The Meanings Behind 20 Chemical Element Names | Mental Floss The Meanings Behind 20 Chemical Element Names filed under: chemistry , language Like us on Facebook On December 30, 2015, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry announced the discovery of four new chemical elements—numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118—the first new elements added to the periodic table since 2011 . For the time being, they have the fairly clunky Latin and Greek numerical names ununtium (Uut), ununpentium (Uup), ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium (Uuo), but, by IUPAC rules, their discovers now get the chance to officially name them. Online, there’s growing support to name one of these new “heavy metal” elements lemmium in honor of Motörhead frontman Lemmy (who died two days before they were announced), and another octarine after the fictional “color of magic” in the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (Pratchett died in March 2015).

Whether these two petitions will come to fruition remains to be seen—the final names are not likely to be announced until later in the spring—but as IUPAC rules demand all new elements be named after either a mythological concept or character, a mineral, a place, a property of the element itself, or a scientist [ PDF ], it seems unlikely we’ll be seeing lemmium on the walls of chemistry classes any time soon. The stories behind 20 other chemical element names are explained here. 1. LITHIUM (3) Despite being the least dense metal, lithium takes its name from the Greek word for “stone,” lithos, because it was discovered in a rock (as opposed to the other alkali metals potassium and sodium, which were discovered in plants and animals). 2. CARBON (6) The name carbon comes from the Latin word carbo, meaning “coal” or “charcoal.” A small carbo, incidentally, was a carbunculus, which is the origin of carbuncle. 3. NEON (10) Neon takes its name from neos, the Greek word for “new” (it was “newly” discovered in 1898). 4.

PHOSPHORUS (15) Phosphorus literally means “light-bearer” or “light-bringing,” as the first compound of the element glowed in the dark. A century before it became the name of element 15 in the late 1600s, Phosphorus was an alternative name for the planet Venus, whose appearance in the sky was once believed to strengthen the light and heat of the Sun. 5. VANADIUM (23) One of the transition metals, pure vanadium is a harsh steel-grey color, but four of its oxidation states produce a rainbow of solutions, colored purple, green, blue, and yellow . Because he was so impressed with how beautiful and varied these solutions were, the Swedish chemist Nils Sefström chose to name vanadium after Vanadís, an alternate name for the Norse goddess of beauty, Freya. Vanadium’s next door neighbor, chromium (24), also produces a variety of colored compounds and so takes its name from the Greek word for “color,” chroma. 6.

COBALT (27) Cobalt is often naturally found alongside or in minerals combined with arsenic, and when smelted, cobalt ore can emit noxious arsenic-laden fumes. Long before the poisonous qualities of minerals like these could be explained by science, copper miners in central Europe had no better explanation than to presume these toxic effects were supernatural, and were caused by devious underground goblins called kobolds who lived inside the rock—and it's from the German word kobold that cobalt gets its name. 7. COPPER (29) The chemical symbol for copper is Cu, which derives from the metal’s Latin name, cuprum. In turn, cuprum is descended from Kyprios, the Ancient Greek name for the island of Cyprus, which was well known in antiquity for its production of copper.

Some other chemical elements named after places include germanium (32), americium (95), berkelium (97), californium (98), and darmstadtium (110), while the elements ruthenium (44), holmium (67), lutetium (71), hafnium (72), and polonium (84) take their names from the Latin names for Russia (Ruthenia), Stockholm (Holmia), Paris (Lutetia), Copenhagen (Hafnia), and Poland (Polonia). 8. GALLIUM (31) A brittle, silvery-colored metal with a melting point just above room temperature, at 85ºF—meaning that a solid block would quite easily melt in your hand —gallium was discovered in 1875 by the French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran.

He chose to name it after Gaul, the Latin name for France, but soon after his discovery was announced, de Boisbaudran was forced to deny allegations that he had actually intended the name gallium to be a self-referencing pun on his own name: Lecoq means “the rooster” in French, while the Latin word for “rooster” is gallus. Despite explicitly writing in a paper in 1877 that France was the true namesake, the rumor dogged de Boisbaudran his whole life and has endured to today. 9. BROMINE (35) One of just two elements that are liquid at room temperature (the second being mercury), bromine usually appears as a rich, dark red-brown liquid, similar to blood, that emits fumes and has a characteristically harsh smell. Ultimately, it takes its name from a Greek word, bromos, meaning “stench.” 10. KRYPTON (36) Because it is colorless, odorless, and so difficult to discover, krypton takes its name from the Greek word for “hidden,” kryptos. 11.

STRONTIUM (38) The only chemical element named after a place in Britain, strontium takes its name from its mineral ore strontianite, which was in turn named after the town of Strontian in the Scottish Highlands near where it was discovered in 1790. 12. YTTRIUM (39) In 1787, a Swedish Army officer and part-time chemist named Carl Axel Arrhenius came across an unusually heavy, black-colored rock in the waste heap of a quarry near the village of Ytterby, 15 miles outside Stockholm. He named his discovery ytterbite, and sent a sample of the mineral to his colleague, Professor Johan Gadolin (the namesake of element number 64, gadolinium), at Åbo University in modern-day Finland . Gadolin found that it contained an element that was entirely new to science, which he called yttrium; since then, many more elements have been discovered in Ytterby’s mine, and three more—terbium (65), erbium (68), ytterbium (70)—have been given names honoring the village in which it was discovered.

Consequently, the tiny Swedish village of Ytterby remains the most-honored location on the entire periodic table. 13. ANTIMONY (51) To etymologists, antimony is probably the most troublesome of all chemical element names, and its true origin remains a mystery. Instead, various unproven theories claim that it might derive from Greek words meaning “floret” (a reference to the spiky appearance of its ore, stibnite), “against solitude” (a reference to the idea that it never appears naturally in its pure form), and even “monk-killer” (as antimony is poisonous, and many early alchemists were monks). 14. XENON (54) Like xenophobia, xenon takes its name from a Greek word, xenos, meaning “strange” or “foreign.” 15. PRASEODYMIUM (59) Because of the greenish color of its mineral salts, the lanthanide metal praseodymium takes its name from a Greek word meaning “green,” prasios—which in turn takes its name from the Greek word for a leek, prason. The dymium part is more complicated .

In 1842, a new “element” was discovered called didymium, from the Greek for "twin," so named because it was always accompanied with cerium and lanthanum (and possibly because the namer had two pairs of twins of his own). Forty years later, scientists split didymium into two different elements, praseodidymium (green twin) and neodidymium (new twin). The di- was dropped almost instantly, leaving neodymium and praseodymium. 16. SAMARIUM (62) Several famous names are commemorated on the periodic table, including Albert Einstein (einsteinium, 99), Niels Bohr (bohrium, 107), Enrico Fermi (fermium, 100), Alfred Nobel (nobelium, 102), and Pierre and Marie Curie (curium, 96). The earliest eponymous element, however, was the little-known metal samarium, which indirectly took its name from an equally little-known Russian mining engineer called Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets.

In the early 1800s, Samarsky was working as chief clerk of the Russian mining department when he granted a German mineralogist named Gustav Rose access to a collection of samples taken from a mine in the Ural Mountains. Rose discovered a new mineral in one of the samples, which he named samarskite in Samarsky’s honor; decades later, in 1879, de Boisbaudran found that samarskite contained an element that was new to science, which in turn he named samarium. 17. DYSPROSIUM (66) Eleven years after discovering gallium and 7 years after discovering samarium, de Boisbaudran discovered the rare earth element dysprosium in 1886. It took him 30 attempts to isolate a pure sample—and consequently he named it after dysprositos, a Greek word meaning “hard to get at.” 18.

TANTALUM (73) Ten times rarer than gold in the universe, tantalum is a hard, silvery metal known for its resistance to corrosion and its chemical inertness, both of which make it extremely useful in the manufacture of laboratory equipment and medical implants. Although it’s sometimes said to have been named for the “tantalizing” frustration early chemists experienced in trying to obtain a pure sample, it’s tantalum’s unreactiveness that is the real origin of its name: Because it appears unaffected by practically anything it is submerged in or brought into contact with, tantalum is named for Tantalus, a character in Greek mythology who was punished by being forced to stand knee-deep in a pool of water below a fruit tree, both of which drew away from him whenever he reached out to eat or drink (a story which is also the origin of the word tantalize). Incidentally, Tantalus’s daughter Niobe also features on the periodic table as the namesake of element 41, niobium. 19.

URANIUM (92) Uranium was discovered by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1789, who named it honor of the planet Uranus, which had also only recently been discovered. When elements 93 and 94 were discovered in 1940, they were named neptunium and plutonium so as to continue the sequence of planets. 20. MENDELEVIUM (101) The invention of the periodic table is credited to the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869, whose organization of the table allowed him not only to predict the existence of elements that had yet to be discovered at the time, but to correct what was generally understood about the properties of some existing elements. Element number 101, mendelevium, is appropriately named in his honor. Strontium - Element information, properties and uses | Periodic Table Chemistry in its element: strontium (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, vegetarian gladiators, red fireworks and a mineral mistaken for barium; they are all under strontium's spotlight. Here's Richard Van Noorden. Richard Van Noorden In 1787, an intriguing mineral came to Edinburgh from a Lead mine in a small village on the shores of Loch Sunart, Argyll, in the western highlands of Scotland. At that time, the stuff was thought to be some sort of Barium compound. It was three year's later that Scott's Irish chemist, Adair Crawford, published a paper claiming that the mineral held a new species including a new chemical element. Other chemists, such as Edinburgh's Thomas Hope later prepared a number of compounds with the element, noting that it caused the candle's flame to burn red, while Barium compounds gave a green colour. And in 1808, Humphry Davy in London isolated the soft, silvery metal of the new element using electrolysis. The Scottish village was called Strontian, the mineral found there, strontianite and the new element strontium. So, it seems there never was an eminent professor, Stront, commemorated by element number 38.

Today, whenever you see a firework light up in brilliant crimson or a red flare smoking its way around a football stadium, you're looking at the light emitted from electrons transiting between energy levels in nitrate or carbonate salts as strontium. Strontium is most famous for that red glow in a flame, but as a metal it behaves like its reactive group II neighbours, beryllium, magnesium, calcium and barium. It's soft and silvery when freshly cut, but this sheen quickly turns yellow when exposed to air, as the metal readily reacts to form oxides; unlike other reactive alkaline earth metals, natural strontium is always found locked away in mineral compounds. Apart from the previously mentioned strontianite, which we know as strontium carbonate, there is also the beautiful sky blue celestite, strontium sulphate, which was discovered in Gloucestershire in 1799, where the locals were using it as gravel for paths in ornamental gardens. Apart from colouring fireworks, we don't have much call nowadays for strontium compounds. Strontium carbonate notably is found in cathode ray tubes in old television sets.

One of strontium's isotopes Strontium-90 has a more sinister reputation. It's a radioactive beta emitter, produced by nuclear fission with a half-life of 29 years. Created by nuclear tests from 1945 to the early 1970s, strontium-90 made its way from the air to grassland, cow stomachs, dairy products and as 1950's studies showed into children's milk teeth. It collects in bones too, being of a similar size to its group II neighbour, calcium ions. The nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl in 1986 also threw strontium-90 into the air. Nowadays, it's used as a radioactive tracer in cancer therapy. Still strontium's close relation to calcium has made it a modern treatment for treating osteoporosis as the salt strontium ranelate, using non-radioactive isotopes, of course. Because strontium ions are roughly the same size as calcium ions, they bind tightly to calcium sensing receptors. It seems that this stimulates the formation of new bones and prevents old bone from being broken down.

And tracing strontium isotope levels in bone has allowed analytical chemists to come up with all sorts of conclusions about our past ancestor's diets, knowing that plants tend to be higher in natural strontium than meat. In 2007, for instance, Austrian researchers hit headlines by comparing strontium and zinc levels to support the hypothesis that Roman gladiators were vegetarians who ate mainly barley, beans and dried fruits. Chris Smith Chemistry World's Richard Van Noorden wrestling gladiator style with the story of strontium. Next time, we've heard of running through treacle, but what about this proposition. Fred Campbell Could a man walk across a swimming pool filled with Mercury? Don't ask me how the conversation had reached this point, but being surrounded by friends, who would, it is fair to say, describe themselves as science illiterate, I knew it was up to me, the token scientist around the table, to give the definitive answer. "No." I confidently said, adding rather smugly, "it is nowhere near dense enough." The next morning I was rudely awakened by my ringing mobile; not for the first time, I was wrong!

Chris Smith And you can find out exactly how wrong Fred Campbell was at his dinner party when he unlocks the chemical secrets of quick silver, otherwise known as mercury on next week's Chemistry in its element. I hope you can join us. I'm Chris Smith, thanks for listening. 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) 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 Strontium Strontium Description: Soft silvery yellow metal that will burn if ignited in air.

State (25�C): Solid 1657�K, 1384�C, 2523�F Melting Point: 1042�K, 769�C, 1416�F Electrons Energy Level: 2, 8, 18, 8, 2 Isotopes: 28 + 4 Stable Heat of Vaporization: 144 kJ/mol Heat of Fusion: 8.3 kJ/mol Density: 2.54 g/cm3 @ 300�K Specific Heat: 0.3 J/g�K Atomic Radius: Electronegativity: 0.95 (Pauling); 0.99 (Allrod Rochow) Vapor Pressure: 246 Pa @ 769�C 4 Be 9.012 Strontium was discovered by Adair Crawford, an Irish chemist, in 1790 while studying the mineral Witherite, BaCO3. When he mixed Witherite with Hydrochloric Acid, HCl, he did not get the results he expected.

He assumed that his sample of Witherite was contaminated with an unknown mineral, a mineral he named Strontianite SrCO3. The mineral Strontianite is named after the Scottish village of Strontian having been discovered in the Lead mines there in 1787. Strontium itself was discovered in 1798 and metallic Strontium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy in 1808 using electrolysis. An alkaline earth metal, Strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish malleable metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. Besides Strontianite it also occurs naturally in the mineral Celestine. It reacts vigorously with water to produce Hydrogen Gas, H2. It has the same relative abundance as Carbon and Sulfur but does not occur in pure form. 12 Characteristics Due to its extreme reactivity to air, this element occurs naturally only in compounds with other elements, as in the minerals Strontianite and Celestite. Strontium compounds are useful in pyrotechnic devices and signal flares because of the bright crimson coloring they give to flames.

1s2 4p6 5s2 Strontium is a bright silvery metal that is softer than Calcium and even more reactive in water, which Strontium decomposes on contact with to produce Strontium Hydroxide and Hydrogen Gas. It burns in air to produce both Strontium Oxide and Strontium Nitride, but since it does not react with Nitrogen below 380�C it will only form the oxide spontaneously at room temperature. It should be kept under kerosene to prevent oxidation; freshly exposed Strontium metal rapidly turns a yellowish color with the formation of the oxide. Finely powdered Strontium metal will ignite spontaneously in air. Volatile Strontium salts impart a crimson color to flames, and these salts are used in pyrotechnics and in the production of flares. Natural Strontium is a mixture of four stable isotopes. Occurrence Strontium commonly occurs in nature, the 15th most abundant element on earth, averaging 0.034% of all igneous rock and is found chiefly as the form of the sulfate mineral Celestite (SrSO4) and the carbonate Strontianite (SrCO3).

Of the two, Celestite occurs much more frequently in sedimentary deposits of sufficient size to make development of mining facilities attractive. Strontianite would be the more useful of the two common minerals because Strontium is used most often in the carbonate form, but few deposits have been discovered that are suitable for development. The metal can be prepared by electrolysis of melted Strontium Chloride mixed with Potassium Chloride: Sr2+ + 2 e- 2Cl- Cl2 (g) + 2 e- Alternatively it is made by reducing Strontium Oxide with Aluminum in a vacuum at a temperature at which Strontium distills off. Three allotropes of the metal exist, with transition points at 235 and 540�C. The largest commercially exploited deposits are found in England. Applications As a pure metal Strontium is being used in Strontium 90%-Aluminum 10% alloys of an eutectic composition for the modification of Aluminum-Silicon casting alloys. The primary use for Strontium compounds is in glass for color television cathode ray tubes to prevent X-ray emission.

89Sr is the active ingredient in Metastron, a radiopharmaceutical used for bone pain secondary to metastatic prostate cancer. The Strontium acts like Calcium and is preferentially incorporated into bone at sites of increased osteogenesis. This localization focuses the radiation exposure on the cancerous lesion. 90Sr has been used as a power source fo RTGs. 90Sr produces about 0.93 watts of heat per gram (it is lower for the grade of 90Sr used in RTGs, which is Strontium Fluoride. However, 90Sr has a lifetime approximately 3 times shorter and has a lower density than 238Pu, another RTG fuel. The main advantage of 90Sr is that it is cheaper than 238Pu and is found in nuclear waste. 90Sr is also used in cancer therapy. Its beta emission and long half-life is ideal for superficial radiotherapy.

Isotopes The alkali earth metal Strontium has four stable, naturally occurring isotopes: 84Sr (0.56%), 86Sr (9.86%), 87Sr (7.0%) and 88Sr (82.58%). Only 87Sr is radiogenic; it is produced by decay from the radioactive alkali metal 87Rb, which has a half-life of 4.88 � 1010 years. Thus, there are two sources of 87Sr in any material: that formed during primordial nucleo-synthesis along with 84Sr, 86Sr and 88Sr, as well as that formed by radioactive decay of 87Rb. The ratio 87Sr/86Sr is the parameter typically reported in geologic investigations; ratios in minerals and rocks have values ranging from about 0.7 to greater than 4.0. Because Strontium has an atomic radius similar to that of Calcium, it readily substitutes for Ca in minerals. Twenty-eight unstable isotopes are known to exist.

Of greatest importance is 90Sr, it has a half-life of about 28.78 years and decays intoYttrium-90 through beta decay. It is a by-product of nuclear fission which is found in nuclear fallout and presents a health problem since it substitutes for Calcium in bone, preventing expulsion from the body. This isotope is one of the best long-lived high-energy beta emitters known, and is used in SNAP (Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power) devices. These devices hold promise for use in spacecraft, remote weather stations, navigational buoys, etc, where a lightweight, long-lived, nuclear-electric power source is required. The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident contaminated a vast area with 90Sr. The strong radiation emitted by the isotope interferes with the production of new blood cells and can cause death. Strontium was among the radioactive materials released by the 1957 Windscale fire. Isotopes In its pure form Strontium is extremely reactive with air and spontaneously combusts. It is therefore considered to be a fire hazard. The Strontium unit is used in measuring radioactivity from absorbed 90Sr.

The human body absorbs Strontium as if it were Calcium. Due to the elements being sufficiently similar chemically, the stable forms of Strontium do not pose a significant health threat, but the radioactive 90Sr can lead to various bone disorders and diseases, including bone cancer. An experimental drug made by combining Strontium with Ranelic Acid has aided in bone growth, boosted bone density and lessened fractures. Women receiving the drug showed a 6.8% increase in bone density. Women receiving a placebo had a 1.3% decrease. Half the increase in bone density (measured by x-ray densitometry) is attributed to the higher atomic weight of Sr compared with Calcium, whereas the other half is assumed to be a true increase in bone mineral content. Strontium Ranelate is registered for treatment of osteoporosis in Europe at a dose of 2 grams daily. Several naturally occurring Strontium compounds have additionally been found to enhance bone growth and density and lessen the incidence of fractures, and efficacy of treatment has not been shown to vary significantly between various Strontium compounds.

These compounds include Strontium Lactate, Strontium Citrate, Strontium Carbonate and Strontium Gluconate. Relative Gas Density (Air=1): unknown Specific Heat: 0.3 J/g�K Vapor Pressure: 246 Pa @ 769�C Estimated Crustal Abundance: 3.70�102 milligrams per kilogram Estimated Oceanic Abundance: 7.9 milligrams per liter (Strontian, town in Scotland) Isolated by Davy by electrolysis in 1808; however, Adair Crawford in 1790 recognized a new mineral (strontianite) as differing from other barium minerals. Strontium is found chiefly as celestite and strontianite. The metal can be prepared by electrolysis of the fused chloride mixed with potassium chloride, or is made by reducing strontium oxide with aluminum in a vacuum at a temperature at which strontium distills off. Three allotropic forms of the metal exist, with transition points at 235 and 540oC. Strontium is softer than calcium and decomposes water more vigorously.

It does not absorb nitrogen below 380oC. It should be kept under kerosene to prevent oxidation. Freshly cut strontium has a silvery appearance, but rapidly turns a yellowish color with the formation of the oxide. The finely divided metal ignites spontaneously in air. Volatile strontium salts impart a beautiful crimson color to flames, and these salts are used in pyrotechnics and in the production of flares. Natural strontium is a mixture of four stable isotopes. Sixteen other unstable isotopes are known to exist. Of greatest importance is 90Sr with a half-life of 29 years. It is a product of nuclear fallout and presents a health problem. This isotope is one of the best long-lived high-energy beta emitters known, and is used in SNAP (Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power) devices. These devices hold promise for use in space vehicles, remote weather stations, navigational buoys, etc., where a lightweight, long-lived, nuclear-electric power source is needed. The major use for strontium at present is in producing glass for color television picture tubes. It has also found use in producing ferrite magnets and in refining zinc.

Strontium titanate is an interesting optical material as it has an extremely high refractive index and an optical dispersion greater than that of diamond. It has been used as a gemstone, but is very soft. It does not occur naturally. Strontium metal (98% pure) in January 1990 cost about $5/oz. Source: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 1913-1995. David R. Lide, Editor in Chief. Author: C.R. Hammond Strontium was discovered by Adair Crawford, an Irish chemist, in 1790 while studying the mineral witherite (BaCO3). When he mixed witherite with hydrochloric acid (HCl) he did not get the results he expected. He assumed that his sample of witherite was contaminated with an unknown mineral, a mineral he named strontianite (SrCO3). Strontium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, in 1808 through the electrolysis of a mixture of strontium chloride (SrCl2) and mercuric oxide (HgO).

Today, strontium is obtained from two of its most common ores, celestite (SrSO4) and strontianite (SrCO3), by treating them with hydrochloric acid, forming strontium chloride. The strontium chloride, usually mixed with potassium chloride (KCl), is then melted and electrolyzed, forming strontium and chlorine gas (Cl2). Most of the strontium produced today is used in the manufacture of color television picture tubes. It is also used to refine zinc and is combined with iron to make magnets. Two strontium compounds, strontium carbonate (SrCO3) and strontium nitrate (Sr(NO3)2), burn with a bright, red flame and are used in fireworks and signal flares. Strontium carbonate is also used to make certain kinds of glass and is the base material for making most other strontium compounds. Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope of strontium, is a common product of nuclear explosions. It has a half-life of about 28.8 years and decays intoYttrium-90 through beta decay.

Strontium-90 is especially deadly since it has a relatively long half-life, is strongly radioactive and is absorbed by the body, where it accumulates in the skeletal system. The radiation affects the production of new blood cells, which eventually leads to death. Strontium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Strontium Sr is stable with 46 neutrons 85Sr Sr is stable with 48 neutrons 87Sr Sr is stable with 49 neutrons 88Sr Sr is stable with 50 neutrons 89Sr References Strontium ( IPA : /ˈstrɒntiəm/) is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Sr and the atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal , strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. It occurs naturally in the minerals celestine and strontianite . The 90Sr isotope is present in radioactive fallout and has a half-life of 28.90 years.

Contents [ edit ] Notable characteristics Due to its extreme reactivity to air, this element occurs naturally only in compounds with other elements, as in the minerals strontianite and celestite. Strontium is a bright silvery metal that is softer than calcium and even more reactive in water , which strontium decomposes on contact with to produce strontium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. It burns in air to produce both strontium oxide and strontium nitride , but since it does not react with nitrogen below 380°C it will only form the oxide spontaneously at room temperature. It should be kept under kerosene to prevent oxidation ; freshly exposed strontium metal rapidly turns a yellowish color with the formation of the oxide. Finely powdered strontium metal will ignite spontaneously in air. Volatile strontium salts impart a crimson color to flames , and these salts are used in pyrotechnics and in the production of flares . Natural strontium is a mixture of four stable isotopes .

[ edit ] Applications As a pure metal strontium is being used in strontium 90%-aluminium 10% alloys of an eutectic composition for the modification of aluminium-silicon casting alloys. The primary use for strontium compounds is in glass for color television cathode ray tubes to prevent X-ray emission. Other uses: 89Sr is the active ingredient in Metastron, a radiopharmaceutical used for bone pain secondary to metastatic prostate cancer . The strontium acts like calcium and is preferentially incorporated into bone at sites of increased osteogenesis . This localization focuses the radiation exposure on the cancerous lesion. 90Sr has been used as a power source for radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). 90Sr produces about 0.93 watts of heat per gram (it is lower for the grade of 90Sr used in RTGs, which is strontium fluoride ). [1] However, 90Sr has a lifetime approximately 3 times shorter and has a lower density than 238Pu , another RTG fuel.

The main advantage of 90Sr is that it is cheaper than 238Pu and is found in nuclear waste . 90Sr is also used in cancer therapy. Its beta emission and long half-life is ideal for superficial radiotherapy . Strontium is one of the constituents of AJ62 alloy, a durable magnesium alloy used in car and motorcycle engines by BMW . 87Sr/86Sr ratios are commonly used to determine the likely provenance areas of sediment in natural systems, especially in marine and fluvial environments. Dasch (1969) showed that surface sediments of the deep Atlantic displayed 87Sr/86Sr ratios that could be regarded as bulk averages of the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of geological terranes from adjacent landmasses. A good example of a fluvial system to which Sr isotope ratio studies have been frequently employed is the River Nile (Krom et al, 1999; Krom et al, 2002; Talbot et al. 2000).

Due to the vastly differing ages of the rocks that constitute the majority of the Blue and White Nile catchment areas the changing provenance of sediment reaching the River Nile delta, and East Mediterranean Sea beyond, can be discerned through Sr isotopic studies. This information is useful as it can elicit information regarding palaeoclimate change. [ edit ] History The mineral strontianite is named after the Scottish village of Strontian having been discovered in the lead mines there in 1787 . [2] Adair Crawford recognized it as differing from other barium minerals in 1790 . Strontium itself was discovered in 1798 by Thomas Charles Hope , and metallic strontium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy in 1808 using electrolysis . Strontium was among the radioactive materials released by the 1957 Windscale fire . [ edit ] Occurrence Strontium output in 2005 In 2005, China was the top producer of strontium with almost two-thirds world share followed by Spain and Mexico, reports the British Geological Survey .

Strontium commonly occurs in nature, the 15th most abundant element on earth, averaging 0.034% of all igneous rock and is found chiefly as the form of the sulfate mineral celestite (SrSO4) and the carbonate strontianite (SrCO3). Of the two, celestite occurs much more frequently in sedimentary deposits of sufficient size to make development of mining facilities attractive. Strontianite would be the more useful of the two common minerals because strontium is used most often in the carbonate form, but few deposits have been discovered that are suitable for development. The metal can be prepared by electrolysis of melted strontium chloride mixed with potassium chloride : Sr2+ + 2 e- → Sr 2 Cl- → Cl2 ( g ) + 2 e- Alternatively it is made by reducing strontium oxide with aluminium in a vacuum at a temperature at which strontium distills off. Three allotropes of the metal exist, with transition points at 235 and 540 °C. The largest commercially exploited deposits are found in England .

Main article: Isotopes of strontium The alkali earth metal strontium has four stable, naturally occurring isotopes : 84Sr (0.56%), 86Sr (9.86%), 87Sr (7.0%) and 88Sr (82.58%). Only 87Sr is radiogenic ; it is produced by decay from the radioactive alkali metal 87 Rb , which has a half-life of 4.88 × 1010 years. Thus, there are two sources of 87Sr in any material: that formed during primordial nucleo-synthesis along with 84Sr, 86Sr and 88Sr, as well as that formed by radioactive decay of 87Rb. The ratio 87Sr/86Sr is the parameter typically reported in geologic investigations; ratios in minerals and rocks have values ranging from about 0.7 to greater than 4.0. Because strontium has an atomic radius similar to that of calcium , it readily substitutes for Ca in minerals . Sixteen unstable isotopes are known to exist.

Of greatest importance is 90Sr with a half-life of 28.78 years. It is a by-product of nuclear fission which is found in nuclear fallout and presents a health problem since it substitutes for calcium in bone , preventing expulsion from the body. This isotope is one of the best long-lived high-energy beta emitters known, and is used in SNAP ( Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power ) devices. These devices hold promise for use in spacecraft , remote weather stations, navigational buoys, etc, where a lightweight, long-lived, nuclear-electric power source is required. The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident contaminated a vast area with 90Sr. [ edit ] Precautions In its pure form strontium is extremely reactive with air and spontaneously combusts. It is therefore considered to be a fire hazard . [ edit ] Effect on the human body The human body absorbs strontium as if it were calcium . Due to the elements being sufficiently similar chemically, the stable forms of strontium do not pose a significant health threat, but the radioactive 90Sr can lead to various bone disorders and diseases , including bone cancer .

The strontium unit is used in measuring radioactivity from absorbed 90Sr. An innovative drug made by combining strontium with ranelic acid has aided in bone growth, boosted bone density and lessened vetrebral, peripheral and hip fractures . [3] [4] Women receiving the drug showed a 12.7% increase in bone density. Women receiving a placebo had a 1.6% decrease. Half the increase in bone density (measured by x-ray densitometry) is attributed to the higher atomic weight of Sr compared with calcium, whereas the other half a true increase in bone mass. It means that strontium ranelate creates new and strong bone. Strontium ranelate (marketed under the trade names Protelos, Osseor, Protos, Bivalos, Protaxos, Ossum) is registered for treatment of osteoporosis in many countries all over the world. Strontium ranelate has been shown to strengthen bones, according presentations given the IOF World Congress on Osteoporosis, in June of 2006. It also reduced bone resorbtion.

Strontium ranelate is registered as a prescription drug in Europe and many countries worldwide. It needs to be prescribed by a doctor, delivered by a pharmacist and requires a strict medical supervision. Currently, (early 2007) it is not available in Canada or the United States. Several other salts of strontium such as strontium citrate or strontium carbonate are often presented as natural therapies and sold at a dose that is several hundred times higher than the usual strontium intake. Despite the lack of strontium deficit referenced in the medical literature and the lack of information about possible toxicity of strontium supplementation, such compounds can still be sold in the United States under the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act of 1994. However, their long-term safety and efficacy have never been evaluated on humans using large-scale medical trials. Such compounds should not be administered to humans before further studies are conducted. Los Alamos National Laboratory – Strontium . Retrieved on August 5 , 2005 . Dasch, J. (1969). Strontium isotopes in weathering profiles, deep-sea sediments, and sedimentary rocks.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 33, pp. 1521-1552. Krom et al. (1999). The characterisation of Saharan Dusts and Nile particulate matter in surface sediments from the Levantine basin using Sr isotopes. Marine Geology, Vol. 155, pp. 319-330. Krom et al. (2002). Nile River sediment fluctuations over the past 7000 yr and their key role in sapropel development. Geology, Vol. 30, pp. 71-74. Talbot et al., (2000). Strontium isotope evidence for late Pleistocene reestablishment of an integrated Nile drainage network. Geology, Vol. 28, pp. 343-346. Elements Named for Places | The Basement Geographer Elements Named for Places by kuschk As schoolchildren, we are all exposed to the periodic table of the elements in our science textbooks and on the walls of our chemistry classrooms.

This organised display of the chemical elements – the pure chemical substances that are the building blocks of all molecules – ingrains the names, symbols, and atomic weights of the 118 elements that have been identified in our heads. 98 of these elements occur naturally on Earth (although some only in trace amounts); the other 20 have been artificially produced within laboratories. The names of elements derive from a number of different sources: ancient or longstanding names for those elements discovered in days of yore (e.g., gold, silver, antimony); descriptive names for elements that exhibit a certain characteristic (the most common source of element names, usually derived from a Greek adjective), or eponymic names for elements named after people (e.g., curium , einsteinium , bohrium ). This is a geography website, however, and so it should come as no surprise that this article is most concerned with those elements that have geographically-derived names.

While the practice of naming elements after places is becoming increasingly common due to the need to find names for synthetically-created laboratory elements, the practice as a regular occurrence dates back to the mid-19th century (and technically, it dates as far back as the name for copper, as you’ll find out below). Of the 118 identified elements, 32 derive their name from a toponym. As you’ll see below, because much of the influence in the field of nuclear physics has been held by a select few laboratories, there is a surprising amount of repetition in terms of name sources. Americium (95 Am): Named for (the United States of) America, the land where the element was discovered during the course of the Manhattan Project , the US-led World War II programme that would develop the first atomic bomb. Two members of the team that helped discover americium, Glenn Seaborg and Albert Ghiorso , were part of teams based out of the University of California, Berkeley ’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that were ultimately responsible for discovering or co-discovering 13 different elements between 1940 and 1974.

Among these elements, berkelium (97 Bk)and californium (98 Cf)were discovered by this team in 1949 and 1950, respectively, and named accordingly. The Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. Cerium (58 Ce) and palladium (46 Pd): In the early 19th century, chemists were discovering all sorts of elements; for example, just between 1801 and 1809 twelve different elements were isolated for the first time. Also during this decade, astronomers were discovering the first known asteroids. Two of these extraterrestrial bodies would lend their names to newly-discovered elements. The first asteroid to be discovered, Ceres (today classified as a dwarf planet) was discovered on the last day of 1801. When the great Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius co-discovered the element with the atomic number of 58 in 1803, he would name it after the recently discovered Ceres ( itself named for the Roman god of agriculture).

At the same time in England, William Hyde Wollaston had discovered the element with the atomic number of 46 and also intended to name this element for Ceres. Wollaston, however, did not immediately publish his results (in fact, he instead made his first announcement of his discovery by selling samples of his newly-discovered metal in a London mineralogical shop ) and by the time he went public with his discovery, cerium has already been announced by Berzelius. Wollaston thus went with the name of the second asteroid to be discovered, Pallas , first observed in March 1802. Copper (29 Cu): The English copperis derived from the Latin cuprum, a simplification of an older Latin name for the metal, aes Cyprium, which in turn comes from the Greek name for Cyprus . The island was a major source of the metal in Roman times. While other, larger countries have long surpassed Cyprus in terms of overall production, mining continues on the island. The association of Cyprus with copper is perhaps best evidenced by the flag of Cyprus in which the entire island is coloured in copper.

Darmstadtium (110 Ds) and hassium (108 Hs): Darmstadt , one of the major cities of the German state of Hesse , is home to the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research , a laboratory responsible for the discovery of six elements between 1982 and 1996. While four of these elements have been named for prominent scientists, hassium (from the Latin name of the state, Hassia) and darmstadtium were named for the home of the laboratory. Dubnium (105 Db): The city of Dubna in Russia’s Moscow Oblast was originally developed in the immediate post-World War II era to serve as the hub of nuclear physics research in the Soviet Union. The research laboratory eventually developed into the international Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Since 1956, the JINR has been responsible for the discovery or co-discovery of eleven separate elements.

Dubna emerged as a compromise naming candidate when the two co-discoverers (the JINR prepared the element in 1968 and proposed the name nielsbohrium after the Danish physicist Niels Bohr ; the Berkeley Laboratory prepared the element in 1970 and proposed the name hahnium after the german chemist Otto Hahn ). It was not until 1997 that dubnium was finally approved once and for all. Erbium (68 Er), terbium (65 Tb), ytterbium (70 Yb), and yttrium (39 Y): Amazingly, all four of these elements are named after Ytterby, a small suburban island village east of Stockholm, Sweden. It all has to do with a 1787 discovery made in the dumps of a small rock quarry in the village made by a student of Berzelius/naval lieutenant named Carl Axel Arrhenius . There, Arrhenius would come across a black ore that was far too heavy and metallic to be coal. Naming the ore ytterbite, Arrhenius sent the sample off for analysis to various chemists.

This single rock sample would go on to produce ten separate new elements over the next century-and-a-half. The Finnish-Swedish chemist Johan Gadolin would be the first chemist to discover an entirely new element within the sample, finding that 38% of the black ore was composed of an entirely new ‘earth type’ . Naming the newly-discovered ore ytterbia in 1794 (shortened three years later to yttria) after Arrhenius’ ytterbite, the element first isolated from yttria by convention took the name yttrium. In 1843, Carl Gustav Mosander , another Swedish chemist, would discover two more unique parts within the yttria sample, which he termed erbia and terbia (giving rise to erbium and terbium). Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, different pieces of the sample were further isolated, producing even more elements. In 1878, the last variation on the name of Ytterby, ytterbium, was discovered. Further elements discovered from that original ore sample would thus have to take on names derived from other sources.

Many of these newer elements stuck with Scandinavian-themed names: holmium (67 Ho) for Stockholm; scandium (21 Sc), taken from the Latin name for Scandinavia, Scandia; and thulium (69 Tm), named for the mythical land of Thule commonly associated with Scandinavia. Even places that don’t have a direct connection to Ytterby were commemorated in elements isolated from that original rock sample. A part of the sample was sent off to Paris, and it was in Paris that ytterbium, holmium, and gadolinium (named for Gadolin) were first isolated. The final element to be isolated from the sample would be named for Paris, lutetium (71 Lu, after Lutetia, the name of Paris during Roman rule). Besides gadolinium, the only non-topoynymically named element to come from Ytterby was dyprosium , taken from the Greek term for ‘hard to get at’. The commemorative plaque at the quarry in Ytterby. Source: Uwezi, . Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.

Europium (63 Eu): Named by its French discover Eugene Demarcay for Europe. Francium (87 Fr) and gallium (31 Ga): In addition to lutetium, France is also represented with francium and gallium (from the Latin Gallia). Gallium actually came first , discovered in 1875 by Paul Émile (François) Lecoq de Boisbaudran . Francium would not be named until 1939, when the French physicist Marguerite Perey , a student of Marie Curie, discovered it. Germanium (32 Ge): Following gallium in the periodic table is germanium, discovered in 1886 by Clemens Winkler. Initially, his plan was to name the element neptunium after the planet Neptune (just as the existence of Neptune had been mathematically predicted, so had the existence of the 32nd element), but neptunium had already been temporarily bestowed on what would eventually be termed niobium . Winkler thus renamed his discovery after his home country of Germany.

Hafnium (72 Hf): Hafnia is the Latin name for Copenhagen, where this element was first isolated in 1923. Livermorium (116 Lv*): This is the proposed name for the 116th element, temporarily named ununhexium (‘one-one-six’-ium) until a permanent name is agreed upon. Discovered in 2000 at Dubna, this discovery, as have all of the elemental discoveries from 113 onward, was a collaborative effort between scientists from the JINR and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at Livermore, California. Magnesium (12 Mg) and manganese (25 Mn): As with magnetite, the iron oxide ore with which most people associate the term ‘magnetic’, these two elements are named for Magnesia , the region of Thessaly , Greece with which they were associated with in antiquity. ‘Manganese’ is a borrowing from Italian and itself a corruption of ‘Magnesia’. Magnesia (red) within Thessaly (orange) and Greece (yellow).

Uranium (92 U), neptunium (93 Np), and plutonium (94 Pu): These three elements named for the three outermost planets of the solar system (Pluto, of course, was eventually downgraded to the status of dwarf planet) occur in succession in the periodic table. Uranium was first isolated in 1789 and named for the most recently discovered planet of the day, Uranus (discovered in 1781 in the same wave of astrological discoveries that would find Ceres and Pallas). When the 93rd and 94thelements were finally discovered during 1940-41 at the Berkeley lab after irradiating uranium with neutrons (93) and bombarding uranium with deuterons (94), it only made sense to name them systematically after the element from which they were derived. Polonium (84 Po): One of the two elements discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie at the turn of the 20th century, polonium takes its name from Poland, the homeland of Marie Curie (Pierre Curie’s home of France was already commemorated by this point with gallium).

Rhenium (75 Re): This element was actually discovered in 1908 by the Japanese scientist Masataka Ogawa , who named it nipponium after Japan. Ogawa, however, believed that he had found the 43rd element rather than the 75th. It would not be until 1925 that a German team isolated the element and properly determined its atomic number. Rhenus is the Latin term for the Rhine River, and the Rhineland was the home of one of the co-discoverers, Ida Eva Tacke . Ruthenium (44 Ru): When large tracts of platinum were discovered in the Ural Mountains in 1824, samples were sent to Berzelius and his Russian collaborator Gottfried Osann. While Berzelius could not identify any new metals within the sample, Osann was able to detect three new metals , one of which he named ruthenium after Ruthenia , the Latin term for the land of the Kievan Rus (today, Ruthenia is more commonly association with Ukraine rather all of the land of the Kievan Rus which included most of European Russia and Belarus).

Unable to isolate the elements within, the formal discovery of ruthenium would wait until 1844 when another Russian scientist of German descent, Karl Claus , was able to do so. He kept the term ruthenium both in deference to Osann and in recognition of the metal’s Russian origin. Strontium (38 Sr): Mining for lead in and around the small village of Strontian in the Scottish Highlands began during the 1720s. By 1790, it was realised that much of the raw material from which the lead was being harvested, called strontianite after the village, was also housing an entirely distinct type of mineral . Over the next two decades, a number of scientists would independently confirm the existence would become known as strontium; its first confirmed isolation was by the Cornish chemist Humphry Davy in 1808. For more information on the history behind the names of elements, the only place you need to visit, really, is Peter van der Krogt’s Elementymology & Elements Multidict ; an incredible assemblage of information that can occupy you for hours. Further Reading International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (2011).

Start of the Name Approval Process for the Elements of Atomic Number 114 and 116. 1 December 2011. Available at . Accessed 20 April 2012. Kean, S. (2010). Ytterby: The Tiny Swedish Island That Gave the Periodic Table Four Different Elements. Slate, 16 July 2010. Available at . Accessed 20 April 2012. van der Krogt, P. (2010). Elementymology & Elements Multidict. Available at . Accessed 20 April 2012. Winter, M. (2012). WebElements. Available at . Accessed 20 April 2012.

Question: Which chemical element is named after the Scottish village in which it was discovered in 1787?
Answer: STRONTIUM