The accompanying file "The Atomic Elements" is a dictionary file for
use with the excellent, freeware, spell-checker program "Excalibur" by
Rick Zaccone and Robert Gottshall, which may be obtained from their
website at http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~excalibr/excalibur.html
Whilst the standard (i.e. American-English) dictionary that
accompanies "Excalibur" does contain the names of the first 103
elements (hydrogen (H) to lawrencium (Lr)), it does not include their
associated chemical symbols. Also, since it is an American-English
dictionary, it spells "aluminium" (pronounced "al-yu-min-ee-um") as
"aluminum" ("a-loo-mi-num") since this is how Americans pronounce it.
To address these issues, this dictionary contains the accepted English
spellings, as given by the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry (IUPAC), of:
- 109 named elements and their chemical symbols: hydrogen (H) to
meitnerium (Mt). (Elements 104-108 are rutherfordium (Rf), (Db),
seaborgium (Sg), bohrium (Bh) and hassium (Hs).)
- Temporary IUPAC names and chemical symbols for the discovered
elements 110-112. (These are ununnilium (Uun), unununium (Uuu) and
ununbium (Uub). See below for IUPAC nomenclature for unnamed
elements.)
- Temporary IUPAC names and chemical symbols for the recently
discovered "superheavy" elements 114, 116, 118. (These are
ununquadium (uuq), ununhexium (uuh) and ununoctium (uuo).)
- Temporary IUPAC names and chemical symbols for the UNDISCOVERED
elements 113, 115, 117, 119 and 120 (ununtrium (Uut), ununpentium
(Uup), ununseptium (Uus), ununennium (Uue) and unbinilium (Ubn)) for
those who need to write a paper discussing these "missing" elements.
- The two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (D or [2,1]H) and tritium (T
or [3,1]H)
- Aludium Phosdex, the Shaving Cream Atom (only joking!)
Obviously, this dictionary is only really useful to a dedicated few,
namely scientists and students, but I hope that it is as useful to
someone else as it has been to me. Should any new elements be
discovered/created/named then please let me know.
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Extra information on the elements
Should you require extra information on the elements then I would
recommend the following web site:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/web-elements
IUPAC nomenclature for unnamed elements
Temporary IUPAC names for (un)discovered elements follows a set of
easily understood rules. The digits of the element's atomic/proton
number are replaced by the following alphabetic sequences:
Atomic/proton number digit Alphabetic replacement Chemical symbol letter
0 nil n
1 un u
2 bi b
3 tri t
4 quad q
5 pent p
6 hex h
7 sept s
8 oct o
9 enn e
and given the familiar ending "ium." The chemical symbol letter is
simply the first letter of each of the alphabetic replacements. For
example, the next sequential element to be discovered has an
atomic/proton number of 113. The temporary IUPAC name is therefore:
1 un u
1 un u
3 tri t
+ ium
"un-un-tri-ium" or "ununtrium" (the double-i being contracted), with
chemical symbol "Uut".
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Laurence Passmore (lmop2@cam.ac.uk)
6th July 1999
The title logos/icons and the program "Excalibur" are hereby
recognised as being copyright Medieval Ventures 1992-99
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