How The Elements Got Their Names

↓ More info and sources below ↓

There's a story inside every box!

Ever wonder what all those names on the periodic table actually mean?

There's a whole lot of fascinating history on Mendeleev's table. Some carry names from antiquity, some are named for people, some are named for places, and some are named for mythical beings. Discover the etymology of the elements!

Music:
"Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod

Joe Hanson - Host and writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Associate Producer
Katie Graham - Director of Photography
Andrew Matthews - Editor and motion graphics
John Knudsen - Gaffer
Isaac Hammons - Sound

Special thanks to the following for help researching this episode:

Sister Mary Virginia Orna, teacher and historian of chemistry
Mark Benvenuto, chemist at University of Detroit - Mercy
Steven Maguire, chemist at University of Ottawa

Produced for PBS Digital Studios
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[AsapSCIENCE]

Science meets poetry! Brilliant, Joe! 

[lilyevans]

This is what it would be like if doctor Seuss became a scientist, and studied the peireodic table.

[StudioAnnLe]

Took me a while to realize he was rapping.  Fantastic!

[zavionwimbley]

Why do we give names to all the elements? No matter what we call them, it doesn't change the experiments. There's so much more behind each label. Here's a story of the names on the periodic table.

The first name, Hydrogen, means it likes to form water. While the last one sounds like a spell from Harry Potter. Silicon's named for a rock in the ground, and many more called from where they are found. Sulfur's just sulfur, as far back as we know. And calx, and borax state from-- quite a while ago. This one's from a red stone, and this one's yellow. And one's from a rock named for this Russian fellow. Chromium's compounds have colorful sheens. Bromine stinks, and Chlorine wafts green. Bismuth starts white, 'til its colors come out. Zinc has pointy crystals, and Barium's stout. Indium's not for India, as you may have learned. It's just one of four color spectra, that this bunch makes when they burn. They tasted Aluminum and thought it was bitter. Rhodium's rose, Iodine's violet, and Zirconium? A gold-like glitter. Speaking of gold, the name's different from the symbol slapped on. Our mouths speak "shining yellow" while we abbreviate "shining dawn." Many other names don't match abbreviations. And those can be... confusing situations. Potash, or Kalium, comes from burnt wood, while nater, or soda, made headaches feel good. For a few more, one language can't settle. Like... Ferrum's Latin, but Iron's... a holy metal. Tungsten in America beat Wolfram from across the pond, but Niobium, not Columbium, that compromise spawned. Many names are the products of reactions. Bringing forth acid, or nitre, or charcoal transactions. They found Osmium thanks to its distinctive smell. And fluorine in fluorspar makes metals flow well. Antimony means dead monk, or never alone. And Lithium's the first alkali that was found in a stone.

"Lithic... (i, t, h...) i-c. Meaning stone."

Splitting this mineral gave elements two. Praseodymium the green twin, and Neodymium the new. There's a group of idle gases that don't react. One was named by a child... little known fact! Dysprosium's not the only one playing hard to get. For a long time. ores held Lanthanum's secret. Astatine's unstable and will quickly decay, like these three radioactives, all meaning "ray." Technetium's so rare that we found it by making it. And these are so new that they haven't been named yet. The Greeks thought Molybdenum might have been lead, while the Spaniards' "little silver" was Platinum instead. Cadmium's in calamine for Cadmus the prince. Lots more from mythology have been added since. There's goblins and devils, and even mighty Thor, who walked down Iris's rainbow to Asgard's door. There's Vanadis, Tantalus, Ceres and the Titans. The giver of fire, and the one who's light brightens. Speaking of light, we found Helium in the Sun. And Mercury, that liquid silver, is a planetary one. There's an asteroid, Earth, and even the moon. Uranus, Pluto, and also Neptune.

There's a funny story behind 93. It was named for Italy by Enrico Fermi. But his science was wrong, and when as Nobel came along, he snuck off to the states to be free.

A river, state, college, a lab called Livermore. And one mine in Sweden gave us names for four! Cyprus and Magnesia, places so old. Russia and Scandinavia, places so cold... We could draw a map of Europe with the places that remain, but is Gallium for France? Or the discoverer's name? The rest are for people, but that's pretty clear. They found half this stuff... they DESERVE to be here!

Thanks for watching and... stay curious. I'm officially out of rhymes so... subscribe to see more of us...?

[BarryPlaysGames]

I was gonna make a joke about sodium but Na

[NickYT]

I have never paused so much on a video...

[MagicTurtle]

This was amazing. Shared it on facebook. The rhymes weren't lazy either. Clever, entertaining, funny, and informative.

[deetmapping]

Nihonium was named for the discoverers’ Japan,
While moscovium was named near the place it was planned,
But they never would’ve existed without Tennessee,
Which got its own element, as did Yuri.

[TaiFerret]

I always thought manganese was named after the Japanese comics.

[nitashajohnson]

I've just found the rhyme I'll sing to my future children every night when they fall asleep! and When I tuck them in after they're sleeping Ill whisper to them "its ok to be smart"
sidenote: because of this channel I'm officially a PBS donor and when they say "thanks to viewers like you" Ill smile a little bit.

[andres]

If I didn't miss anything, only three elements were not mentioned in the video: Holmium (it could have been included with other elements named for Scandinavian places, as it was called after Copenhaguen), Darmstadtium and Radon.

[dogoman]

Periodic Table update (New names of elements)
Nihonium (Nh)113 - Nihon "Japan"
Moscovium (Mc) 115 - Moscow, Russia
Tennessine (Ts) 117 - Tennessee, US
Oganesson (Og) 118 - Yuri Oganessian

[nadian]

These are all the gems I can name. Peridot, holy blue agate, diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, garnet, lapis, bismuth, rose quartz, blueberry quarts, pearl, sardonyx, amethyst, smokey quarts, opal, alexandrite, topaz, aqua marine, jasper, zircon, rainbow quarts, malachite, sugalite, moonstone, and snowflake obsidian.

[tammytoa]

for someone with little knowledge about the elemental table, this was seriously hard to keep up with!

[johnjackson]

Fascinating, and most of it done in rhyme. Our Chemistry teacher was fond of telling us about how lead got it's chemical symbol. Lead, Pb for plumbum which would have meant that had they existed in that time, ancient plumbers would have been plumbummers.
Well done.

[chanyy]

0:43 What Mr Rude would’ve looked like if all the Mr Men characters were illustrated as human beings

[suicidalteacup]

Actually hydrogen comes from the greek words hydro- (ύδωρ, pronounced ίthor) meaning water and gen- (γενώ, pronounced yenό) meaning producing or giving birth.

[cmoore]

it took me longer than it should've to realize he was rhyming

[The-One-and-Only]

Wow all 118 are named 🎉can't wait for 119

[luisiriano]

I like going to sleep to videos from this channel but i had to watch this and i loved it