Technetium is named after what. How was technetium found and why was it called that?

In 1925, sensational reports appeared on the pages of chemical journals about the discovery of a new element belonging to the seventh group periodic table. The element was named "masurium". Listen to the name: ma-zu-ri-y. Something in tune with the mazurka - a brilliant, cheerful Polish national dance that received its name in the 19th century. fame in all European countries, heard in the name of the element. However, the German chemists Walter Noddack and Ida Take (who later became Ida Noddack) named the newly discovered element not in honor of the mazurka - a dance that came out of the Mazovia voivodeship. It was named Masuria after the southern part of the districts of Gumbinnen and Königsberg in East Prussia, long inhabited by Polish peasants.

The claim to discover a new element also turned out to be unfounded. Research has shown that the authors were hasty with their messages - various admixtures of other already known elements were taken as a new element.

The real discovery, or rather, the obtaining of an element occupying number 43 in D.I. Mendeleev’s periodic table, was carried out by the Italian scientist E. Segre and his assistant K. Perrier in 1937. The new element was created by “shelling” molybdenum with deuterons - nuclei of a heavy isotope of hydrogen, accelerated in a cyclotron.

Obtained artificially, the new element was named technetium in honor of the technical progress of the 20th century, as the brainchild of this progress. "Technikos" means "artificial" in Greek.

In 1950, the total amount of technetium on the entire globe was... one milligram. Currently, technetium is obtained as a waste product from the operation of nuclear reactors.

The technetium content in uranium fission products reaches 6%. Now, technetium, a man-made element, is not uncommon. By 1958, Parker and Martin, employees of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, had at their disposal several grams of technetium, the compounds of which were widely used in studying the mechanism of corrosion and the action of inhibitors - substances that delay it.

According to their own chemical properties technetium is similar to manganese and rhenium. It looks more like rhenium. The density of technetium is 11.5. Unlike rhenium, technetium is more resistant to chemical reagents. The empty cell in the periodic table of elements with the inscription “ecamanganese”, the existence of which D.I. Mendeleev predicted back in 1870, is now filled with an element whose properties exactly correspond to those predicted.

However, there is no technetium on Earth! The fact is that, being a radioactive element, it does not have long-lived isotopes. The most stable isotope of technetium has a half-life of no more than 250,000 years. And since the age of the Earth is several billion years old, the technetium that originally existed on Earth has long since outlived its usefulness and should now be considered an “extinct” element. However, technetium has been found on the Sun and some stars spectroscopically, which indicates its synthesis during the evolution of stars.

Hydrogen, Hydrogenium, H (1)

Hydrogen has been known as combustible (flammable) air for quite some time. It was obtained by the action of acids on metals; the combustion and explosions of explosive gas were observed by Paracelsus, Boyle, Lemery and other scientists of the 16th - 18th centuries. With the spread of the phlogiston theory, some chemists tried to produce hydrogen as "free phlogiston". Lomonosov's dissertation "On Metallic Luster" describes the production of hydrogen by the action of "acid alcohols" (for example, "hydrochloric alcohol," i.e., hydrochloric acid) on iron and other metals; The Russian scientist was the first (1745) to put forward the hypothesis that hydrogen (“flammable vapor” - vapor inflammabilis) is phlogiston. Cavendish, who studied the properties of hydrogen in detail, put forward a similar hypothesis in 1766. He called hydrogen “inflammable air from metals”, and believed, like all phlogisticians, that when dissolved in acids the metal loses your phlogiston. Lavoisier, who in 1779 studied the composition of water through its synthesis and decomposition, called hydrogen Hydrogine (hydrogen), or Hydrogene (hydrogen), from the Greek. hydro - water and gaynome - I produce, I give birth.

The Nomenclature Commission of 1787 adopted the word production Hydrogene from gennao - I give birth. In Lavoisier's Table of Simple Bodies, hydrogen is mentioned among the five (light, heat, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen) "simple bodies belonging to all three kingdoms of nature and which should be considered as elements of bodies"; As an old synonym for the name Hydrogene, Lavoisier calls flammable gas (gaz inflammable), the base of flammable gas. In Russian chemical literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. There are two kinds of names for hydrogen: phlogistic (combustible gas, combustible air, ignitable air, ignitable air) and antiphlogistic (water-creating creature, water-creating being, water-creating gas, hydrogen gas, hydrogen). Both groups of words are translations of the French names for hydrogen.

Hydrogen isotopes were discovered in the 30s of this century and quickly gained great importance in science and technology. At the end of 1931, Urey, Brekwedd and Murphy examined the residue after long-term evaporation of liquid hydrogen and discovered heavy hydrogen with an atomic weight of 2. This isotope was called deuterium (D) from the Greek. - another, second. Four years later, an even heavier isotope of hydrogen, 3H, was discovered in water subjected to long-term electrolysis, which was called tritium (Tritium, T), from the Greek. - third.
Helium, Helium, He (2)

In 1868, the French astronomer Jansen observed a total solar eclipse in India and spectroscopically studied the chromosphere of the sun. He discovered a bright yellow line in the spectrum of the sun, which he designated D3, which did not coincide with the yellow D line of sodium. At the same time, the same line in the spectrum of the sun was seen by the English astronomer Lockyer, who realized that it belonged to an unknown element. Lockyer, together with Frankland, for whom he was then working, decided to name the new element helium (from the Greek helios - sun). Then a new yellow line was discovered by other researchers in the spectra of “terrestrial” products; Thus, in 1881, the Italian Palmieri discovered it while studying a gas sample taken in the crater of Vesuvius. The American chemist Hillebrand, studying uranium minerals, found that they emit gases when exposed to strong sulfuric acid. Hillebrand himself believed that it was nitrogen. Ramsay, who drew attention to Hillebrand's message, subjected to spectroscopic analysis the gases released when the mineral kleveite was treated with acid. He discovered that the gases contained nitrogen, argon, and an unknown gas that produced a bright yellow line. Lacking a good enough spectroscope, Ramsay sent samples of the new gas to Crookes and Lockyer, who soon identified the gas as helium. Also in 1895, Ramsay isolated helium from a mixture of gases; it turned out to be chemically inert, like argon. Soon after this, Lockyer, Runge and Paschen made a statement that helium consists of a mixture of two gases - orthohelium and parahelium; one of them gives a yellow spectrum line, the other a green one. They proposed to call this second gas asterium (Asterium) from the Greek - star. Together with Travers, Ramsay tested this statement and proved that it was wrong, since the color of the helium line depends on the gas pressure.
Lithium, Lithium, Li (3)

When Davy carried out his famous experiments on the electrolysis of alkaline earths, no one suspected the existence of lithium. Lithium alkaline earth was discovered only in 1817 by a talented analytical chemist, one of Berzelius’ students, Arfvedson. In 1800, the Brazilian mineralogist de Andrada Silva, making a scientific trip to Europe, found two new minerals in Sweden, which he named petalite and spodumene, and the first of them was rediscovered a few years later on the island of Ute. Arfvedson became interested in petalite, carried out a complete analysis of it and discovered an initially inexplicable loss of about 4% of the substance. Repeating the analyzes more carefully, he established that petalite contained “a flammable alkali of a hitherto unknown nature.” Berzelius proposed to call it lithion, since this alkali, unlike potassium and soda, was first found in the “kingdom of minerals” (stones); This name is derived from the Greek - stone. Arfvedson later discovered lithium earth, or lithine, in several other minerals, but his attempts to isolate the free metal were unsuccessful. Not very large number Lithium metal was obtained by Davy and Brande by electrolysis of alkali. In 1855 Bunsen and Matthessen developed industrial method producing lithium metal by electrolysis of lithium chloride. In Russian chemical literature of the early 19th century. names are found: lithion, litin (Dvigubsky, 1826) and lithium (Hess); lithium earth (alkali) was sometimes called litina.
Beryllium, Be (4)

Minerals containing beryllium (precious stones) - beryl, emerald, emerald, aquamarine, etc. - have been known since ancient times. Some of them were mined on the Sinai Peninsula back in the 17th century. BC e. The Stockholm papyrus (3rd century) describes methods for making counterfeit stones. The name beryl is found among Greek and Latin (Beryll) ancient writers and in ancient Russian works, for example, in the “Svyatoslav Collection” of 1073, where beryl appears under the name virullion. Study chemical composition precious minerals of this group began, however, only at the end of the 18th century. with the onset of the chemical-analytical period. The first analyzes (Klaproth, Bindheim, etc.) did not find anything special in beryl. At the end of the 18th century. the famous mineralogist Abbot Gahuy drew attention to the complete similarity of the crystal structure of beryl from Limoges and emerald from Peru. Vauquelin produced chemical analysis both minerals (1797) and found in both new land, different from aluminum. Having received the salts of the new land, he found that some of them have a sweet taste, which is why he named the new land glucina (Glucina) from the Greek. - sweet. The new element contained in this earth was appropriately named Glucinium. This name was used in France in the 19th century; there was even a symbol - Gl. Klaproth, being an opponent of naming new elements according to random properties their compounds, proposed to call glucinium beryllium, pointing out that compounds of other elements also have a sweet taste. Beryllium metal was first prepared by Wöhler and Bussy in 1728 by reducing beryllium chloride with potassium metal. Let us note here the outstanding research of the Russian chemist I.V. Avdeev on the atomic weight and composition of beryllium oxide (1842). Avdeev installed atomic weight beryllium 9.26 (modern 9.0122), while Berzelius took it equal to 13.5, and the correct oxide formula.

There are several versions about the origin of the name of the mineral beryl, from which the word beryllium is derived. A. M. Vasiliev (according to Diergart) cites the following opinion of philologists: the Latin and Greek names of beryl can be compared with the Prakrit veluriya and Sanskrit vaidurya. The latter is the name of a certain stone, and is derived from the word vidura (very far), which seems to mean some country or mountain. Müller offered another explanation: vaidurya came from the original vaidarya or vaidalya, and the latter from vidala (cat). In other words, vaidurya roughly means "cat's eye". Rai points out that in Sanskrit, topaz, sapphire and coral were considered cat's eye. A third explanation is given by Lippmann, who believes that the word beryl meant some northern country (from where the precious stones came) or people. Elsewhere Lippmann notes that Nicholas of Cusa wrote that the German Brille (spectacles) comes from the Barbarian Latin berillus. Finally, Lemery, explaining the word beryl (Beryllus), points out that Berillus, or Verillus, means "man's stone."

In Russian chemical literature of the early 19th century. Glucina was called sweet earth, sweet earth (Severgin, 1815), sweet earth (Zakharov, 1810), glutina, glycine, the base of glycine earth, and the element was called wisterium, glycinite, glycium, sweet earth, etc. Giese proposed the name beryllium (1814). Hess, however, stuck to the name Glitium; it was also used as a synonym by Mendeleev (1st ed. “Fundamentals of Chemistry”).
Bor, Borum, V (5)

Natural boron compounds (English Boron, French Bore, German Bor), mainly impure borax, have been known since the early Middle Ages. Under the names Tinkal, Tinkar, Attinkar (Tinkal, Tinkar, Attinkar) borax was imported to Europe from Tibet; it was used for soldering metals, especially gold and silver. In Europe, tinkal was more often called borax (Borax) from the Arabic word bauraq and the Persian word burah. Sometimes borax, or boraco, meant various substances, such as soda (nitrone). Ruland (1612) calls borax chrysocolla, a resin capable of “gluing” gold and silver. Lemery (1698) also calls borax “glue of gold” (Auricolla, Chrisocolla, Gluten auri). Sometimes borax meant something like “bridle of gold” (capistrum auri). In Alexandrian, Hellenistic and Byzantine chemical literature, borah and borakhon, as well as in Arabic (bauraq) generally meant alkali, for example bauraq arman (Armenian borak), or soda, later they began to call borax.

In 1702, Homberg, by calcining borax with iron sulfate, obtained “salt” (boric acid), which became known as “Homberg’s soothing salt” (Sal sedativum Hombergii); this salt is widely used in medicine. In 1747, Baron synthesized borax from “soothing salt” and natron (soda). However, the composition of borax and “salt” remained unknown until the beginning of the 19th century. The Chemical Nomenclature of 1787 contains the name horacique acid (boric acid). Lavoisier in his “Table of Simple Bodies” cites radical boracique. In 1808, Gay-Lussac and Thénard succeeded in isolating free boron from boric anhydride by heating the latter with potassium metal in a copper tube; they proposed to name the element boron (Bora) or boron (Bore). Davy, who repeated the experiments of Gay-Lussac and Thénard, also obtained free boron and named it boracium. Later, the British shortened this name to Boron. In Russian literature, the word borax is found in prescription collections of the 17th - 18th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century. Russian chemists called boron borax (Zakharov, 1810), buron (Strakhov, 1825), boric acid base, buracin (Severgin, 1815), boria (Dvigubsky, 1824). The translator of Giese's book called boron burium (1813). In addition, there are names such as drill, harrow, buronite, etc.
Carbon, Carboneum, C (6)

Carbon (English Carbon, French Carbone, German Kohlenstoff) in the form of coal, soot and soot has been known to mankind since time immemorial; about 100 thousand years ago, when our ancestors mastered fire, they dealt with coal and soot every day. Probably, very early people became acquainted with allotropic modifications of carbon - diamond and graphite, as well as fossil coal. It is not surprising that the combustion of carbon-containing substances was one of the first chemical processes that interested humans. Since the burning substance disappeared, consumed by fire, combustion was considered as a process of decomposition of the substance, and therefore coal (or carbon) was not considered an element. The element was fire - a phenomenon accompanying combustion; In ancient teachings about the elements, fire usually appears as one of the elements. At the turn of the XVII - XVIII centuries. The phlogiston theory arose, put forward by Becher and Stahl. This theory recognized the presence in each combustible body of a special elementary substance - a weightless fluid - phlogiston, which evaporates during the combustion process. Since when a large amount of coal is burned, only a little ash remains, phlogistics believed that coal was almost pure phlogiston. This is what explained, in particular, the “phlogisticating” effect of coal - its ability to restore metals from “limes” and ores. Later phlogistics - Reaumur, Bergman and others - already began to understand that coal is an elementary substance. However, “clean coal” was first recognized as such by Lavoisier, who studied the process of combustion of coal and other substances in air and oxygen. In the book "Method of Chemical Nomenclature" (1787) by Guiton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet and Fourcroix, the name "carbon" (carbone) appeared instead of the French "pure coal" (charbone pur). Under the same name, carbon appears in the “Table of Simple Bodies” in Lavoisier’s “Elementary Textbook of Chemistry.” In 1791, the English chemist Tennant was the first to obtain free carbon; he passed phosphorus vapor over calcined chalk, resulting in the formation of calcium phosphate and carbon. It has been known for a long time that diamond burns without leaving a residue when heated strongly. Back in 1751, the French king Francis I agreed to give diamond and ruby ​​for burning experiments, after which these experiments even became fashionable. It turned out that only diamond burns, and ruby ​​(aluminum oxide with an admixture of chromium) can withstand prolonged heating at the focus of the ignition lens without damage. Lavoisier carried out a new experiment on burning diamond using a large incendiary machine, and came to the conclusion that diamond is crystalline carbon. The second allotrope of carbon - graphite - in the alchemical period was considered a modified lead luster and was called plumbago; It was only in 1740 that Pott discovered the absence of any lead impurity in graphite. Scheele studied graphite (1779) and, being a phlogistician, considered it a special kind of sulfur body, a special mineral coal containing bound “aerial acid” (CO2) and a large amount of phlogiston.

Twenty years later, Guiton de Morveau turned diamond into graphite and then into carbonic acid by careful heating.

The international name Carboneum comes from the Latin. carbo (coal). The word is very ancient origin. It is compared with cremare - to burn; root сar, cal, Russian gar, gal, gol, Sanskrit sta means to boil, cook. The word "carbo" is associated with the names of carbon in other European languages ​​(carbon, charbone, etc.). German Kohlenstoff comes from Kohle - coal (Old German kolo, Swedish kylla - to heat). Old Russian ugorati, or ugarati (to burn, scorch) has the root gar, or mountains, with a possible transition to gol; coal in Old Russian yugal, or coal, of the same origin. The word diamond (Diamante) comes from the ancient Greek - indestructible, unyielding, hard, and graphite from the Greek - I write.

At the beginning of the 19th century. the old word coal in Russian chemical literature was sometimes replaced by the word “carbonate” (Scherer, 1807; Severgin, 1815); Since 1824, Soloviev introduced the name carbon.

Nitrogen, Nitrogenium, N (7)

Nitrogen (English Nitrogen, French Azote, German Stickstoff) was discovered almost simultaneously by several researchers. Cavendish obtained nitrogen from the air (1772) by passing it through hot coal and then through an alkali solution to absorb carbon dioxide. Cavendish did not give a special name to the new gas, referring to it as mephitic air (Air mephitic from the Latin mephitis - suffocating or harmful evaporation of the earth). Priestley soon discovered that if a candle burns in the air for a long time or an animal (a mouse) is present, then such air becomes unsuitable for breathing. Officially, the discovery of nitrogen is usually attributed to Black’s student, Rutherford, who in 1772 published a dissertation (for the degree of Doctor of Medicine) - “On the fixed air, otherwise called asphyxiating,” where some of the chemical properties of nitrogen were first described. During these same years, Scheele obtained nitrogen from atmospheric air in the same way as Cavendish. He called the new gas “spoiled air” (Verdorbene Luft). Since passing air through hot coal was considered by phlogistic chemists to be phlogisticating it, Priestley (1775) called nitrogen phlogisticated air. Cavendish also spoke earlier about phlogistication of air in his experience. Lavoisier in 1776 - 1777 studied in detail the composition of atmospheric air and found that 4/5 of its volume consists of asphyxiating gas (Air mofette - atmospheric mofette, or simply Mofett). The names of nitrogen - phlogisticated air, mephitic air, atmospheric mofette, spoiled air and some others - were used before the recognition of a new chemical nomenclature in European countries, that is, before the publication of the famous book “The Method of Chemical Nomenclature” (1787).

The compilers of this book - members of the nomenclature commission of the Paris Academy of Sciences - Guiton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet and Fourcroix - accepted only a few new names for simple substances, in particular, the names “oxygen” and “hydrogen” proposed by Lavoisier. When choosing a new name for nitrogen, the commission, based on the principles of the oxygen theory, found itself in difficulty. As is known, Lavoisier proposed to give simple substances names that would reflect their basic chemical properties. Accordingly, this nitrogen should be given the name “nitric radical” or “nitrate radical”. Such names, writes Lavoisier in his book "Principles of Elementary Chemistry" (1789), are based on the old terms nitre or saltpeter, accepted in the arts, in chemistry and in society. They would be quite suitable, but it is known that nitrogen is also the base of the volatile alkali (ammonia), as Berthollet had recently discovered. Therefore, the name radical, or base of nitrate acid, does not reflect the basic chemical properties of nitrogen. Isn't it better to dwell on the word nitrogen, which, according to members of the nomenclature commission, reflects the main property of the element - its unsuitability for breathing and life? The authors of chemical nomenclature proposed to derive the word nitrogen from the Greek negative prefix “a” and the word life. Thus, the name nitrogen, in their opinion, reflected its non-vitality, or lifelessness.

However, the word nitrogen was not coined by Lavoisier or his colleagues on the commission. It has been known since ancient times and was used by philosophers and alchemists of the Middle Ages to designate the “primary matter (base) of metals,” the so-called mercury of philosophers, or the double mercury of alchemists. The word nitrogen entered literature, probably in the first centuries of the Middle Ages, like many other encrypted names with a mystical meaning. It is found in the works of many alchemists, starting with Bacon (XIII century) - in Paracelsus, Libavius, Valentinus and others. Libavius ​​even points out that the word nitrogen (azoth) comes from the ancient Spanish-Arabic word azoque (azoque or azoc), meaning mercury. But it is more likely that these words appeared as a result of scribal distortions of the root word nitrogen (azot or azoth). Now the origin of the word nitrogen has been established more precisely. Ancient philosophers and alchemists considered the “primary matter of metals” to be the alpha and omega of everything that exists. In turn, this expression is borrowed from the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible: “I am alpha and omega, beginning and end, first and last.” In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Christian philosophers considered it proper to use only three languages ​​that were recognized as “sacred” when writing their treatises - Latin, Greek and Hebrew (the inscription on the cross at the crucifixion of Christ, according to the Gospel story, was made in these three languages). To form the word nitrogen, the initial and final letters of the alphabets of these three languages ​​were taken (a, alpha, aleph and zet, omega, tov - AAAZOT).

The compilers of the new chemical nomenclature of 1787, and above all the initiator of its creation, Guiton de Morveau, were well aware of the existence of the word nitrogen since ancient times. Morvo noted in the "Methodical Encyclopedia" (1786) the alchemical meaning of this term. After the publication of the Method of Chemical Nomenclature, opponents of the oxygen theory - phlogistics - sharply criticized the new nomenclature. Especially, as Lavoisier himself notes in his chemistry textbook, the adoption of “ancient names” was criticized. In particular, La Mettrie, publisher of the journal Observations sur la Physique, a stronghold of opponents of the oxygen theory, pointed out that the word nitrogen was used by alchemists in a different sense.

Despite this, the new name was adopted in France, as well as in Russia, replacing the previously accepted names “phlogisticated gas”, “moffette”, “moffette base”, etc.

The word formation nitrogen from Greek also caused fair comments. D. N. Pryanishnikov in his book “Nitrogen in the life of plants and in agriculture of the USSR” (1945) quite correctly noted that word formation from Greek “raises doubts.” Obviously, Lavoisier’s contemporaries also had these doubts. Lavoisier himself in his chemistry textbook (1789) uses the word nitrogen along with the name “radical nitrique”.

It is interesting to note that later authors, apparently trying to somehow justify the inaccuracy made by the members of the nomenclature commission, derived the word nitrogen from the Greek - life-giving, life-giving, creating the artificial word “azotikos”, which is absent in the Greek language (Diergart, Remy and etc.). However, this way of forming the word nitrogen can hardly be considered correct, since the derivative word for the name nitrogen should have sounded “azotikon”.

The inadequacy of the name nitrogen was obvious to many of Lavoisier’s contemporaries, who fully sympathized with his oxygen theory. Thus, Chaptal, in his chemistry textbook “Elements of Chemistry” (1790), proposed replacing the word nitrogen with the word nitrogen (nitrogen) and called the gas, in accordance with the views of his time (each gas molecule was represented as surrounded by an atmosphere of caloric), “nitrogen gas” (Gas nitrogene). Chaptal motivated his proposal in detail. One of the arguments was the indication that the name meaning lifeless could, with greater justification, be given to other simple bodies (possessing, for example, strong poisonous properties). The name nitrogen, adopted in England and America, later became the basis for the international name of the element (Nitrogenium) and the symbol for nitrogen - N. In France at the beginning of the 19th century. Instead of the symbol N, the symbol Az was used. In 1800, one of the co-authors of the chemical nomenclature, Fourcroy, proposed another name - alcaligene, based on the fact that nitrogen is the “base” of the volatile alkali (Alcali volatil) - ammonia. But this name was not accepted by chemists. Let us finally mention the name nitrogen, which was used by phlogistic chemists and, in particular, Priestley, at the end of the 18th century. - septon (Septon from the French Septique - putrefactive). This name was apparently proposed by Mitchell, a student of Black who later worked in America. Davy rejected this name. In Germany since the end of the 18th century. and to this day nitrogen is called Stickstoff, which means "suffocating substance."

As for the old Russian names for nitrogen, which appeared in various works of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, they are as follows: suffocating gas, unclean gas; mofetic air (all these are translations of the French name Gas mofette), suffocating substance (translation of the German Stickstoff), phlogisticated air, exasperated, afflicted air (phlogistic names are a translation of the term proposed by Priestley - Plogisticated air). Names were also used; spoiled air (translation of Scheele's term Verdorbene Luft), saltpeter, saltpeter gas, nitrogen (translation of the name proposed by Chaptal - Nitrogene), alkaligen, alkali (Fourcroy's terms translated into Russian in 1799 and 1812), septon, putrefactive agent (Septon ) etc. Along with these numerous names, the words nitrogen and nitrogen gas were also used, especially from the beginning of the 19th century.

V. Severgin in his “Guide to the most convenient understanding of foreign chemical books” (1815) explains the word nitrogen as follows: “Azoticum, Azotum, Azotozum - nitrogen, asphyxiating substance”; "Azote - Nitrogen, saltpeter"; "nitrate gas, nitrogen gas." Finally, the word nitrogen entered Russian chemical nomenclature and replaced all other names after the publication of “Foundations of Pure Chemistry” by G. Hess (1831).
Derivative names for compounds containing nitrogen are formed in Russian and other languages ​​either from the word nitrogen (nitric acid, azo compounds, etc.) or from the international name nitrogenium (nitrates, nitro compounds, etc.). The last term comes from the ancient names nitr, nitrum, nitron, which usually meant saltpeter, sometimes natural soda. Ruland's dictionary (1612) says: "Nitrum, boron (baurach), saltpeter (Sal petrosum), nitrum, among the Germans - Salpeter, Bergsalz - the same as Sal petrae."

Oxygen, Oxygenium, O (8)

The discovery of oxygen (English Oxygen, French Oxygene, German Sauerstoff) marked the beginning of the modern period in the development of chemistry. It has been known since ancient times that combustion requires air, but for many centuries the combustion process remained unclear. Only in the 17th century. Mayow and Boyle independently expressed the idea that the air contains some substance that supports combustion, but this completely rational hypothesis was not developed at that time, since the idea of ​​combustion as a process of combining a burning body with a certain component of the air seemed at that time, contradicting such an obvious fact as the fact that during combustion there is a decomposition of the burning body into elementary components. It was on this basis that at the turn of the 17th century. The phlogiston theory arose, created by Becher and Stahl. With the advent of the chemical-analytical period in the development of chemistry (the second half of the 18th century) and the emergence of “pneumatic chemistry” - one of the main branches of the chemical-analytical direction - combustion, as well as respiration, again attracted the attention of researchers. The discovery of various gases and the establishment of their important role in chemical processes was one of the main incentives for the systematic studies of combustion processes undertaken by Lavoisier. Oxygen was discovered in the early 70s of the 18th century. The first report of this discovery was made by Priestley at a meeting of the Royal Society of England in 1775. Priestley, by heating red mercury oxide with a large burning glass, obtained a gas in which the candle burned more brightly than in ordinary air, and the smoldering splinter flared up. Priestley determined some of the properties of the new gas and called it daphlogisticated air. However, two years earlier, Priestley (1772) Scheele also obtained oxygen by the decomposition of mercuric oxide and other methods. Scheele called this gas fire air (Feuerluft). Scheele was able to report his discovery only in 1777. Meanwhile, in 1775, Lavoisier spoke before the Paris Academy of Sciences with a message that he had managed to obtain “the purest part of the air that surrounds us,” and described the properties of this part of the air. At first, Lavoisier called this “air” empyrean, vital (Air empireal, Air vital), the basis of vital air (Base de l'air vital). The almost simultaneous discovery of oxygen by several scientists in different countries caused controversy about priority. Priestley was especially persistent in seeking recognition as a discoverer. In essence, these disputes have not ended yet. A detailed study of the properties of oxygen and its role in the processes of combustion and the formation of oxides led Lavoisier to the incorrect conclusion that this gas is an acid-forming principle. In 1779, Lavoisier, in accordance with this conclusion, introduced a new name for oxygen - the acid-forming principle (principe acidifiant ou principe oxygine). Lavoisier derived the word oxygine, which appears in this complex name, from the Greek. - acid and “I produce.”
Fluorine, Fluorum, F (9)

Fluorine (English Fluorine, French and German Fluor) was obtained in a free state in 1886, but its compounds have been known for a long time and were widely used in metallurgy and glass production. The first mention of fluorite (CaF2) under the name fluorspar (Fliisspat) dates back to the 16th century. In one of the writings attributed to to the legendary Vasily Valentin, mentions stones painted in different colors - flux (Fliisse from Latin fluere - to flow, pour), which were used as fluxes in the smelting of metals. Agricola and Libavius ​​write about this. The latter introduces special names for this flux - fluorspar (Flusspat) and mineral fluors. Many authors of chemical and technical works of the 17th and 18th centuries. describe different types fluorspar. In Russia these stones were called fin, spalt, spat; Lomonosov classified these stones as selenites and called them spar or flux (crystal flux). Russian craftsmen, as well as collectors of mineral collections (for example, in the 18th century, Prince P.F. Golitsyn) knew that some types of spar when heated (for example, in hot water) glow in the dark. However, Leibniz, in his history of phosphorus (1710), mentions thermophosphorus (Thermophosphorus) in this regard.

Apparently, chemists and artisan chemists became acquainted with hydrofluoric acid no later than the 17th century. In 1670, the Nuremberg artisan Schwanhard used fluorspar mixed with sulfuric acid to etch patterns on glass goblets. However, at that time the nature of fluorspar and hydrofluoric acid was completely unknown. It was believed, for example, that silicic acid has a pickling effect in the Schwanhard process. This erroneous opinion was eliminated by Scheele, who proved that when fluorspar reacts with sulfuric acid, silicic acid is obtained as a result of the corrosion of a glass retort by the resulting hydrofluoric acid. In addition, Scheele established (1771) that fluorspar is a combination of calcareous earth with a special acid, which was called “Swedish acid”. Lavoisier recognized the hydrofluoric acid radical as a simple body and included it in his table of simple bodies. In a more or less pure form, hydrofluoric acid was obtained in 1809 by Gay-Lussac and Thénard by distilling fluorspar with sulfuric acid in a lead or silver retort. During this operation, both researchers were poisoned. The true nature of hydrofluoric acid was established in 1810 by Ampere. He rejected Lavoisier's opinion that hydrofluoric acid should contain oxygen, and proved the analogy of this acid with hydrochloric acid. Ampere reported his findings to Davy, who had recently established the elemental nature of chlorine. Davy completely agreed with Ampere's arguments and spent a lot of effort on obtaining free fluorine by electrolysis of hydrofluoric acid and other ways. Taking into account the strong corrosive effect of hydrofluoric acid on glass, as well as on plant and animal tissues, Ampere proposed calling the element contained in it fluorine (Greek - destruction, death, pestilence, plague, etc.). However, Davy did not accept this name and proposed another - Fluorine, by analogy with the then name of chlorine - Chlorine, both names are still used in English. The name given by Ampere has been preserved in Russian.

Numerous attempts to isolate free fluorine in the 19th century. did not lead to successful results. Only in 1886 did Moissan manage to do this and obtain free fluorine in the form of a yellow-green gas. Since fluorine is an unusually aggressive gas, Moissan had to overcome many difficulties before he found a material suitable for equipment in experiments with fluorine. The U-tube for electrolysis of hydrofluoric acid at minus 55oC (cooled by liquid methyl chloride) was made of platinum with fluorspar plugs. After the chemical and physical properties of free fluorine were studied, it found wide application. Now fluorine is one of the most important components in the synthesis of a wide range of organofluorine substances. In Russian literature of the early 19th century. fluorine was called differently: hydrofluoric acid base, fluorin (Dvigubsky, 1824), fluoricity (Iovsky), fluor (Shcheglov, 1830), fluor, fluorine, fluoride. Hess introduced the name fluorine in 1831.
Neon, Neon, Ne (10)

This element was discovered by Ramsay and Travers in 1898, a few days after the discovery of krypton. Scientists have sampled the first bubbles of gas produced by the evaporation of liquid argon and found that the spectrum of this gas indicates the presence of a new element. Ramsay talks about the choice of name for this element:

“When we first looked at its spectrum, my 12-year-old son was there.
“Father,” he said, “what is the name of this beautiful gas?”
“It hasn’t been decided yet,” I replied.
- Is it new? - the son was curious.
“Newly discovered,” I objected.
- Why not call him Novum, father?
“That doesn’t apply because novum is not a Greek word,” I replied. - We'll call it neon, which means new in Greek.
This is how the gas got its name."
Author: Figurovsky N.A.
Chemistry and Chemists No. 1 2012

To be continued...

"The popular library of chemical elements contains information about all elements known to mankind. Today there are 107 of them, some of them obtained artificially.

Just as the properties of each of the “bricks of the universe” are different, their histories and destinies are also different. Some elements, such as copper and iron, have been known since prehistoric times. The age of others is measured only in centuries, despite the fact that they, not yet discovered, have been used by humanity since time immemorial. It is enough to remember the oxygen that was discovered in the century. Still others were discovered years ago but only in our time have acquired paramount importance. These are uranium, aluminum, boron, lithium, beryllium. For others, such as europium and scandium, their working history is just beginning. The fifth were obtained artificially by methods of nuclear physical synthesis: technetium, plutonium, mendelevium kurchatovium... In a word, so many elements, so many individuals, so many stories, so many unique combinations of properties.

The first book included materials about the first 46 elements, in order of atomic numbers, and the second about all the rest.

Book:

How was technetium found?

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How was technetium found?

Segre was carrying a piece of irradiated molybdenum across the ocean. But there was no certainty that a new element would be discovered in it, and there could not be. There were “for” and “against”.

Falling on a molybdenum plate, a fast deuteron penetrates quite deeply into its thickness. In some cases, one of the deuterons can merge with the nucleus of a molybdenum atom. For this, first of all, it is necessary that the energy of the deuteron be sufficient to overcome the forces of electrical repulsion. This means that the cyclotron must accelerate the deuteron to a speed of about 15 thousand km/sec. The compound nucleus formed by the fusion of a deuteron and a molybdenum nucleus is unstable. It must get rid of excess energy. Therefore, as soon as the merger occurs, a neutron flies out of such a nucleus, and the former nucleus of the molybdenum atom turns into the nucleus of an atom of element No. 43.

Natural molybdenum consists of six isotopes, which means that, in principle, an irradiated piece of molybdenum could contain atoms of six isotopes of the new element. This is important because some isotopes can be short-lived and therefore chemically elusive, especially since more than a month has passed since the irradiation. But other isotopes of the new element could “survive”. These are what Segre hoped to find.

That's where all the pros ended, actually. There were much more “against” ones.

Ignorance of the half-lives of the isotopes of element No. 43 worked against the researchers. It could also happen that not a single isotope of element No. 43 exists for more than a month. “Accompanying” nuclear reactions, in which radioactive isotopes of molybdenum, niobium and some other elements were formed, also worked against the researchers.

Select minimum quantity It is very difficult to obtain an unknown element from a radioactive multicomponent mixture. But this is exactly what Segre and his few assistants had to do.

The work began on January 30, 1937. First of all, they found out what particles were emitted by molybdenum that had been in the cyclotron and crossed the ocean. It emitted beta particles - fast nuclear electrons. When about 200 mg of irradiated molybdenum was dissolved in aqua regia, the beta activity of the solution was approximately the same as that of several tens of grams of uranium.

Previously unknown activity was discovered; it remained to determine who the “culprit” was.

First, radioactive phosphorus-32, formed from impurities that were in molybdenum, was chemically isolated from the solution. The same solution was then “cross-examined” by row and column of the periodic table. Carriers of unknown activity could be isotopes of niobium, zirconium, rhenium, ruthenium, and finally molybdenum itself. Only by proving that none of these elements were involved in the emitted electrons could we talk about the discovery of element number 43.

Two methods were used as the basis for the work: one is the logical method of exclusion, the other is the “carrier” method, widely used by chemists for separating mixtures, when a compound of this element or another, similar to it in chemical properties. And if a carrier substance is removed from the mixture, it carries away “related” atoms from there.

First of all, niobium was excluded. The solution was evaporated, and the resulting precipitate was dissolved again, this time in potassium hydroxide. Some elements remained in the undissolved part, but unknown activity went into solution. And then potassium niobate was added to it so that the stable niobium would “take away” the radioactive one. If, of course, it was present in the solution. Niobium is gone, but the activity remains. Zirconium was subjected to the same test. But the zirconium fraction also turned out to be inactive. Molybdenum sulfide was then precipitated, but the activity still remained in solution.

After this, the most difficult part began: it was necessary to separate the unknown activity and rhenium. After all, the impurities contained in the “tooth” material could turn not only into phosphorus-32, but also into radioactive isotopes of rhenium. This seemed all the more likely since it was the rhenium compound that brought the unknown activity out of the solution. And as the Noddacks found out, element No. 43 should be more similar to rhenium than to manganese or any other element. Separating the unknown activity from rhenium meant finding a new element, because all other “candidates” had already been rejected.

Emilio Segre and his closest assistant Carlo Perier were able to do this. They found that in hydrochloric acid solutions (0.4–5 normal), a carrier of unknown activity precipitates when hydrogen sulfide is passed through the solution. But rhenium also falls out at the same time. If precipitation is carried out from a more concentrated solution (10-normal), then rhenium precipitates completely, and the element carrying unknown activity only partially.

Finally, for control purposes, Perrier conducted experiments to separate a carrier of unknown activity from ruthenium and manganese. And then it became clear that beta particles could only be emitted by the nuclei of a new element, which was called technetium (from the Greek ???????, which means “artificial”).

These experiments were completed in June 1937.

Thus, the first of the chemical “dinosaurs” was recreated - elements that once existed in nature, but were completely “extinct” as a result of radioactive decay.

Later, extremely small amounts of technetium, formed as a result of the spontaneous fission of uranium, were discovered in the ground. The same thing, by the way, happened with neptunium and plutonium: first the element was obtained artificially, and only then, after studying it, they were able to find it in nature.

Now technetium is obtained from fission fragments of uranium-35 in nuclear reactors. True, it is not easy to separate it from the mass of fragments. Per kilogram of fragments there is about 10 g of element No. 43. This is mainly the isotope technetium-99, the half-life of which is 212 thousand years. Thanks to the accumulation of technetium in reactors, it was possible to determine the properties of this element, obtain it in its pure form, and study quite a few of its compounds. In them, technetium exhibits valency 2+, 3+ and 7+. Just like rhenium, technetium is a heavy metal (density 11.5 g/cm3), refractory (melting point 2140°C), and chemically resistant.

Despite the fact that technetium is one of the rarest and most expensive metals (much more expensive than gold), it has already brought practical benefits.

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ARTICLE THREE.
Alchemical elements. Elements whose names are related to their properties or method of opening.

It is believed that in the 13th-17th centuries, alchemists discovered five new elements (though their elementary nature was proven much later). We are talking about phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth and zinc. It's an amazing coincidence that four of the five elements are in the same group. If we take into account that the discovery of zinc was, in fact, a rediscovery (zinc metal was smelted back in Ancient India and in Rome), it turns out that alchemists discovered exclusively the elements of the fifth group.

Zinc
The name of the metal was introduced into the Russian language by M.V. Lomonosov - from German Zink. It probably comes from Old Germanic tinka- white, indeed, the most common zinc preparation - ZnO oxide (the “philosophical wool” of alchemists) is white.

Phosphorus
When the Hamburg alchemist Henning Brand discovered the white modification of phosphorus in 1669, he was amazed by its glow in the dark (in fact, it is not phosphorus that glows, but its vapors when oxidized by atmospheric oxygen). The new substance received a name that, translated from Greek, means “carrying light.” So “traffic light” is linguistically the same as “Lucifer”. By the way, the Greeks called it Phosphoros morning Venus, which foreshadowed the sunrise.

Arsenic
The Russian name is most likely associated with the poison used to poison mice; among other things, the color of gray arsenic resembles a mouse. Latin arsenicum goes back to the Greek “arsenikos” - masculine, probably due to the strong effect of the compounds of this element. And what were they used for, thanks fiction everyone knows.

Antimony
In chemistry, this element has three names. Russian word“antimony” comes from the Turkish “surme” - rubbing or blackening eyebrows in ancient times, the paint for this was finely ground black antimony sulfide Sb2S3 (“You fast, don’t darken your eyebrows.” - M. Tsvetaeva). Latin name of the element ( stibium) comes from the Greek “stibi” - a cosmetic product for lining the eyes and treating eye diseases. Salts of antimony acid are called antimonites, the name is possibly associated with the Greek “antemon” - a flower, an intergrowth of needle-shaped crystals of antimony luster Sb2S2 similar to flowers.

Bismuth
This is probably a corruption of German " Weisse Masse“ - white mass, white nuggets of bismuth with a reddish tint have been known since ancient times. By the way, in Western European languages ​​(except German) the name of the element begins with “b” ( bismuth). Replacing the Latin “b” with the Russian “v” is a common phenomenon Abel- Abel, Basil- Vasily, basilisk- basilisk, Barbara- Varvara, barbarism- barbarism, Benjamin- Benjamin, Bartholomew- Bartholomew, Babylon- Babylon, Byzantium- Byzantium, Lebanon- Lebanon, Libya- Libya, Baal- Baal, alphabet- alphabet... Perhaps the translators believed that the Greek “beta” is the Russian “v”.

Elements named for their properties or the properties of their compounds.

Fluorine
For a long time, only derivatives of this element were known, including extremely caustic hydrofluoric acid, which dissolves even glass and leaves very severe, difficult-to-heal burns on the skin. The nature of this acid was established in 1810 by the French physicist and chemist A.M. Ampere; he proposed a name for the corresponding element (which was isolated much later, in 1886): from the Greek. “fluoros” - destruction, death.

Chlorine
In Greek, “chloros” means yellow-green. This is exactly the color of this gas. The same root is in the word “chlorophyll” (from the Greek “chloros” and “phyllon” - leaf).

Bromine
In Greek "bromos" means foul. The suffocating smell of bromine is similar to the smell of chlorine.

Osmium
In Greek “osme” means smell. Although the metal itself does not smell, the highly volatile osmium tetroxide OsO4 has a rather unpleasant odor, similar to the smell of chlorine and garlic.

Iodine
In Greek “iodes” means purple. This is the color of the vapors of this element, as well as its solutions in non-solvating solvents (alkanes, carbon tetrachloride, etc.)

Chromium
In Greek “chroma” means color, color. Many chromium compounds are brightly colored: oxides are green, black and red, hydrated Cr(III) salts are green and purple, and chromates and dichromates are yellow and orange.

Iridium
The element is named essentially the same as chromium; in Greek “iris” (“iridos”) - rainbow, Iris - goddess of the rainbow, messenger of the gods. Indeed, crystalline IrCl is copper-red, IrCl2 is dark green, IrCl3 is olive green, IrCl4 is brown, IrF6 is yellow, IrS, Ir2O3 and IrBr4 are blue, IrO2 is black. The word “iridization” is of the same origin - the iridescent coloring of the surface of some minerals, the edges of clouds, as well as “iris” (plant), “iris diaphragm” and even “iritis” - inflammation of the iris of the eye.

Rhodium
The element was discovered in 1803 by the English chemist W.G. Wollaston. He dissolved native South American platinum in aqua regia; after neutralizing the excess acid with caustic soda and separating platinum and palladium, he was left with a pink-red solution, sodium hexachloride Na3RhCl6, from which the new metal was isolated. Its name is derived from the Greek words “rodon” - rose and “rodeos” - rose-red.

Praseodymium and neodymium
In 1841, K. Mosander divided the “lanthanum earth” into two new “earths” (that is, oxides). One of them was lanthanum oxide, the other was very similar to it and was called “didymia” - from the Greek. "Didimos" is a twin. In 1882, K. Auer von Welsbach succeeded in dividing didymy into components. It turned out that this is a mixture of oxides of two new elements. One of them gave green salts, and Auer called this element praseodymium, that is, “green twin” (from the Greek “prazidos” - light green). The second element produced pink-red salts; it was called neodymium, that is, “the new twin.”

Thallium
The English physicist and chemist William Crookes, a specialist in the field of spectral analysis, studying waste from sulfuric acid production, wrote on March 7, 1861 in a laboratory journal: “The green line in the spectrum, given by some portions of selenium residues, is not due to either sulfur, selenium, or tellurium; no calcium, barium, strontium; no potassium, sodium, lithium." Indeed, this was the line of a new element, the name of which is derived from the Greek thallos- green branch. Crookes approached the choice of the name romantically: “I chose this name because the green line corresponds to the spectrum and echoes the specific brightness of the fresh color of plants at the present time.”

Indium
In 1863, in the German Journal of Practical Chemistry, a message appeared from the director of the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Freiberg Mining Academy F. Reich and his assistant T. Richter about the discovery of a new metal. While analyzing local polymetallic ores in search of newly discovered thallium, the authors “noticed a hitherto unknown indigo blue line.” And further they write: “We received such a bright, sharp and stable blue line in the spectroscope that we without hesitation came to the conclusion about the existence of an unknown metal, which we propose to call indium.” Concentrates of salts of the new element were detected even without a spectroscope - by the intense blue color of the burner flame. This color was very similar to the color of indigo dye, hence the name of the element.

Rubidium and cesium
These are the first chemical elements discovered in the early 60s of the 18th century by G. Kirchhoff and R. Bunsen using the method they developed - spectral analysis. Cesium is named for the bright blue line in the spectrum (lat. caesius - blue), rubidium - for the lines in the red part of the spectrum (lat. rubidus- red). To obtain several grams of new salts alkali metals The researchers processed 44 tons of mineral water from Durkheim and over 180 kg of the mineral lepidolite - aluminosilicate with the composition K(Li,Al)3(Si,Al)4O10(F,OH)2, in which rubidium and cesium oxides are present as impurities.

Hydrogen and oxygen
These names are literal translations into Russian from Latin ( hydrogenium, oxygenium). They were invented by A.L. Lavoisier, who mistakenly believed that oxygen “gives birth” to all acids. It would be more logical to do the opposite: to call oxygen hydrogen (this element also “gives birth” to water), and hydrogen - oxygen, since it is part of all acids.

Nitrogen
The French name of the element (azote) was also proposed by Lavoisier - from the Greek negative prefix “a” and the word “zoe” - life (the same root in the word “zoology” and its derivatives - zoo, zoogeography, zoomorphism, zooplankton, zootechnician, etc. .). The name is not entirely apt: nitrogen, although not suitable for respiration, is absolutely necessary for life, since it is part of any protein, any nucleic acid. Same origin and German name Stickstoff- asphyxiating substance. The root “azo” is present in the international names “azide”, “azo compound”, “azine” and others. But the Latin nitrogenium and English nitrogen come from the Hebrew “neter” (Greek “nitron”, lat. nitrum); This is how in ancient times they called natural alkali - soda, and later - saltpeter.

Radium and radon
Names common to all languages ​​come from Latin words radius- beam and radiare- emit rays. This is how the Curies, who discovered radium, identified its ability to emit invisible particles. The words “radio”, “radiation” and their countless derivatives have the same origin (more than a hundred such words can be found in dictionaries, ranging from outdated radiograms to modern radioecology). When radium decays, a radioactive gas is released, which is called radium emanation (from the Latin. emanatio- outflow), and then radon - by analogy with the names of a number of other noble gases (or perhaps simply by the initial and final letters of the English name proposed by E. Rutherford radium emanation).

Actinium and protactinium
The name of these radioactive elements is given by analogy with radium: in Greek “actis” - radiation, light. Although protactinium was discovered in 1917, that is, 18 years later than actinium, in the so-called natural radioactive series of actinium (which begins with uranium-235) protactinium is located earlier; hence its name: from the Greek “protos” - first, initial, initial.

Astatine
This element was obtained artificially in 1940 by irradiating bismuth with alpha particles at a cyclotron. But only seven years later, the authors of the discovery - American physicists D. Corson, K. Mackenzie and E. Segre gave this element a name derived from the Greek word “astatos” - unstable, shaky (the word “statics” and many of its derivatives have the same root) . The longest-lived isotope of the element has a half-life of 7.2 hours - then it seemed that this was very short.

Argon
A noble gas isolated from the air in 1894 by English scientists J.W. Rayleigh and W. Ramsay, did not react with any substance, for which it received its name - from the Greek negative prefix “a” and the word “ergon” - business, activity. From this root comes the extra-systemic unit of energy erg, and the words “energy”, “energetic”, etc. The name “argon” was proposed by the chemist Mazan, who chaired the meeting of the British Association in Oxford, where Rayleigh and Ramsay made a report on the discovery of a new gas In 1904, the chemist Ramsay received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of argon and other noble gases in the atmosphere, and the physicist John William Strett (Lord Rayleigh) in the same year and, in fact, for the same discovery received the Nobel Prize in Physics. This is probably the only case of this kind. While argon confirms its name, not a single stable compound has been obtained, except for inclusion compounds with phenol, hydroquinone, and acetone.

Platinum
When the Spaniards in America in the middle of the 16th century became acquainted with a new metal, very similar to silver (in Spanish plata), they gave it a somewhat disparaging name platina, literally “little silver”, “little silver”. This is explained by the refractoriness of platinum (about 1770°C), which could not be remelted.

Molybdenum
In Greek “molybdos” means lead, hence the Latin molybdaena- this is how in the Middle Ages they called the lead sheen PbS, and the rarer molybdenum sheen (MoS2), and other similar minerals that left a black mark on paper, including graphite and lead itself (it’s not for nothing that pencil is called in German - Bleistift, that is, a lead rod). At the end of the 18th century, a new metal was isolated from molybdenum luster (molybdenite); at the suggestion of Y.Ya. Berzelius called it molybdenum.

Tungsten
A mineral with this name has long been known in Germany. It is a mixed iron-manganese tungstate x FeWO4 y MnWO4. Because of its heaviness, it was often mistaken for tin ore, from which, however, no metals were smelted. The suspicious attitude of miners towards this yet another “devilish” ore (remember nickel and cobalt) was reflected in its name: Wolf in German - wolf. What is “ram”? There is this version: in Old German Ramm- ram; it turns out that evil spirits “devour” the metal, like a wolf devours a ram. But something else can be assumed: in the South German, Swiss and Austrian dialects German language and now there is a verb rahm(read “ram”), which means “skim off the cream,” “take the best part for yourself.” Then, instead of “wolves - sheep,” we get another version: the “wolf” takes the best part for itself and the miners have nothing left. The word “tungsten” is in German and Russian, while in English and French all that remains of it is the sign W in formulas and the name of the mineral wolframite; in other cases - only “tungsten”. This is what Berzelius once called the heavy mineral from which K.V. Scheele isolated tungsten oxide in 1781. In Swedish tung sten- a heavy stone, hence the name of the metal. By the way, this mineral (CaWO4) was later named scheelite in honor of the scientist.

Elements whose names are related to the way they are opened.

Lithium
When in 1817 Berzelius's student, the Swedish chemist I.A. Arfvedson discovered in one of the minerals a new “fire-resistant alkali of still unknown nature,” his teacher suggested calling it “lithion” - from the Greek “lithos” - stone, since this alkali, unlike the already known sodium and potassium alkali, was first discovered in the “kingdom” of stones. The name “lithium” was assigned to the element. The same Greek root is in the words “lithosphere”, “lithography” (imprint from a stone mold) and others.

Sodium
In the 18th century, the name “natron” (see “Nitrogen”) was assigned to “mineral alkali” - caustic soda. Nowadays in chemistry “sodium lime” is a mixture of sodium and calcium hydroxides. So sodium and nitrogen - two completely dissimilar elements - appear to have something in common (based on their Latin names nitrogenium And sodium) origin. English and French element names ( sodium) probably originated from the Arabic “suvwad” - this is what the Arabs called a coastal sea plant, the ash of which, unlike most other plants, contains not potassium carbonate, but sodium carbonate, that is, soda.

Potassium
In Arabic, “al-kali” is a product obtained from plant ash, that is, potassium carbonate. Until now, rural residents use this ash to feed plants with potassium; for example, sunflower ash contains more than 30% potassium. English name element potassium, like the Russian “potash”, is borrowed from the languages ​​of the Germanic group; in German and Dutch ash- ash, pot- a pot, that is, potash is “ash from a pot.” Previously, potassium carbonate was obtained by evaporating the extract from ash in vats.

Calcium
Romans in a word calx(genus case calcis) called all soft stones. Over time, this name was assigned only to limestone (not without reason chalk in English - chalk). The same word was used for lime, a product of calcination of calcium carbonate. Alchemists called the firing process itself calcination. Hence soda ash is anhydrous sodium carbonate obtained by calcination of crystalline carbonate Na2CO3·10H2O. Calcium was first obtained from lime in 1808 by G. Davy, who also gave the name to the new element. Calcium is a relative of the calculator: among the Romans calculus(diminutive of calx) - small pebble, pebble. Such pebbles were used for simple calculations using a board with slots - an abacus, the ancestor of Russian abacus. All these words left their mark in European languages. Yes, in English calx- scale, ash, and lime; calcimine- lime mortar for whitewashing; calcination- calcination, roasting; calculus- kidney stones, bladder stones, as well as calculus (differential and integral) in higher mathematics; calculate- calculate, count. In modern Italian, which is closest to Latin, calcolo is both a calculation and a stone.

Barium
In 1774, Swedish chemists K.V. Scheele and Yu.G. Gan isolated a new “earth” from the heavy spar mineral (BaSO4), which was called barite; in Greek “baros” means heaviness, “baris” means heavy. When a new metal was isolated from this “earth” (BaO) in 1808 using electrolysis, it was called barium. So barium also has unexpected and practically unrelated “relatives”; among them - barometer, barograph, pressure chamber, baritone - low ("heavy") voice, baryons - heavy elementary particles.

Bor
The Arabs used the word “burak” to call many salts white, soluble in water. One of these salts is borax, a natural sodium tetraborate Na2B4O7·10H2O. Boric acid was obtained from borax in 1702 by calcination, and from it in 1808 L. Gay-Lussac and L. Thénard independently isolated a new element, boron.

Aluminum
It was discovered by the physicist and chemist X.K. Oersted in 1825. The name comes from Latin aluminum(genus case aluminis) - the so-called alum (double potassium-aluminum sulfate KAl(SO4)2·12H2O), they were used as a mordant when dyeing fabrics. The Latin name probably goes back to the Greek “halme” - brine, salt solution. It is curious that in England aluminum is aluminum, and in the USA - aluminum.

Lanthanum
In 1794, the Finnish chemist J. Gadolin discovered a new “yttrium earth” in the mineral cerite. Nine years later, in the same mineral, J. Berzelius and W. Hisinger found another “earth”, which they called cerium. From these “earths” oxides of a number of rare earth elements were subsequently isolated. One of them, discovered in 1839, at the suggestion of Berzelius, was called lanthanum - from the Greek. “lantanane” - to hide: the new element “hid” from chemists for decades.

Silicon
The Russian name of the element, given to it by G.I. Hess in 1831, comes from the Old Slavonic word “flint” - hard stone. This is the origin of Latin silicium(and international “silicate”): silex- stone, cobblestone, as well as cliff, rock. It is clear that there are no rocks made of soft stones.

Zirconium
The name comes from the Persian “tsargun” - painted in golden color. One of the varieties of the zircon mineral (ZrSiO4) - the hyacinth gemstone - has this color. Zirconium dioxide (“zircon earth”) was isolated from Ceylon zircon in 1789 by the German chemist M.G. Klaproth.

Technetium
The name reflects the artificial production of this element: minute quantities of technetium were synthesized in 1936 by irradiating molybdenum in a cyclotron with deuterium nuclei. In Greek “technetos” means “artificial”.

“Chemistry and life - XXI century”

Nuclide table General information Name, symbol Technetium 99, 99Tc Neutrons 56 Protons 43 Properties of the nuclide Atomic mass 98.9062547(21) ... Wikipedia

TECHNETIUM- (symbol Tc), silver-gray metal, RADIOACTIVE ELEMENT. It was first obtained in 1937 by bombarding MOLYBDENUM nuclei with deuterons (the nuclei of DEUTERium atoms) and was the first element synthesized in a cyclotron. Technetium found in products... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

TECHNETIUM- artificially synthesized radioactive chemical. element, symbol Tc (lat. Technetium), at. n. 43, at. m. 98.91. T. is obtained in fairly large quantities from the fission of uranium 235 in nuclear reactors; managed to obtain about 20 isotopes of T. One of... ... Big Polytechnic Encyclopedia

TECHNETIUM- (Technetium), Tc, artificial radioactive element of group VII of the periodic table, atomic number 43; metal. Obtained by Italian scientists C. Perrier and E. Segre in 1937 ... Modern encyclopedia

TECHNETIUM- (lat. Technetium) Ts, chemical element Group VII of the periodic table, atomic number 43, atomic mass 98.9072. Radioactive, the most stable isotopes are 97Tc and 99Tc (half-lives are 2.6.106 and 2.12.105 years, respectively). First… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

TECHNETIUM- (lat. Technetium), Tc radioact. chem. element of group VII is periodic. Mendeleev's system of elements, at. number 43, the first of the artificially obtained chemicals. elements. Naib. long-lived radionuclides 98Tc (T1/2 = 4.2·106 years) and available in noticeable amounts... ... Physical encyclopedia

technetium- noun, number of synonyms: 3 metal (86) ecamanganese (1) element (159) Dictionary of synonyms ... Dictionary of synonyms

Technetium- (Technetium), Tc, artificial radioactive element of group VII of the periodic table, atomic number 43; metal. Obtained by Italian scientists C. Perrier and E. Segre in 1937. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

technetium- I; m. [from Greek. technetos artificial] Chemical element (Tc), a silver-gray radioactive metal obtained from nuclear waste. ◁ Technetium, oh, oh. * * * technetium (lat. Technetium), a chemical element of group VII... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

Technetium- (lat. Technetium) Te, radioactive chemical element of group VII of the periodic system of Mendeleev, atomic number 43, atomic mass 98, 9062; metal, malleable and ductile. The existence of element with atomic number 43 was... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia

Books

• Elements. A wonderful dream of Professor Mendeleev, Kuramshin Arkady Iskanderovich. What chemical element is named after goblins? How many times has technetium been “discovered”? What are “transfermium wars”? Why once even pundits confused manganese with magnesium and lead with... Buy for 567 RUR
• Elements are a wonderful dream of Professor Mendeleev, Kuramshin A.. Which chemical element is named after goblins? How many times has technetium been “discovered”? What are “transfermium wars”? Why once even pundits confused manganese with magnesium and lead with...