What is the proposed name for Element 112 and why was it chosen?

[Astronuc]

According to Webelements.com,

Element 112 shall be named copernicium
Proposed name honours astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus

In honour of scientist and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the discovering team around Professor Sigurd Hofmann suggested the name copernicium with the element symbol Cp for the new element 112, discovered at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Center for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt. It was Copernicus who discovered that the Earth orbits the Sun, thus paving the way for our modern view of the world. Thirteen years ago, element 112 was discovered by an international team of scientists at the GSI accelerator facility. A few weeks ago, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC, officially confirmed their discovery. In around six months, IUPAC will officially endorse the new element's name. This period is set to allow the scientific community to discuss the suggested name copernicium before the IUPAC naming.

http://www.webelements.com/nexus/node/1419

I bet people will call it Copernicum, just like we say aluminum in the US as opposed to aluminium (UK, Australia, NZ, etc).

 

[tiny-tim]

Why Copernicus?

He had nothing do do with chemistry, nor (obviously! ) with quantum physics.

We don't have a Newtonium.

Copernicus has a very prominent rayed crater on the Moon named after him … let that be enough!

(and, in English, it sounds too much like "copper", and "Cp" looks very much like "copper")

 

[waht]

The element was named after Copernicus because it is the year of astronomy.

The nomenclature of the periodic table is nothing but arbitrary. There are elements named after planets, and even dwarf planets.

 

[Astronuc]

Maybe they're saving Newtonium for something heavier.

There's still Uut, Uuq, Uup, Uuh, Uus, Uuo to name. Maybe Newtonium can finish that series (Nt-294, or Nw?), or they could wait until the get element-122 or -124 with mass 300.

 

[alxm]

We could always use more elements named after Ytterby.

Just kidding.. :)

 

[tiny-tim]

Galileo Kepler Biot Herschel

The element was named after Copernicus because it is the year of astronomy.

hmm … from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Astronomy"

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) is a year-long celebration of astronomy, taking place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century.[1] The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations.
…
In 1609, Galileo Galilei first turned one of his telescopes to the night sky and made astounding discoveries that changed humankind's understanding of our position in the Universe, including mountains and craters on the Moon, a plethora of stars invisible to the naked eye, and moons around Jupiter.[8] In the same year, Johannes Kepler published his work Astronomia nova—in which he described the fundamental laws of planetary motions.

Seems to me Galileium and Keplerium have considerable prioirity over Copernicium.

Also, Galileo laid the foundations of mechanics, which is 50% of quantum mechanics (well, you get my drift …).

And there are astronomers who were also important chemists …

for example, Biot, whose chemistry is well-known, pioneered the study of meteorites … see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Biot"

and http://www.gordonmoyes.com/2009/01/29/2009-the-international-year-of-astronomy/" …

John Herschel (1792 – 1871) was an English mathematician, astronomer and chemist. Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named 7 moons of Saturn and 4 moons of Uranus. He surveyed the Southern Skies as his father William Herschel had surveyed before him.

(and John Herschel Glenn was the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Herschel_Glenn"
… so Herschelium could be named after two astronomers and an astronaut!

The nomenclature of the periodic table is nothing but arbitrary.

We could always use more elements named after Ytterby …

No, it isn't arbitrary … they're usually named after the place (or country) where they were discovered (eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterbium#History"), or after their nature or appearance or how they were discovered (eg Helium in the sun, Lanthanum from the Greek for "hidden"), or after the discoverer or a scientist connected with the underlying science (eg Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendeleevium).

(oh, and Nobel paid for his! )

There are elements named after planets, and even dwarf planets.

Yes, Uranium and Cerium were named after planets which had just been discovered (and Neptunium and Plutonium were named after Uranium!) … which is reasonable since
i] discovering a planet is a bit like discovering an element
ii] planets are made of elements!

 

[alxm]

No, it isn't arbitrary … they're usually named after the place (or country) where they were discovered (eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterbium#History"), or after their nature or appearance or how they were discovered (eg Helium in the sun, Lanthanum from the Greek for "hidden"), or after the discoverer or a scientist connected with the underlying science (eg Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendeleevium).

Well, one can always wonder why they're giving it to an astronomer when they've yet to honor Lavoisier, Dalton, Berzelius, etc, with elements.

(oh, and Nobel paid for his! )

Actually he didn't :) His will gave the prize-awarding institutions the right to create "Nobel institutes", but didn't give them any money for them.

Oh, and why do they want to give Niels Bohr an element (#107)?!
He already had one! - Bohr is pronounced exactly the same as 'bor' (Boron) in Danish!

 

[tiny-tim]

what a Bohr!

Oh, and why do they want to give Niels Bohr an element (#107)?!
He already had one! - Bohr is pronounced exactly the same as 'bor' (Boron) in Danish!

Bohr-ing! ​

 

[waht]

Copernicus has a very prominent rayed crater on the Moon named after him … let that be enough!

Seems to me Galileium and Keplerium have considerable prioirity over Copernicium.

Well, a lot cools things have been named after them. The Galileo space probe, Kepler space telescope (which will discover hundreds of extrasolar planets), ESA's submillimeter wave William Herschel telescope, Hubble telescope.

There is nothing else really named after Copernicus. He is the father of astronomy, not in the sense as to how many discoveries he made, it dwarfs in comparison of Galileo's and Kepler's contributions, but they all built upon each other. Copernicus was the first to brake away from the Ptolemy's theory, and was the first person in the history to discover that Earth orbits the sun. Ancient Egyptians didn't get it, Babylonians didn't get it, and neither did the ancient Greeks. The rest was history.

Anyways, that's what happens when naming things after people. Some people will always be left out. Physics and math has no problem because they name things after the discoverer, in biology taxonomists have an elaborate system to name species. Chemistry has a nice system to name compounds, but when it comes to the elements all hell brakes loose. One might argue that Mendeleev should have came up with a naming system when he was organizing the elements, but needless to say, the names of elements are extremely diverse, each with its own history reflects science, politics, economy, and mythology, which pretty much is a snap shot of the human species.

 

[Astronuc]

How about tiny-timium (Tt)? Goes well with neodymium or praseodymium.

Berzelium (Bz) would be interesting.

Would Galileium be Gm?

 

[tiny-tim]

wiki links

Here's some useful links …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_element_name_etymologies"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_elements_naming_controversies"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_elements_named_after_places"