It is not unusual to see members of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC, for its acronym in English) happy and smiling, although that probably only due to it’s unusual to see them.
And this week made headlines after formally accepting four new chemical elements , whose atomic numbers are 113, 115, 117 and 118 (the only one missing from the ranks of the periodic table ) .
“The chemistry community is eager to see his most prized table with his seventh row finally complete. The IUPAC has already started the process of formalizing the names and symbols of these elements,” said Professor Jan Reedijk, division president of inorganic chemistry IUPAC
(Photo: AP).
But, have you wondered where those names we we had to learn in school?
Rule
The name of new items can be inspired by a mythological concept, a mineral, a place, a property or a scientist. Also, t ienen to be unique and maintain “a historical consistency and chemistry.”
“Latinizan the name,” explains chemist Andrea Sella, of University College London. “The latest tradition has been appointed to the elements in honor of places or people,” he says.
For example, places such as those in which the elements have been discovered or manufactured for the first time.
A very distinguished Swedish village
And there is more honored place in this chemical universe a village on a small island outside Stockholm. This is Ytterby and holds four elements named in his honor: ytterbium (in Spanish, ytterbium), yttrium (yttrium), erbium (erbium) and terbium (terbium). But its role does not end there.
From the possibilities have not been exhausted its name, there are three other elements that probably would have been baptized with a variation of this because it was in Ytterby where his discovery originated. To be more precise , at his modest mine rich in rare earth deposits.
Yttrium also was the first rare earth isolated with success. (Photo: Thinkstock)
Since I could no longer further shorten the name of the village for the past three chemical elements chosen: holmium (holmium, the Latin name for Stockholm ), thulium (thulium, the mythical name of Scandinavia), and gadolinium (gadolinium, after the Swedish chemist Johan Gadolin).
So far, no one has appointed an item in honor himself, but several names are tributes to leading scientists. A Albert Einstein gave einsteinium ( einstenio) .
The names have also been used to correct past mistakes. “Lise Meitner was the chemical that actually discovered nuclear fission, but was never recognized as a woman and Jewish,” says Sella. “Being able to give a name to an element that we remember it is very important to me.” That is the meiterino.
Creative …
Scientists sometimes let your imagination. The mythical names are popular. Prometheus was named after the character in Greek legend who stole fire from the gods to give to humans. As punishment he was tied to a rock for an eagle fed on his liver
(Photo: Getty).
The name was chosen to reflect the fact that synthesize new elements often requires sacrifice.
Then there is the case of didymium, which was thought to be an element but turned out to be a mixture of both. These were put praseodymium and neodymium.
“The reason I like these two is that they call” green twin “and” new twin “says Sella. ” didymium It comes from the Greek word for twin, but in fact also means testicles “.
romantic
Give a name to an element is not only a matter of functionality. “There are a lot of romance in this: the names are always important,” he said Sella
The appointment process is not fast Scientists discover the elements it started.. making a proposal. However, it is up to the IUPAC approval.
A special division of the group, based in the United States, have to accept the proposal.
Then there is a public review period that lasts five months before the council IUPAC granted final approval. Once ready, the name is published in the scientific journal “Pure and Applied Chemistry”.
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