[net.games.trivia] Elements

ran@ho95b.UUCP (RANeinast) (04/23/85)

I first posted this a month ago, and nobody
seemed interested (either that or our feed
was messed up and I didn't see responses,
or somehow the posting didn't make it out).
Let's hope this group isn't for just net.tv.trivia.

Here's a somewhat interesting question:

Which chemical elements are named after members of the solar system,
or have names derived from the same source as members of the
solar system?

As far as I can tell, there are 9 of the former and 1 of the latter.

I'll post my answers in a week.

Good luck.

-- 

". . . and shun the frumious Bandersnatch."
Robert Neinast (ihnp4!ho95b!ran)
AT&T-Bell Labs

lip@gcc-bill.ARPA (Sethmodius Lipkin) (04/26/85)

[Who invented liquid soap?? -- and why??]

>Which chemical elements are named after members of the solar system,
>or have names derived from the same source as members of the
>solar system?

How about:

1) Uranium
2) Plutonium
3) Helium         (Helios - the Sun)
4) Mercury
5) Titanium       (either Titan, moon of Saturn, or Titania, moon of Uranus)
6) Europium       (Europa, moon of Jupiter)
7) Cerium         (Ceres - asteroid)
8) Palladium      (Pallas - asteroid)
9) Neptunium
10) Planetarium :-)

If only one of the names was derived from a common source, I would guess it to
be Mercury, since that's the only element that wasn't named relatively recently.

                                 Seth W. Lipkin
                                 General Computer Company
                                 harvard!gcc-bill!lip

                                 "He's cute -- in a weenie sort of way"
                                                - Blondie of Bloom County

urban@spp2.UUCP (Mike Urban) (04/29/85)

In article <252@gcc-bill.ARPA> lip@gcc-bill.UUCP (Sethmodius Lipkin) writes:
>>Which chemical elements are named after members of the solar system,
>>or have names derived from the same source as members of the
>>solar system?
>
>How about:
>
>1) Uranium
>2) Plutonium
>3) Helium         (Helios - the Sun)
>4) Mercury
>5) Titanium       (either Titan, moon of Saturn, or Titania, moon of Uranus)
>6) Europium       (Europa, moon of Jupiter)
>7) Cerium         (Ceres - asteroid)
>8) Palladium      (Pallas - asteroid)
>9) Neptunium

You left out (at least):
Tellurium	(Tellus, the Latin word for "earth" (E.E. Smith uses it))
Selenium	(Selene, the moon)
-- 

   Mike Urban
	{ucbvax|decvax}!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!urban 

"You're in a maze of twisty UUCP connections, all alike"

ran@ho95b.UUCP (RANeinast) (05/08/85)

I know I said I'd post these answers sooner, but you
know how work gets.
My original question:

>Which chemical elements are named after members of the solar system,
>or have names derived from the same source as members of the
>solar system?
>
>As far as I can tell, there are 9 of the former and 1 of the latter.

Here is my list.
The origins of the names are taken from the American Heritage dictionary.

Helium (Helios-sun)
  First discovered in solar spectrum.
Cerium (Ceres-asteroid)
  From the asteroid Ceres.
Titanium (Titan-moon of Saturn)
  So named by Klaproth, who had also named uranium after the planet Uranus.
  Uranus, in Greek mythology, is the father of the Titans.
Selenium (Selene-moon of earth)
  From Greek "selene", moon (named by analogy to a related element, tellurium,
  which is from Latin "tellus", earth)
Palladium (Pallas-asteroid)
  From the asteroid Pallas, discovered at the same time as the element.
Tellurium (Tellus-earth)
  From Latin "tellus", earth (by analogy with uranium, after the planet Uranus).
Mercury (Mercury)
  Both from the Roman God
Uranium (Uranus)
  After the planet Uranus.
Neptunium (Neptune)
  After Neptune (planet), since neptunium follows uranium in the periodic
  table, as Neptune is the next planet after Uranus.
Plutonium (Pluto)
  Discovered shortly after neptunium, and named by analogy after the
  planet Pluto (beyond the planet Neptune).


As far as I could tell, mercury is not named for the planet.
Both have had the same name for so long back into antiquity,
that both were probably named for the god.  This is the
one that I considered "both named from the same source."
Dan Philen also includes Phosphorus (light-bearing); seems
this is an ancient name for Venus, so you can probably add
this one to the Mercury list.

Other sources do not have titanium named for the moon of Saturn,
but just the Titan gods.

Finally, it's tempting to consider europium and Europa to be
named from the same source, but not at all.  Europium is named
for Europe (where it was discovered), while Europa was named
for the goddess, which has a completely different etymology.

Thanks for all the interest!
-- 

". . . and shun the frumious Bandersnatch."
Robert Neinast (ihnp4!ho95b!ran)
AT&T-Bell Labs