Chapter 4. Chemical Nomenclature
4.1 Names of Elements
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Recognize the symbols and knowing the names the elements.
To be able to name compounds, we need to start with knowing the names of the elements. Table 1 lists the names of the elements, those in bold are the 51 elements that students in an introductory chemistry course should know.
| 1 – H – Hydrogen 2 – He – Helium 3 – Li – Lithium 4 – Be – Beryllium 5 – B – Boron 6 – C – Carbon 7 – N – Nitrogen 8 – O – Oxygen 9 – F – Fluorine 10 – Ne – Neon 11 – Na – Sodium 12 – Mg – Magnesium 13 – Al – Aluminum 14 – Si – Silicon 15 – P – Phosphorus 16 – S – Sulfur 17 – Cl – Chlorine 18 – Ar – Argon 19 – K – Potassium 20 – Ca – Calcium 21 – Sc – Scandium 22 – Ti – Titanium 23 – V – Vanadium 24 – Cr – Chromium 25 – Mn – Manganese 26 – Fe – Iron 27 – Co – Cobalt 28 – Ni – Nickel 29 – Cu – Copper 30 – Zn – Zinc |
31 – Ga – Gallium 32 – Ge – Germanium 33 – As – Arsenic 34 – Se – Selenium 35 – Br – Bromine 36 – Kr – Krypton 37 – Rb – Rubidium 38 – Sr – Strontium 39 – Y – Yttrium 40 – Zr – Zirconium 41 – Nb – Niobium 42 – Mo – Molybdenum 43 – Tc – Technetium 44 – Ru – Ruthenium 45 – Rh – Rhodium 46 – Pd – Palladium 47 – Ag – Silver 48 – Cd – Cadmium 49 – In – Indium 50 – Sn – Tin 51 – Sb – Antimony 52 – Te – Tellurium 53 – I – Iodine 54 – Xe – Xenon 55 – Cs – Cesium 56 – Ba – Barium 57 – La – Lanthanum 58 – Ce – Cerium 59 – Pr – Praseodymium 60 – Nd – Neodymium |
61 – Pm – Promethium 62 – Sm – Samarium 63 – Eu – Europium 64 – Gd – Gadolinium 65 – Tb – Terbium 66 – Dy – Dysprosium 67 – Ho – Holmium 68 – Er – Erbium 69 – Tm – Thulium 70 – Yb – Ytterbium 71 – Lu – Lutetium 72 – Hf – Hafnium 73 – Ta – Tantalum 74 – W – Tungsten 75 – Re – Rhenium 76 – Os – Osmium 77 – Ir – Iridium 78 – Pt – Platinum 79 – Au – Gold 80 – Hg – Mercury 81 – Tl – Thallium 82 – Pb – Lead 83 – Bi – Bismuth 84 – Po – Polonium 85 – At – Astatine 86 – Rn – Radon 87 – Fr – Francium 88 – Ra – Radium 89 – Ac – Actinium 90 – Th – Thorium |
91 – Pa – Protactinium 92 – U – Uranium 93 – Np – Neptunium 94 – Pu – Plutonium 95 – Am – Americium 96 – Cm – Curium 97 – Bk – Berkelium 98 – Cf – Californium 99 – Es – Einsteinium 100 – Fm – Fermium 101 – Md – Mendelevium 102 – No – Nobelium 103 – Lr – Lawrencium 104 – Rf – Rutherfordium 105 – Db – Dubnium 106 – Sg – Seaborgium 107 – Bh – Bohrium 108 – Hs – Hassium 109 – Mt – Meitnerium 110 – Ds – Darmstadtium 111 – Rg – Roentgenium 112 – Cn – Copernicium 113 – Uut – Ununtrium 114 – Fl – Flerovium 115 – Uup – Ununpentium 116 – Lv – Livermorium 117 – Uus – Ununseptium 118 – Uuo – Ununoctium |
Table 1. The names of the elements. Those in bold are the elements that students in an introductory chemistry course should know.
The chemical elements are named by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), which generally adopts the name chosen by the discoverer of the element. Often the name refers to a place, a property of the element or a scientist. At times, there has been some controversy of which research group actually discovered the element, and therefore which group gets the privilege of naming the element. This delayed the naming of the elements for a considerable amount of time. Checkout element naming controversy to learn more about contention that existed in naming certain elements.
Key Concepts and Summary
Knowing the names and recognizing the symbol of the 51 elements (bolded in Table 1) that students in an introductory chemistry course will not only make it feasible for students to be able to name compounds but will help them be familiar with the common elements and compounds they may encounter in their daily lives.
Activity
Make yourself a stack of small sized Qcards. On one side have the name of the element (e.g. hydrogen) and on the other side have its symbol (e.g. H). Make a complete set of all the elements you should know (see bolded elements in Table 1). Then use these Qcards to quiz yourself.
Glossary
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC): is an international federation that represents chemists in individual countries, which has several responsibilities, one being the standardization of chemical nomenclature including the naming of new elements in the periodic table.
