Hi! We are back after Part1. In this article we are looking at the names of elements with atomic number 11-20. Here we go!
11. Sodium (From English word soda that means anything that produces bubbles probably due to the fizzy nature of its famous salt natron Na2CO3.H2O. It is interesting to note that the Latin name of the metal is Natrium that is again related to Natron or Native soda. Note:Native is a term used in minerology for any mineral occuring in crystallized form in nature)
12. Magnesium (Magnesium’s name is derived from magnesia, which Davy used in his experiment. Magnesia is the district of Thessaly in Greece where magnesia alba [magnesium carbonate] was found.)
13. Aluminium (From Latin word alumen or alum, The ancient Greeks and Romans used alum as an astringent and as a mordant in dyeing. In 1761 de Morveau proposed the name alumine for the base in alum, and Lavoisier, in 1787, thought this to be the oxide of a still undiscovered metal.
Wohler is generally credited with having isolated the metal in 1827, although an impure form was prepared by Oersted two years earlier. In 1807, Davy proposed the name aluminum for the metal,
undiscovered at that time, and later agreed to change it to aluminum. Shortly thereafter, the name aluminum was adopted to conform with the "ium" ending of most elements, and this spelling is now in use every where in the world.) Note: alum is K2SO4.Al2(SO4)3.24H2O
14. Silicon (From Latin word silicis meaning flint. It is a form of quartz. Flint is known for many years and discovery of silicon led to the name silicium by J.Berzallious which was later changed to silicon by Thomas Thomson.)
15. Phosphorus (From Greek word Phosphoros meaning bringer of light. It was discovered by Hening Brand in Hamburg, Germany. Brand called it 'Cold Fire' because it was luminous and used to glow in dark)
16. Sulphur (From Sanskrit word Shulbari. The word consists of two parts Shulba i.e. copper and ari i.e enemy. The name seems to arise from the chemistry understanding of our ancestors who had the knowledge of the reactive nature of sulfur with metals. In Arabic word sufra means yellow which is the color of this non-metal but that is less likely to be the origin of word)
17. Chlorine (From Greek word chloros meaning pale green or yellow green owing to the color of the gas)
18. Argon (From Greek word argos meaning inactive or lazy. Name arises from its inactivity and inertness towards reactions)
19. Potassium (The name potassium is from the English word ‘potash’, originally meaning an alkali extracted with water in a pot of ash of burned wood or tree leaves.)
20. Calcium (The Romans named Calcium Carbonate as Calx and when it was found that Calcium is present in Calx, the nme Calcium seemed perfect for the newly discovered metal)
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