Damon Mcknight
Several chemical elements are named after places on Earth, including countries, cities, and states. Tennessine, for example, is named after the US state of Tennessee. This is one of 41 elements named after places on Earth, with a further 10 named after bodies in the Solar System.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Element | Tennessine |
| Named After | The US state of Tennessee |
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What You'll Learn
The element 'australium' is named after Australia
Australium is a fictional element named after Australia. It was first introduced in the video game "Team Fortress 2" and its comic "Loose Canon". Australium is a mysterious metal element that can adapt and transform itself into different states and forms, with invigorating health effects, making it extremely valuable and sought-after. It is said to extend life beyond its natural expectancy and can even raise the dead. Its discovery has been attributed to Australia's rapid technological advancement.
Australium is often associated with Australia in the game's lore, with Australians depicted as secretive about the element and its uses. It is sold and exchanged in the form of solid bars, similar to gold, with a unique logo of a lone figure boxing a kangaroo, another iconic symbol of Australia. The element has been used as a form of payment and to create powerful weapons.
In the game's narrative, Australium is considered a rare and valuable resource, with limited caches discovered by characters such as Radigan Conagher. It is believed to enhance intelligence and virility, leading to increased muscle mass, a love of fighting, heavy drinking, and the growth of facial hair. The element's scarcity and potential for exploitation are central to the game's story, with various characters seeking to control its supply.
The inclusion of Australium in "Team Fortress 2" adds a layer of intrigue and world-building to the game. It serves as a plot device, influencing character motivations, conflicts, and the advancement of technology within the game's fictional universe. The element's connection to Australia, through its name and the symbolism on its bars, further establishes the country's significance in the game's lore.
While Australium is a fictional element created for the game, it showcases the creative integration of scientific concepts into video game narratives, enhancing the player's immersion and engagement with the virtual world.
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Gallium is named after France, the Latin for which is 'Gallia'
Gallium is a chemical element with the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. It is a soft, silvery metal at room temperature and pressure, turning silvery-white in its liquid state. It was discovered in 1875 by French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who named the element gallia, after his native land of France, or Gallia in Latin. Boisbaudran had identified gallium using spectroscopy, noting its characteristic spectrum of two violet lines in a sample of sphalerite.
Gallium is used to make alloys with low melting points, including galinstan, a non-toxic alternative to mercury in thermometers. It is also used in semiconductors and optoelectronic devices, and has applications in medicine due to its interaction with the body in a manner similar to iron(III). For example, gallium salts are used to treat hypercalcemia associated with tumour metastasis to bones.
Gallium's discovery was not without its challenges. Boisbaudran initially measured the density of gallium as 4.7 g/cm3, which did not align with Mendeleev's predictions. Mendeleev suggested remeasuring the density, and Boisbaudran then obtained the correct value of 5.9 g/cm3, as predicted by Mendeleev.
There is some speculation about the origin of the name gallium. While Boisbaudran denied that he named the element after himself, the Latin word for rooster is gallus, and le coq is French for rooster. However, in a later publication, Boisbaudran explained that he named the element gallium in honour of France, or Gallia in Latin.
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Francium is also named after France
Francium, the second-rarest naturally occurring element, was discovered by Marguerite Perey in France on January 7, 1939. It is highly unstable, and bulk francium has never been observed. It is presumed to be a highly reactive metal, similar to other elements in its periodic table column. Francium was the last element discovered in nature, rather than being synthesized, and it is named after France, the country in which it was discovered.
Perey initially named the new isotope actinium-K, which is now referred to as francium-223. In 1946, she proposed the name catium (Cm) for the element, as she believed it to be the most electropositive cation of the elements. However, her supervisor, Irène Joliot-Curie, opposed this name due to its association with the word "cat" rather than "cation". Additionally, the symbol conflicted with that of curium.
Perey then suggested the name francium, derived from the name of the country France. This name was officially adopted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in 1949. Francium became the second element named after France, the first being gallium. The symbol for francium was initially assigned as Fa but was soon changed to Fr.
The discovery of francium was not without controversy. In 1936, Romanian physicist Horia Hulubei and French scientist Yvette Cauchois analyzed pollucite using high-resolution X-ray technology. They observed weak emission lines and presumed they had discovered element 87. They proposed the name moldavium (Ml) after the Romanian province of Moldavia, where Hulubei was born. However, Hulubei's work was criticized by American physicist F. H. Hirsh Jr., who disputed the research methods and conclusions. Despite this, Hulubei's mentor, Nobel Prize winner Jean Baptiste Perrin, endorsed moldavium as the true eka-caesium.
Francium has been the subject of specialized spectroscopy experiments due to its ability to be synthesized, trapped, and cooled, as well as its relatively simple atomic structure. These experiments have provided valuable data on atomic energy levels and coupling constants between subatomic particles. Francium is also being investigated as a potential diagnostic tool for cancer, although this application is considered impractical.
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Tennessine is named after the American state, Tennessee
Tennessine is a synthetic chemical element with the atomic number 117 and symbol Ts. It is named after the U.S. state of Tennessee, where several key research institutions involved in its discovery are located. These include Vanderbilt University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. The name was proposed by Hamilton, a professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who played a pivotal role in bringing the research team together.
The discovery of tennessine was officially announced in April 2010 by a Russian-American collaboration, making it one of the most recently discovered chemical elements. Its known isotopes, 293Ts and 294Ts, have very short half-lives, making chemical experimentation difficult at present. However, many of its chemical properties have been calculated, and it is expected to exhibit similar behaviour to the halogens in Group 17 of the periodic table.
Tennessine's name was formally accepted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in November 2016. It joins Californium as the only other element named for a US state. The naming ceremony for tennessine was held in January 2017 at ORNL in Tennessee, with a separate ceremony for the elements moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson held in Moscow in March 2017.
The element's name is spelled "tennessine" instead of "tennessium" due to its classification as a halogen-like chlorine and fluorine. Halogens are given names that end in the suffix "-ine." The pronunciation of "tennessine" rhymes with "green." With the addition of tennessine to the periodic table, Tennessee has gained a permanent place in the scientific record, joining California as the only other American state memorialized in this way.
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Californium is named after California
Californium, represented by the symbol Cf, is a synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table. It was first synthesized in 1950 at the University of California Radiation Laboratory (now known as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) by a team of American chemists, including Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr., Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn T. Seaborg. They did so by bombarding curium with alpha particles (helium-4 ions) in a cyclotron. Californium is an actinide element and the sixth transuranium element to be synthesized. It has the second-highest atomic mass of all elements that have been produced in amounts visible to the naked eye.
The element was named after the university and the US state of California, where it was discovered. This was a departure from the convention used for elements 95 to 97, which were named based on the elements directly above them in the periodic table. The element above element 98, dysprosium, means "hard to get at," so the researchers chose to set aside this naming convention. They justified their decision by pointing out that "searchers a century ago found it difficult to get to California."
Californium has various isotopes, all of which are radioactive. The most stable isotopes are californium-251, with a half-life of 898 years, californium-249 with a half-life of 351 years, californium-250 with a half-life of 13 years, and californium-252 with a half-life of 2.645 years. Californium-252 is used in the medical field as a very intense source of neutrons for treating cervical cancer. It is also used to analyze the sulfur content of petroleum and in neutron moisture gauges to measure soil moisture.
Californium has contributed to the environment due to nuclear fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing before 1980. Californium isotopes have been observed in the radioactive dust collected from the air after a nuclear explosion. Californium is not a major radionuclide at United States Department of Energy legacy sites, as it was not produced in large quantities.
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