Sunday, October 16, 2011

Element Naming

When new elements are discovered, and then recognized by a comittee of  scientists, they are given a number, and then later the name and symbol are decided on.  Element names have to end in -ium.  Usually elements are named for famous scientists, such as einsteinium.  Until someone comes up with a name, and a comittee agrees on it, elements have names that derive from their numbers.