BBC Science - The periodic table: how elements get their names The periodic table: how elements get their names By Christopher Brooks BBC Scotland Most people could name many of the elements, but how many of us know how they got those names? Each of the 115 known chemical elements was discovered over the last few thousand years, from before recorded history began to the nuclear laboratories of the 21st century. British scientists and the elements Humphry Davy discovered nine elements using electrolysis - the splitting up of compounds into elements by applying electricity. William Ramsay discovered a new group of unreactive elements using spectroscopy , now called the noble gases. William Crookes identified helium for the first time, and also discovered thallium . Their chosen names were influenced by an ever changing mix of language, culture and our understanding of chemistry. So how did they get these names? And why do they end in -ium? Ancient Elements Several elements' names have Anglo-Saxon language origins, including gold, iron, copper and silver. These metals were known long before they got these names, however.

Gold can be found in its pure form in nature and although iron is usually found in ores which require smelting, the earliest known iron artefacts, from 3500 BCE, derive from purer metal from meteorites. The Latin names of these elements are commemorated in their atomic symbols, Au (aurum) for gold and Fe (ferrum) for iron. The Romans began the practise of element names ending in "-um," with Victorian scientists continuing the trend. Meteoric iron was used by humans before smelting of iron ores was invented. Element of uncertainty Since 1947, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC ) has had the responsibility for approving elements' names, and deciding the single internationally recognised symbol for each element. Before this, there were multiple historical occasions of elements being given several names, usually due to simultaneous discovery or uncertainty over a discovery. The name of element 41 was not agreed for 150 years. It was called columbium in America and niobium in Europe until IUPAC finally decided the official name would be niobium in 1949.

Dr Fabienne Meyers, Associate Director of IUPAC, explains the current naming process : To start with, "the discoverers are invited to propose a name and a symbol." "For linguistic consistency, the recommended practice is that all new elements should end in '-ium'," she adds. The sake of naming an element is essentially to avoid confusion.” End Quote Dr Fabienne Meyers Associate Direcor, IUPAC "Since the sake of naming an element is essentially to avoid confusion, it is important to ensure that the proposed name is unique and has not been used earlier even unofficially or temporarily for a different element." "After examination and acceptance by the division - which includes a public review period of five months - the name and symbol are then submitted to the IUPAC Council for approval." The name is then published in the scientific journal Pure and Applied Chemistry . Actinium to zirconium A common source of names both now and historically, over a quarter of the elements are named after a place, often where they were discovered or synthesised. These places range in size from continents (europium) and countries (americium, francium, polonium) to the the Scottish village Strontian (strontium).

Because of the great wealth of discoveries made there, four elements are named after the Swedish mining village, Ytterby (ytterbium, yttrium, erbium and terbium). There is just one element that wasn't first discovered on Earth, and it too is named after its place of the discovery - helium, from the Greek word for Sun, helios. Myth and legend Dmitri Mendeleev published the periodic table in its modern form. About a dozen elements take their name directly from legends, including titanium, arsenic and tantalum. Nickel and cobalt are named after 'devil' and 'kobold', from the Germanic folk belief that malign creatures snuck into mines to replace valuable and similar-looking copper and silver ores with these less valuable ones. In 1949 the artificial element Promethium was named after Prometheus, the man in Greek legend punished with eternal torture for stealing fire from the gods, as a reference to the great difficulty and sacrifice needed to synthesise new elements. Eponymous elements Modestly, no discoverer has ever named an element after him or herself, but several scientists have been honoured by having elements named after them.

These include curium , einsteinium and fermium . Seaborgium, named after American chemist Glenn Seaborg , was the first element to be named after a living scientist. There is also mendelevium, named after Dmitri Mendeleev , the Russian scientist who established the first periodic table in 1869, and fitted the known elements into their places in the table based on their properties. Elemental techniques Sample of chlorine created by Humphry Davy in 1810. It is named after the Greek word for green. Fifty elements were discovered in the 19th Century, the greatest number of any century. By comparison, twenty nine elements were discovered in the 20th Century, and five new ones have been synthesised so far in the 21st. Frank James, Professor of the History of Science at The Royal Institution in London, where several elements were discovered, says that the contribution of British scientists was very important.

"Using electro-chemical methods, Humphry Davy either isolated or demonstrated the elemental nature of a total of nine chemical elements naming most of them in the process, such as sodium, potassium and chlorine." British scientist William Ramsay used a powerful new technique, spectroscopy , to discover the noble gases, a group of elements which had evaded discovery due to their lack of reactivity. He used Greek words to name neon (new), xenon (stranger), krypton (hidden), and argon (inactive). Colours and sense Colours are a name source for nine elements. Each element can be identified by the colours it emits using spectroscopy, and several elements are named after the brightest colour they emit, including indium and rubidium. WATCH: Brian Cox explains how the chemical elements are created within stars Visible traits are a major source of names, but the other senses are represented too: osmium and bromine are named for their smell, and aluminium is named after the Latin word for the bitter tasting chemical in which it was first discovered, alum.

Ununpentium onwards The newest element to be experimentally confirmed , element 115, will be called ununpentium until an official name is decided, and 114 (Flerovium) and 116 (Livermorium) were named in 2012. IUPAC's Dr Meyers explains that although all recent elements have been named after people and places, "a mythological concept or character, a mineral or a property of the element could also be used as the root for an acceptable name." And with no shortage of eminent scientists and important centres of science as inspiration, new names will always retain an element of surprise.

More on This Story The Parts of the Periodic Table Elements named after countries, states, or other geographical features: Californium: state (and University) of California Francium: France Gallium: Latin word for France, Gallia Germanium: Latin word for Germany, Germania Hassium: German state of Hesse, where the GSI is located Magnesium: named after Magnesia, a district in Thessaly in central Greece Polonium: named for Marie Curie's native country of Poland Rhenium: named after the Latin word for the Rhine River, Rhenus Ruthenium: named after the Latin word for Russia, Ruthenia Scandium: named after the Latin word for Scandinavia, Scandia Thulium: named after the ancient word for Scandinavia, Thule Elements named after cities: Berkelium: Berkeley, California, home of the University of California, where a number of synthetic elements have been produced Darmstadtium: Darmstadt, Germany, home of the Laboratory for Heavy Ion Research (GSI, Gesellschaft fï¿½r Schwerionenforschung) where a number of synthetic elements have been produced Dubnium: Dubna, Russia, home of the Joint Institute

 for Nuclear Research (JINR, Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), where a number of synthetic elements have been produced Erbium, Terbium, Ytterbium, Yttrium: all named after the Swedish village of Ytterby (near Vaxholm), where these elements were first isolated (as well as Holmium, Scandium, and Tantalum) Hafnium: Copenhagen (Hafnia), Denmark Fermium: Enrico Fermi, the inventor of the first nuclear reactor Lawrencium: Ernest O.

Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron Meitnerium: Lise Meitner, one of the first scientists to recognize that uranium could undergo nuclear fission Mendelevium: Dimitri Mendelev, the deviser of the Periodic Table of the Elements Nobelium: Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prize Roentgenium: Wilhelm Rï¿½ntgen, the discoverer of X-rays Rutherfordium: Ernest Rutherford, discoverer of the atomic nucleus, and a pioneer in the study of nuclear physics Seaborgium: Glenn T.

Seaborg, who discovered/synthesized a number of transuranium elements Most of the rest of the names of the elements are derived from various chemical or physical properties: Actinium: Greek: aktinos, "ray" (because it glows with a blue light in the dark) Antimony: Greek: anti + monos, "not alone" (because it was never found uncombined with another element) Argon: Greek: argos, "idle" (because of its unreactivity) Astatine: Greek: astatos, "unstable" (because it is) Barium: Greek: barys, "heavy" (in reference to the high density of some barium minerals) Bromine: Greek: bromos, "stench" (elemental bromine has a terrible smell) Cobalt: German: kobold, "goblin" (because of the toxic fumes of arsenic that were produced when silver miners heated the arsenic-containing ore smaltite, mistaking it for silver ore) Dysprosium: Greek: dysprositos, "hard to get at" (because the first isolation of the element required a tedious separation sequence) Fluorine: Latin: fluere,

 "to flow" Hydrogen" Greek: hydro + genes, "water forming" Krypton: Greek: kryptos, "hidden" (since it had been "hidden" in a sample of argon) Lanthanum: Greek: lanthanein, "to be hidden" (because the element was discovered "hidden" as an impurity in ores of cerium) Manganese: Latin: magnes, "magnet" (because it can be made to be ferromagnetic with the right treatment) Neodymium: Greek: neos + didymos, "new twin" Neon" Greek: neos, "new" Nickel: German: kupfernickel, "Old Nick's copper" (i.e., copper of the devil, or false copper, because it was frequently mistaken for copper) Nitrogen: Latin: nitron + genes, "nitre [potassium nitrate] forming" Osmium: Greek: osme, "odor" (because of its nasty smell, which is actually caused by osmium tetroxide) Oxygen: Latin: oxy + genes, "acid forming" Phosphorus: Greek: phos + phoros, "light bringing" (because it glows

 in the dark, and spontaneously burst into flame in air) Radium: Latin: radius, "ray" (because of its ability to glow in the dark with a faint blue light) Technetium: Greek: technetos, "artificial" Tungsten: Swedish: tung sten, "heavy stone" (because of the elements high density) Xenon: Greek: xenos, "stranger" (because at the time, it did not form compounds with other elements References John Emsley, The Elements, 3rd edition.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. John Emsley, Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Selenium - Element information, properties and uses | Periodic Table Chemistry in its element: selenium (Promo) You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry. (End promo) Chris Smith Hello, this week flaky scalps, skunks, dead polo ponies and an element that makes you stink of garlic. Yum! But it's not all bad news. Bernie Bulkin We know selenium is there, right under sulfur, in the periodic table, but it doesn't get much attention. The inorganic chemistry textbooks that I studied from talk extensively about sulphur and, where appropriate, say things like 'selenium also forms similar acids', or 'selenium also has many allotropic forms'. How slighted is this important element! When I was in my early 20s I developed a dry scalp condition for a few years, probably a result of anxiety over research grants I was trying to obtain.

The treatment for this was a shampoo containing selenium sulphide, surprising to me because I thought that selenium was highly toxic. In fact a little investigation showed me that it was perfectly safe in small amounts. Selenium is one of those all too common elements that is essential to life in small quantities, and very toxic in larger quantities. 400 micrograms per day is set as the safe upper intake level in humans. But we require it as part of various enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase, as well as in the thyroid. It is widespread, and accumulated in various foods, such as nuts, tuna, and lobster, so it is rare for humans to have a selenium deficiency. But for horses, with their more limited diet, selenium deficiency is common and often corrected with dietary supplements. Again, this requires great care. Recently 21 polo horses died from selenium overdose in Florida, the result of a veterinary pharmacist overdoing it in mixing the drugs. It was Berzelius who discovered selenium in 1817, as an impurity in sulphuric acid. Tellurium had already been discovered, and named after the Greek word for earth, so he named selenium using the Greek word for moon, selene.

It occurs in various minerals, together with sulphur as you would expect. We know its evolution in plants goes back a long ways, because we find selenium compounds in coals, and much of what is released into the atmosphere today comes from coal burning. Indeed, the toxicity level of selenium to humans was established only 20 years ago by studies of Chinese victims of selenium poisoning, selenosis, who grew corn on selenium rich coal rocks. Selenosis has some lovely symptoms: a garlic odor on the breath, hair loss, sloughing of nails, fatigue, irritability, and eventually cirrhosis of the liver and death. It is the selenates and selenites that are the most toxic, since the elemental selenium is not readily incorporated into biological processes. While some of the allotropic forms of selenium resemble those that we know well from study of sulphur, there are others that are different. Most important, so called gray selenium consists of long chains of atoms forming extended helical structures. While selenium is not a metallic element, gray selenium is a good photoconductor, and was used in early photocells. Subsequently, selenium and various selenium compounds have been used in a variety of photoconductor and photovoltaic applications.

Indeed, the newest and most promising class of mass produced solar cells are copper indium gallium selenide. At one time virtually all copying machines used selenium ; this has now been largely replaced by organic photoconductors. But the diversity of uses of selenium does not stop with shampoo and horse food supplements and photovoltaics. Selenium is added to synthetic rubber to improve resistance to abrasion, it has been added to brass, along with bismuth, to replace lead in pipes, and it is used, as sodium selenate, as an insecticide to stop attacks on flowering plants such as chrysanthemums and carnations. Selenium in its allotropic red form is added to glass to give it a scarlet color, but it also can be used to remove the greenish tint sometimes found in glass due to iron compounds. There have been numerous studies, none of them very conclusive, about the possible role of selenium in cancer prevention, and in increasing the efficacy of chemotherapy. Most of these seem to indicate that if it is effective at all, it works somehow in conjunction with vitamin E, which, like selenium, plays an antioxidant role in the body.

Also intriguing to me was a recent study indicating that selenium deficient soils may play a role in susceptibility to HIV/AIDS in Africa. The rationale is that low selenium levels are associated with weakened immune systems, since with lack of antioxidant capacity there is stress on the immune system. But I save the best occurrence of selenium in nature for last. Butyl seleno mercaptan is the essential ingredient of skunk smell, and is certainly a contender for the title of the worst smelling compound. Once you have smelled it you will never forget it, nor underestimate the impact that this interesting element can have. Chris Smith So it can clear up an itchy scalp but it might make you stink in the process. That was Cambridge University's Bernie Bulkin with the story of Selenium. Next week we're visiting the element that Superman made famous. Angelos Michaelides Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman, Supergirl, and Krypto the "super dog". Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of its destruction varying by time period, writers and franchise.

So much for trying to do a "wikipedia" search for this "hidden" element! Chris Smith And you can catch the facts about Krypton, rather than the fiction with Angleos Michaelides at next week's Chemistry in its Element. I'm Chris Smith, thank you for listening and goodbye. (Promo) Chemistry in its element is brought to you by the Royal Society of Chemistry and produced by thenakedscientists.com . There's more information and other episodes of Chemistry in its element on our website at chemistryworld.org/elements . (End promo) Krypton, Chemical Element - uses, elements, metal, gas, number, name, symbol, mass Photo by: OlesiaRu Overview Krypton was one of three noble gases discovered in 1898 by Scottish chemist and physicist Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916) and English chemist Morris William Travers (1872-1961). Ramsay and Travers discovered the gases by allowing liquid air to evaporate. As it did so, each of the gases that make up normal air boiled off, one at a time.

Three of those gases—krypton, xenon, and neon, were discovered for the first time this way. The term noble gas refers to elements in Group 18 (VIIIA) of the periodic table. The periodic table is a chart that shows how chemical elements are related to each other. These gases have been given the name "noble" because they act as if they are "too arrogant" to react with other elements. Until the 1960s, no compound of these gases was known. Since they are so inactive, they are also called the inert gases. Inert means inactive. SYMBOL PRONUNCIATION KRIP-ton Krypton has relatively few commercial uses. All of them involve lighting systems in one way or another. Discovery and naming By 1898, two members of the noble gas family had been discovered. They were helium (atomic number 2) and argon (atomic number 18). But no other elements in the family had been found. The periodic table contained empty boxes between helium and argon and below argon. The missing noble gases had atomic numbers 10, 36, 54, and 86.

Chemists think of empty boxes in the periodic table as "elements waiting to be discovered." Since the two known noble elements, helium and argon, are both gases, Ramsay and Travers hoped the missing elements were also gases. And if they were, they might be found in air. The problem was that air had already been carefully analyzed and found to be about 99.95 percent oxygen , nitrogen , and argon. Was it possible that the missing gases were in the last 0.05 percent of air? To answer the question, the chemists worked not with air itself, but with liquid air. Air becomes liquid simply by cooling it far enough. The colder air becomes, the more gases within it turn into liquids. At -182.96°C (-297.33°F), oxygen changes from a gas into a liquid. At -195.79°C (-320.42°F), nitrogen changes from a gas into a liquid. And so on. Eventually, all the gases in air can be made to liquefy (change into a liquid). But the reverse process also takes place. Suppose a container of liquid air holds 100 liters.

The liquid air will warm up slowly. When its temperature reaches -195.79°C, liquid nitrogen changes back to a gas. Since about 78 percent of air is nitrogen, only 22 percent of the original liquid air (22 liters) will be left. When the temperature reaches -182.96°C, oxygen changes from a liquid back to a gas. Since oxygen makes up 21 percent of air, another 21 percent (21 liters) of the liquid air will evaporate. The work of Ramsay and Travers was very difficult, however, because the gases they were looking for are not abundant in air. Krypton, for example, makes up only about 0.000114 percent of air. For every 100 liters of liquid air, there would be only 0.00011, or about one-tenth of a milliliter of krypton. A tenth of a milliliter is about a drop. So Ramsay and Travers—although they didn't know it—were looking for one drop of krypton in 100 liters of liquid air! Amazingly, they found it.

The discovery of these three gases was a great credit to their skills as researchers. They suggested the name krypton for the new element. The name was taken from the Greek word kryptos for "hidden." Physical properties Krypton is a colorless, odorless gas. It has a boiling point of -152.9°C (-243.2°F) and a density of 3.64 grams per liter. That makes krypton about 2.8 times as dense as air. "Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane.... T he famous cartoon character Superman has many super powers. Everybody knows that. He's the Man of Steel. He has X-ray vision. His hearing is so good, he can tune in on one voice in a crowded city. And, of course: He's faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! But there's one substance that weakens Superman: kryptonite! If exposed to kryptonite. Superman experiences pain and loses his super powers. If exposed for too long, he can even die. Kryptonite, of course, is purely fictional.

Despite the similarity in names, kryptonite has nothing to do with element 36, krypton. According to cartoon legend, Superman came from the planet Krypton. Kal-El, as he was originally known, was placed in a spaceship by his parents, moments before the planet exploded. Unfortunately, as the young Superman blasted away from Krypton, a piece of kryptonite got stuck on the spaceship. The same terrible forces that caused the planet to explode, also had created the deadly kryptonite. And, as Superman would later find out, arch-villains always seem to get their hands on this green glowing rock! Aside from the fictitious nature of kryptonite, there is another difference between it and krypton. Kryptonite is a rock—one that can cause great harm to, well, one person anyway. Krypton is an inert gas that has no effect on anything. Chemical properties For many years, krypton was thought to be completely inert. Then, in the early 1960s, it was found to be possible to make certain compounds of the element. English chemist Neil Bartlett (1932-) found ways to combine noble gases with the most active element of all, fluorine.

In 1963, the first krypton compounds were made—krypton difluoride (KrF 2 ) and krypton tetrafluoride (KrF 4 ). Other compounds of krypton have also been made since that time. However, these have no commercial uses. They are only laboratory curiosities. Occurrence in nature The abundance of krypton in the atmosphere is thought to be about 0.000108 to 0.000114 percent. The element is also formed in the Earth's crust when uranium and other radioactive elements break down. The amount in the Earth's crust is too small to estimate, however. Isotopes Six naturally occurring isotopes of krypton exist. They are krypton-78, krypton-80, krypton-82, krypton-83, krypton-84, and krypton-86. Isotopes are two or more forms of an element. Isotopes differ from each other according to their mass number. The number written to the right of the element's name is the mass number.

The mass number represents the number of protons plus neutrons in the nucleus of an atom of the element. The number of protons determines the element, but the number of neutrons in the atom of any one element can vary. Each variation is an isotope. At least sixteen radioactive isotopes of krypton are known also. A radioactive isotope is one that breaks apart and gives off some form of radiation. Radioactive isotopes are produced when very small particles are fired at atoms. These particles stick in the atoms and make them radioactive. One radioactive isotope of krypton is used commercially, krypton-85. It can be combined with phosphors to produce materials that shine in the dark. A phosphor is a material that shines when struck by electrons. Radiation given off by krypton-85 strikes the phosphor. The phosphor then gives off light. The same isotope is also used for detecting leaks in a container. The radioactive gas is placed inside the container to be tested. Since the gas is inert, krypton will not react with anything else in the container. But if the container has a leak, some radioactive krypton-85 will escape. The isotope can be detected with special devices for detecting radiation.

Krypton-85 is also used to study the flow of blood in the human body. It is inhaled as a gas, and then absorbed by the blood. It travels through the bloodstream and the heart along with the blood. Its pathway can be followed by a technician who holds a detection device over the patient's body. The device shows where the radioactive material is going and how fast it is moving. A doctor can determine whether this behavior is normal or not. How long is a meter? T he meter is the standard unit of length in the metric system. It was first defined in 1791. As part of the great changes brought by the French Revolution, an entirely new system of measurement was created: the metric system. At first, the meter was defined in a very simple way. It was the distance between two lines scratched into a metal bar kept outside Paris. For many years, that definition was satisfactory for most purposes. Of course, it created a problem. Suppose someone in the United States was in the business of making meter sticks. That person would have to travel to Paris to make a copy of the official meter. Then the copy would have to be used to make other copies. The chances for error in this process are tremendous.

In 1960, scientists had another idea. They suggested using light produced by hot krypton as the standard of length. Here is how that standard was developed: When an element is heated, it absorbs energy from the heat. The atoms present in the element are in an "excited," or energetic, state. Atoms normally do not remain in an excited state very long. They give off the energy they just absorbed and return to their normal, "unexcited" state. The energy they give off can take different forms. One of those forms is light. The kind of light given off is different for each element and for each isotope. The light usually consists of a series of very bright lines called a spectrum. The number and color of the lines produced is specific to each element and isotope. When one isotope of krypton, krypton-86, is heated, it gives off a very clear, distinct, bright line with a reddish-orange color. Scientists decided to define the meter in terms of that line. They said that a meter is 1,650,763.73 times the width of that line. This standard had many advantages.

For one thing, almost anyone anywhere could find the official length of a meter. All one needed was the equipment to heat a sample of krypton-86. Then one had to look for the reddish-orange line produced. The length of the meter, then, was 1,650,763.73 times the width of that line. This definition for the meter lasted only until 1983. Scientists then decided to define a meter by how fast light travels in a vacuum. This system is even more exact than the one based on krypton-86. Extraction Krypton is still obtained by allowing liquid air to evaporate. Uses The only commercial uses of krypton are in various kinds of lamps. When an electric current is passed through krypton gas, it gives off a very bright light. Perhaps the most common application of this principle is in airport runway lights. These lights are so bright that they can be seen even in foggy conditions for distances up to 300 meters (1,000 feet). The lights do not burn continuously. Instead, they send out very brief pulses of light. The pulses last no more than about 10 microseconds (10 millionths of a second).

They flash on and off about 40 times per minute. Krypton is also used in slide and movie projectors. Krypton gas is also used in making "neon" lights. Neon lights are colored lights often used in advertising. They are similar to fluorescent light bulbs. But they give off a colored light because of the gas they contain. Some neon lights do contain the gas neon, but others contain other noble gases. A neon light filled with krypton, for example, glows yellow. Compounds Compounds of krypton have been prepared in the laboratory but do not exist in nature. The synthetic (artificial) compounds are used for research purposes only. Although neon lights sometimes do include neon, krypton is often the gas used. Health effects Krypton - Element information, properties and uses | Periodic Table Chemistry in its element: krypton (Promo) You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry. (End promo) Chris Smith Hello, this week Superman makes an appearance and we're not talking about the rather tacky 1980s dance either, we're talking Krypton. Here's UCL's Angelos Michaelides.

Angelos Michaelides Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl, and Krypto the "super dog". Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of its destruction varying by time period, writers and franchise. So much for trying to do a "wikipedia" search for this "hidden" element! The story of its discovery, however, reveals a Victorian man of Science who, in his own way, qualifies as a superhero. Born in Glasgow in 1852, William Ramsay was already established as one of the foremost chemists of his day when he took up his appointment at University College London in 1887. The chair to which he succeeded had been occupied by leaders of scientific progress and, almost immediately after entering on his new duties, he was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society. Great things were therefore believed of him, but nobody could have foreseen the discoveries which came so rapidly.

Ramsay's colleagues of this period describe him as "charming, witty, and generous" - traits which no doubt made him an easy man with whom to collaborate. Lord Rayleigh, himself an eminent physicist, was therefore lucky in more ways than one that Ramsay responded to his letter to Nature in September 1892. In it, Lord Rayleigh had expressed puzzlement as to why atmospheric nitrogen was of greater density than nitrogen derived from chemical sources, and wondered if any chemist would like to turn his mind to this anomaly. It does not appear that anyone except Professor Ramsay attempted to attack the question experimentally. Correspondence between the two men reveals the enthusiasm with which Ramsay set to the task and details painstaking and meticulous work first to isolate sufficient atmospheric nitrogen and then to test it, using fractional distillation, for impurities, - anything, basically, that wasn't nitrogen. In this way, Ramsay wrote to Rayleigh : "We may discover a new element". In fact, they discovered Argon, and Ramsay went on to discover an entirely new class of gases.

In 1904, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of argon, neon, xenon and, of course, krypton. Like its fellows, krypton is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, noble gas that occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere. Like the other noble gases, it too is useful in lighting and photography, and its high light output in plasmas allows it to play an important role in many high-powered lasers. Unlike its lighter fellows it is reactive enough to form chemical compounds: krypton fluoride being the main example, which has led to the development of the krypton flouride laser. A laser of invisible light developed in the 1980's by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has found uses in fusion research and lithography. The heaviest stable krypton isotope, krypton 86, rose to prominence in the second half of the last century with a tad over one and a half million wavelengths of its orange-red spectral line being used as the official distance of a metre. But the potential applications and practical uses of krypton are perhaps irrelevant in the story of its discovery.

The point of Ramsay's work was not to put his knowledge to some utilitarian purpose - the point was to discover. Scientific endeavour is perhaps too often judged by whether or not its results are "useful". But discovery and knowledge are sometimes an end in themselves. The purist knows the joy of discovering that which was hitherto unknown. Sir William Ramsay was a purist - a man with an insatiable appetite to better understand the world. He travelled to Canada, the United States, Finland, India, and Turkey with his wife, Lady Ramsay. He was a man open to new ideas, always endeavouring on his travels to learn local languages and customs and always alive to new experiences. One anecdote, related by a travelling companion to Iceland, describes him standing on the site of a geyser with a small glass jar, capturing gases as they erupt from underfoot. The image is unmistakably one of a childlike fascination with nature, in a man whose dedication to research knew no limits. In his 1918 biography of Ramsay, Sir William Tilden describes him as a man "ever filled with that divine curiosity which impels the discoverer forward" who enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that he was achieving something.

Indeed, in a memorial lecture, for his late friend Henri Moissan in 1912, Ramsay quoted the following words: "But what I cannot convey in the following pages is the keen pleasure I have experienced in the pursuit of these discoveries. To plough a new furrow; to have full scope to follow my own inclination; to see on all sides new subjects of study bursting upon me, that awakens a true joy which only those can experience who have themselves tasted the delights of research" What's left, then, is the joy of finding what is hidden, a fact reflected in the very name of this element, Krypton, taken from "krypto", Greek for hidden. And nothing to do with a SuperDog. Chris Smith The hidden element that Lord Raleigh suspected might be there and William Ramsay actually uncovered. Thank you very much to Angelos Michaelides. He's based at University College London. Next week to one of those elements, the chemical symbol of which appears to bear absolutely no relationship to the name of the substance itself. Why? Katherine Holt Many centuries ago mid-European tin smelters observed that when a certain mineral was present in the tin ore, their yield of tin was much reduced.

They called this mineral 'wolfs foam' because, they said, it devoured the tin much like a wolf would devour a sheep! Chris Smith And Katherine Holt will be telling us the tale behind tungsten's letter W on the periodic table in next week's Chemistry in its Element, hope you can join us. I'm Chris Smith, thank you for listening and goodbye. (Promo) Chemistry in its element is brought to you by the Royal Society of Chemistry and produced by thenakedscientists.com . There's more information and other episodes of Chemistry in its element on our website at chemistryworld.org/elements . (End promo) Table of Elements in Greek and Latin (Rome) Language. Sidebar Periodic Table of Elements The Greek language and Greek myth have contributed greatly to the sciences, including chemistry. This is most apparent in the Periodic Table of Elements. A table of the elements with mythological influences, or at least have the Greek language to thank for their names, is below. For kicks, I have included the Latin (Roman) terms also.

(Please note: this is not the complete table of elements, only those with Greek or Latin influences.) Actinium From the Greek wordaktinos (ray) Aluminum From the Latin wordalumen, or"bitter". Antimony From the Greek words anti (opposed) and monos (solitude) Argon From the Greek wordargon (inactive) Arsenic From the Greek wordarsenikos and the Latin wordarsenicum, meaning "yellow orpiment". Astatine From the Greek wordastatos (unstable) Barium From the Greek wordbarys (heavy) Bromine From the Greek wordbrômos (stench) Cadmium Symbol: Cd Atomic Number: 48 From the Greek wordkadmeia (ancient name for calamine) and from the Latin word cadmia.Cadmus, in Greek myth, was the founder of Thebes. Calcium From the latin wordcalcis (lime) Carbon Ceres (asteroid), and the Roman version of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture.

Cesium From the Latin wordcaesius (sky blue) Chlorine From the Greek wordkhlôros (green) Chromium From the Greek wordchrôma (color) Copper From the Latin wordcyprium, after the island of Cyprus and birthplace of Aphrodite. Dysprosium From the Greek worddysprositos (hard to get at). Fluorine From the Latin wordfluo (flow) Gold From the Latin wordaurum (gold). In Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of dawn--golden indeed. Helium From the Greek wordhêlios (sun); Helios in Greek mythology was the god of the Sun. Hydrogen Symbol: H Atomic Number: 1 From the Greek words hudôr (water) and gennan(generate). Heracles fought the Hydra of Lerna (a sea town) for his second labor. Iodine From the Greek wordiôdes (violet). Iridium Symbol: Ir Atomic Number: 77 From the Latin wordiridis (rainbow). The Greeks had a messenger goddess, Iris, whose colorful cape flowed behind her.

Iron From the Latin wordferrum (iron) Krypton Symbol: Kr Atomic Number: 36 From the Greek wordkryptos (hidden). In modern language, words such as "encrypt" can be discerned from the Greek. Lanthanum From the Greek wordlanthaneis (to lie hidden). Lead Symbol: Pb Atomic Number: 82 Name Origin: From the Greek word protos (first). Some Greeks believd that the first god ever was Protogonus, or "first born". Symbol Origin: From the Latin wordplumbum (lead) Lithium From the Greek wordlithos (stone) Manganese From the Latin wordmangnes (magnet) Molybdenum From the Greek word molubdos (lead) Neodymium Symbol: Nd Atomic Number: 60 From the Greek words neos (new) anddidymos (twin). Twins appear regularly in Greek myth, from the Dioscuri (Castor & Polydeuces) to the divine twins (Artemis & Apollo). Neon Form the Greek word neos (new) Neptunium After the planet Neptune, the Roman sea god, identified as Poseidon in Greek myth.

Niobium Symbol: Nb Atomic Number: 41 After Niobe, daughter of mythical king (Tantalus). She had bragged about her set of seven girls and seven boys, scoffing at Leto for only having two children. Apollo and Artemis promptly killed her offspring. Niobe, in despair, was turned to stone by the gods. Osmium From the Greek word osmë (odor) Oxygen From the Greek words oxus (acid) andgennan (generate) Palladium From the Greek goddess (Pallas) and after an asteroid Phosphorous Symbol: P Atomic Number: 15 From the Greek words phôs (light) andphoros (bearer), Phosphoros was a god of light in Greek myth. Plutonium After the planet Pluto and the Latin god of the Underworld (Hades in Greek). Potassium Symbol Origin: From the Latin word kalium Praseodymium From the Greek words prasios (green) anddidymos (twin) Promethium From the Titan Prometheus who stole fire of the sky and gave it to man. Protactinium From the Greek word protos (first) [see name origin for lead].

Radium From the Latin word radius (ray) Rhodium From the Greek word rhodon (rose) Rubidium From the Latin word rubidus (red) Ruthenium From the Latin word Ruthenia (Russia) Selenium From the Greek word Selênê, known as the goddess of the moon. Sodium Symbol Origin: From the Latin wordnatrium (sodium) Silicon From the Latin word silex (flint) Sulfur From the Latin word sulfur (brimstone) Tantalum Symbol: Ta Atomic Number: 73 After king Tantalus, a son of Zeus who earned the disfavor of the gods for attempting to serve his son Pelops as a meal. He was condemned to the Underworld with eternal thirst and hunger though a river and fruit tree were just beyond his grasp. Technetium From the Greek word technêtos (artificial) Tellurium From the Greek word tellus (Earth) Thallium From the Greek word thallos (young shoot) Tin Symbol Origin: From the Latin wordstannum (tin) Titanium From the Greek word titanos (Titans). The Titans were the "original" gods before the Olympians.

Uranium Symbol: U Atomic Number: 92 After the planet Uranus, the original sky god who was the son and spouse of Gaia, or Mother Earth. Xenon

Question: Which chemical element is named after the Greek for 'hidden one' ?
Answer: KRYPTON