similar to Linnaeus’s system for plants and animals.
After 1808, the state of art for describing
chemical elements and their compounds
were diagrams using John Dalton’s circular symbols.
Today, the International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry maintains
modern rules and standards for chemical nomenclature.
This system began with a proposal
by Jöns Jacob Berzelius suggesting
instead of diagrams, using letters and numbers—
the letters to be based on the Latin names
of the elements, and the numbers
to show their proportions in a compound.
Differences
Between symbols, Berzelius used plus signs
for elements in a compound
except for compounds “of first order.”
To show proportions in compounds, Berzelius
placed a number above the element symbol;
today we use a subscript.
It is also common today to place a superscript
with a plus or minus sign to show the charge,
the balance of protons and electrons.
*
The symbol for potassium is K
because the Germans, including Berzelius,
preferred the Latin name kalium.
Tungsten was discovered in two minerals,
tungsten and wolframite, and it has two names,
tungsten and wolfram, with the symbol W.
Symbols
A symbol may represent anything,
but most symbols we see every day
are mainly graphic mnemonics, because
one can often see a cockeyed correspondence.
The symbol at the men’s room wears pants;
well, so do women, and men wear skirts.
The symbols on a switch are O and |,
one of which means on, and the other off.
The meanings of hieroglyphs were lost
even though they had been written in stone.
Humphry Davy’s name for potassium is from “potash,”
which is from the fact that it was obtained from leaf or wood ashes in a pot.
It might seem arbitrary; however, the origin of kalium in Latin is similar.
Kalium is from Arabic al qalīy,
which means “plant ashes.” The origin of language
is association, or, as Ezra Pound claimed, all language is buried metaphor.
Humphry Davy’s name for potassium is from “potash,” which is from the fact that it was obtained from leaf or wood ashes in a pot. It might seem arbitrary; however, the origin of kalium in Latin is similar. Kalium is from Arabic al qalīy, which means “plant ashes.” The origin of language is association, or, as Ezra Pound claimed, all language is buried metaphor.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia:
Other readings: