through the word ‘aurora’ (‘dawn’). The name ‘gold’, used in Germanic languages, means ‘yellow, shining metal’; a great worlddatingnetwork.com/chatiw-review/ many other European languages utilize derivatives of aurum.

Mercury – Hydrargyrum (Hg)

Mercury’s initial Latin title was actually ‘argentum vivum’ (living silver), but Latin later borrowed through the Greek ‘hydrargyros’ (fluid silver) to offer ‘hydrargyrum’. The English that is original name the element ended up being ‘quicksilver’. Alchemists considered that it is near to silver, and due to this they known as it Mercury, following the earth closest towards the Sun. A few of the other metals understood since antiquity got names corresponding towards the planets, too, but Mercury’s is the only person that’s stuck.

Lead – Plumbum

Lead’s Latin title, ‘plumbum’, most most most likely originally derives from a language pre-dating Ancient Greek. This Latin name normally the origin for the English words ‘plumbing’ and ‘plumber’, as a result of the historic usage of lead in water pipelines.

References & Further Reading