Talk:Systematic element name
From Academic Kids
| Number | Name |
| 0 | nil |
| 1 | un |
| 2 | bi |
| 3 | tri |
| 4 | quad |
| 5 | pent |
| 6 | hex |
| 7 | sept |
| 8 | oct |
| 9 | enn |
Did everyone in the IUPAC flunk Latin and Greek and want to flaunt it? Once upon a time Archie Bunker said there are two reasons form something he proposed (I don't remember what). He listed the reasons:
- (a) Because .... , and
- (2) Because .... .
"(a) and (2)". That's what this sounds like.
un is Latin; bi is Latin; tri is either Latin or Greek; quad is Latin; pent is Greek; hex is Greek; sept is Latin; oct is Latin; enn is Greek. Did they toss a coin for each one separately to decided which to use? I such coin-tossing considered "systematic"? Michael Hardy 20:29, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)
- Maybe they wanted to recognize the value that both Latin and Greek have had in the scientific community. Or maybe they were scientists and not linguists. -Branddobbe 07:58, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)
- The systematicity (?) is obviously not in the origins of the system, but in its application: the six possible translations between atomic number, element name and element symbol can be done mechanically. And although not systematic, the system's origins are not without logic. It's easy to list some of the design goals that had to be met.
- The system must be easily recognizable to the majority of the world's scientists. Greek and Latin are both traditional sources for newly coined scientific terms.
- For aesthetic reasons, each root must be monosyllabic. That rules out mono and nona, for example.
- No two roots must start with the same letter, to avoid ambiguous symbols. Given quad, quint is ruled out.
- It must be possible to chain the roots into pronounceable words.
- Notice that most of these requirements are linguistic in nature; the IUPAC system is linguistically sound. Given constraints like the above, the IUPAC system may be near-optimal. Just try and come up with a better proposal. :–)
- —Herbee 02:19, 2004 Apr 18 (UTC)
Trivia
Is octium correct for IUPAC? Wouldn't it be Nilniloctium, (Nno) ? The trivia section should be expanded to include all IUPAC temporary names assigned to elements how having real permanent names. 132.205.15.43 23:06, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)
