Discovering all kinds of things!

May 25, 2015

I am now two weeks in to my Fellowship at The Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, PA, and it has already been an amazing experience. Being exposed to an academic world that is not normally part of my day-to-day routine is itself an extraordinary privilege, but coupling that with the astonishing collections at CHF I feel truly honored.

I’m here at the kind invitation of the CHF and the Société de Chimie Industrielle (American Section) Fellowship, in order to research a children’s book about the discovery of the chemical elements. At the end of the project it is my intention to have a manuscript that is ready for publication, that catalogs the discovery of all of the 114, currently named elements written for a junior audience.

Element CapsulesAs I conduct my research I intend to publish a series of tweets about each element to whet the appetite for my ultimate audience. I will be using the hashtag #dingleelements. Why not click on the link to see what I have tweeted so far?

In addition to the ‘live’ tweets, I will replicate and collect all of those tweets on this page about once every week. Here I will list those tweets alphabetically according to the element they refer to, but on Twitter they will appear in a random order. Please RT and check back here for updates.

 

Symbol Name Atomic Number Tweet

Ac Actinium 89

Al Aluminum 13

Am Americium 95

Sb Antimony 51

Ar Argon 18 Ramsay to Rayleigh, 5/24/1894; “Has it occurred to you…”

As Arsenic 33

At Astatine 85

Ba Barium 56

Bk Berkelium 97

Be Beryllium 4

Bi Bismuth 83

Bh Bohrium 107

B Boron 5

Br Bromine 35 Justus von Liebig (yeah, the condenser guy) *should* have discovered bromine, but he screwed up!

Cd Cadmium 48

Ca Calcium 20

Cf Californium 98

C Carbon 6

Ce Cerium 58

Cs Cesium 55

Cl Chlorine 17

Cr Chromium 24

Co Cobalt 27

Cu Copper 29

Cn Copernicium 112 Copernicium and #71 have a link, and it’s not ‘chemical’ per se.

Cm Curium 96

Ds Darmstadtium 110

Db Dubnium 105

Dy Dysprosium 66

Es Einsteinium 99

Er Erbium 68

Eu Europium 63

Fm Fermium 100 Enrico Fermi missed being 1st living person to have element named after him by just a few months

Fl Flerovium 114

F Fluorine 9

Fr Francium 87

Gd Gadolinium 64

Ga Gallium 31

Ge Germanium 32

Au Gold 79

Hf Hafnium 72

Hs Hassium 108

He Helium 2

Ho Holmium 67

H Hydrogen 1

In Indium 49

I Iodine 53

Ir Iridium 77

Fe Iron 26

Kr Krypton 36

La Lanthanum 57

Lr Lawrencium 103

Pb Lead 82

Li Lithium 3

Lu Lutetium 71

Mg Magnesium 12

Mn Manganese 25

Mt Meitnerium 109

Md Mendelevium 101

Hg Mercury 80

Mo Molybdenum 42

Nd Neodymium 60

Ne Neon 10

Np Neptunium 93

Ni Nickel 28

Nb Niobium 41

N Nitrogen 7

No Nobelium 102 Nobelium kept the original name given to it, even though those 1st ‘discoverers’ were mistaken

Os Osmium 76

O Oxygen 8

Pd Palladium 46

P Phosphorus 15

Pt Platinum 78

Pu Plutonium 94

Po Polonium 84

K Potassium 19

Pr Praseodymium 59

Pm Promethium 61

Pa Protactinium 91

Ra Radium 88

Rn Radon 86

Re Rhenium 75

Rh Rhodium 45

Rg Roentgenium 111

Rb Rubidium 37

Ru Ruthenium 44

Rf Rutherfordium 104

Sm Samarium 62

Sc Scandium 21

Sg Seaborgium 106

Se Selenium 34

Si Silicon 14 If silicon were a metal, maybe it *would* have been called silicium as Davy suggested in 1808

Ag Silver 47

Na Sodium 11

Sr Strontium 38

S Sulfur 16

Ta Tantalum 73

Tc Technetium 43

Te Tellurium 52

Tb Terbium 65

Tl Thallium 81

Th Thorium 90

Tm Thulium 69

Sn Tin 50

Ti Titanium 22

W Tungsten 74

Uub Ununbium 112

Uuh Ununhexium 116

Uuo Ununoctium 118

Uup Ununpentium 115

Uuq Ununquadium 114

Uus Ununseptium 117

Uut Ununtrium 113

U Uranium 92

V Vanadium 23

Xe Xenon 54

Yb Ytterbium 70

Y Yttrium 39

Zn Zinc 30

Zr Zirconium 40

1 Comment

  1. Irene Cesa

    Lucky you! What a wonderful opportunity to spend time in the goldmine of chemistry knowledge! I look forward to reading your stories.

    Reply

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