Why does oxygen have the wrong name? | ELEMENTS

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ธ.ค. 2024

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  • @WordsUnravelled
    @WordsUnravelled  2 หลายเดือนก่อน +215

    We avoided a transatlantic bust-up by neglecting to mention aluminium/aluminum. We’ll cover it in another episode. In the meantime, we’ve both agreed to call it alumium, which was also an acceptable name at one point. #compromise

    • @that44rdv4rk
      @that44rdv4rk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

      I feel compelled to type the word platinium.
      apologies.

    • @ZoDoneRightNow
      @ZoDoneRightNow 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      @@that44rdv4rkor maybe sodium as sodum xD

    • @pixelpoppyproductions
      @pixelpoppyproductions 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Never read the comments 😂

    • @BryTee
      @BryTee 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

      I was surprised to not hear this element (along with sodium, silicon, and lithium I believe were missed).
      On Al... YES! Originally named "alumium" - great compromise!
      The story (which could be BS, so I look forward to Rob and Jess who do proper research - unlike me) is the scientist who isolated the metal from alum (some sort of chemical using in dyes I think), named it "alumium" (your compromise) but got persuaded to change it when apparently nobody liked that name. So he changed it to "aluminum" but later decided on "aluminium" because his scientist buddies preferred that, with them citing how many elements end in "ium".
      I think BS to that statement because several elements end in just "um" (without the "i") most famously "platinum".
      Although "platinium" sounds a fun way to say it.

    • @lucthin6245
      @lucthin6245 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      I was actually waiting for you to discuss drama & controversy of this element. 😊

  • @HEYoffe
    @HEYoffe 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +208

    You mentioned Mendeleev, but didn't seem to be aware of his significance. He was a chemist responsible for a number of contributions, but is most known for being the first to recognize the periodicity of the elements and proposing that they could be arranged in a table that reflected that periodicity, the periodic table!
    I have so enjoyed everyone of your collaborations, Thank you!

    • @gcewing
      @gcewing 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +35

      And, noticing there were gaps in the table, predicted the existence of a number of elements and their properties, which were later found to exist.

    • @rogerkearns8094
      @rogerkearns8094 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

      Yes, very strange. Certainly worth more than just a mention, though he did, at least, get that.

    • @losthor1zon
      @losthor1zon 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      Came to say this, and also that he used that periodicity to predict some elements and their properties before they had yet been discovered!

    • @markhosking1882
      @markhosking1882 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      Was about to say the same. Missed opportunity given his relevance to this subject.

    • @stevenjlovelace
      @stevenjlovelace 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

      This immediately jumped out to me! I can't expect them to go into detail about all 118 elements, but it does seem like a curious omission.

  • @thorbjrnhellehaven5766
    @thorbjrnhellehaven5766 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +188

    Every time I see that you've released a new episode, I’m filled with joy and excitement. In Norwegian, we have an expression 'radarpar,' which describes two people who work together so seamlessly and complement each other perfectly. You genuinely show interest, passion, and enthusiasm, and you elevate each other in a wonderful way.

    • @HotelPapa100
      @HotelPapa100 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Ist hat "pair of wheels" or "pair of cogs"?

    • @thorbjrnhellehaven5766
      @thorbjrnhellehaven5766 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@HotelPapa100 "Radarpar" is a Norwegian term that describes two individuals who work together so well that their collaboration feels effortless and natural. While the exact origins of the expression aren’t fully known, it likely draws inspiration from the way a radar system relies on multiple components working in harmony to achieve its purpose. Similarly, a "radarpar" refers to a duo whose skills and abilities complement each other perfectly.
      This expression can apply to all kinds of partnerships. It might be used for two athletes whose teamwork makes them unbeatable, two comedians or actors whose chemistry brings out the best in their performances, or two program hosts who create engaging and seamless content together. It can also describe two colleagues in a business setting who work together so efficiently that they significantly enhance each other's output. Essentially, "radarpar" captures the essence of a perfect partnership, where both individuals elevate one another and create something greater together than they could on their own.

    • @martin3203
      @martin3203 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

      @@HotelPapa100 Neither. Literally it means "radar pair", with "radar" according to NAOB being "a joking hint that the pair are so coordinated that it seems controlled by such a device".

    • @richardward8578
      @richardward8578 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      'radarpar' ! Love it! Now I am wanting the word for two people who are always tripping over each other and can't accomplish anything together to be "rapradar"

    • @popcicleSwede
      @popcicleSwede 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@martin3203 readarpar is also swedish. Does anyone know why swedes say Järngänget? Iron team

  • @nbartlett6538
    @nbartlett6538 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +107

    The oxy- in oxygen comes from the Greek for “sharp”. Combine this with “moron” meaning dull or blunt, and you get oxymoron: sharp-blunt.

    • @jimsteele9261
      @jimsteele9261 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      I always thought "oxymoron" was someone who didn't know how to use acne creme. (that joke dates me!)

    • @reddblackjack
      @reddblackjack 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      🤣 What do you call a moron in an oxygen free environment?
      Dead! 😆

    • @Fater4511
      @Fater4511 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Moron comes from the koine Greek moros meaning "fool"

  • @jimsteele9261
    @jimsteele9261 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +171

    Speaking of iron.... a friend once showed me a picture of a bunch of iron symbols linked in a large circular ring. I didn't recognize it, so she told me,,,,, it's a ferrous wheel. :-)

    • @WordsUnravelled
      @WordsUnravelled  2 หลายเดือนก่อน +52

      My dad has this on a t-shirt! 🤣 - Jess

    • @francisdec1615
      @francisdec1615 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      Note that the Volvo logo is the symbol for iron, which stands for manliness and strength.

    • @popcicleSwede
      @popcicleSwede 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      För stål eller.för Järn?

    • @popcicleSwede
      @popcicleSwede 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@WordsUnravelled is this the same Ferris Wheel?

    • @popcicleSwede
      @popcicleSwede 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Like a/the Ferris Wheel?

  • @cjm8223
    @cjm8223 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +50

    I love this episode. I must share the fact that, as a physicist working as a material scientist, I always name my dogs after elements of the periodic table. The first pair of puppies to join our family were named Cobalt and Nickel - linking the legend of mischievous pixies in the mine to our family name: Miner. They were followed by Zinc and Molybdenum (Molly for short). Niobium and Xenon are the current pair who are snoozing at my feet as I type this.

    • @IanKemp1960
      @IanKemp1960 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      An astrpnomer friend of mine called her dog 'orion'. I was incredulous that she didn't call him 'Sirius' :-)

    • @JenCoYT
      @JenCoYT 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Tbis made me smile. My mum used to name her dogs after Highwaymen, Swiftnick and Terpin. My brother in law names his pets after TV deceives, Quincy the dog, Morss the goldfish and Jesica fletcher the cat

    • @cjm8223
      @cjm8223 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      and then there is the aircraft controller who names his pups after some of the world's more prominent airports. Heathrow, Pearson...

    • @msnouveau
      @msnouveau 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@IanKemp1960 We have a cat named Sirius (Black), but he was named this because of the character in the Harry Potter series.

    • @msnouveau
      @msnouveau 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      My husband is a physicist. When I met him, he had two cats named after physicists, (James Clerk) Maxwell and (John Henry) Poynting.

  • @rogerlie4176
    @rogerlie4176 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +59

    Tungsten is more like heavy stone in Swedish which is quite apt, since tungsten is one of the elements with highest density.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      And like gold can be separated by panning and gravity..,

    • @Aoderic
      @Aoderic 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Tung is basically Scandinavian for Heavy

  • @lucthin6245
    @lucthin6245 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +48

    I always enjoy your videos. I never knew oxygen had a different name. Here is a fact about oxygen; in Vietnamese it’s called dưỡng khí from a Chinese loanword 氧氣 which means nourish/fostering gas. Oxygen foster life so it is suitable name.

    • @WordsUnravelled
      @WordsUnravelled  2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      I like this one! Thank you for sharing! - Jess

    • @alveolate
      @alveolate 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      as a lover of chemistry and having chinese as my mother tongue, i've always wanted to learn the periodic table in chinese... but it's really really difficult, because almost NONE of the names bear any resemblance to the english ones at all... plus, a ton of them have their own unique logographs which means it's hard to write or even guess their pinyins sometimes. maybe there's a youtube video for this somewhere...

    • @Snaakie83
      @Snaakie83 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Yeah oxygen is called zuurstof in Dutch, which is obviously derived from the German Sauerstoff.
      But the "thingy" air one I've never heard of.

    • @TerbullSpuller
      @TerbullSpuller ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

      @@alveolate As someone who had to learn the entire table while studying for the HSK, I can reassure you a bit; many of the names are very closely tied to the beginning of the English names. So many of the metals, for example, just use 金字旁 followed by a phonetic element, so that Indium becomes 铟, iridium becomes 铱, barium becomes 钡, while palladium becomes 钯. Obviously, there are some slight pronunciation shifts there, with the "a" in barium moving to an "ei" or the "pa" in "palladium" shifting to "ba." However, a huge number of the names are phonetic in origin. In the case of sodium, the Mandarin and Latin match up: 鈉. Learning the 繁体字 isn't much different....just more strokes.
      Most of the gases work the same, with the 气字头 marking them. The original poster pointed out 氧 for oxygen. Neon becomes 氖 and krypton becomes 氪. Now, since I was studying alongside foreigners from a few countries, some silly puns did arise. Dumb jokes like "Did you know helium wasn't found for centuries because it's up so 氦?"
      The older elements are a bit harder to learn, so things like 硅, 汞, and 溴 can take some work. Memorizing how to write the 简体字 for each took me about a week, and the 繁体字 took another two weeks or so...but that was largely because I'd ignored 繁体字 for a few months.

  • @gdp3rd
    @gdp3rd 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +25

    At least plutonium didn't get demoted to a dwarf element.

    • @ChristomirRackov
      @ChristomirRackov หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      What do you mean "demoted"? It was never a planet in the first place - they just wrongly assumed it was a planet (for around 70 years), because they didn't know about Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and all the other dwarf planets. :)

    • @johansten7976
      @johansten7976 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      ​@@ChristomirRackov I get the argument, but in my opinion that's not correct. Prior to that conference there simply wasn't an actual definition of what a planet is. They proposed and voted through (though that is not without its own controversy) a definition, which Pluto doesn't meet. A vote was also held on whether Pluto despite this should still be considered a planet due to tradition, which did not pass.
      However, Pluto is not the first body to be considered a planet on discovery but later downgraded when we found too many other similar bodies in almost the same orbit - Ceres, between Mars and Jupiter was considered a planet until it was reclassified as the first in the new classification"Asteroid". It has now joined Pluto and the other larger Kuiper belt objects as a Dwarf planet.

  • @nevyen149
    @nevyen149 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

    29:22 Someone at my old office used to have a sign on his door which looked like a standard warning placard.
    It said, "WARNING...ARGON...Be Back Later".
    Still gives me a chuckle.

  • @jamesleatherwood5125
    @jamesleatherwood5125 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

    Ohh! Chemistry AND Etymology! Great combo!

  • @wailingalen
    @wailingalen 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

    Thank you guys so much for indulging my word nerdiness!! This is what the internet is for😊

  • @jessicaisraelsen8815
    @jessicaisraelsen8815 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    I am a high school chemistry teacher who also loves history and linguistics, I teach these little nuggets to my students, whenever I can because it really enriches our understanding of the sciences as more than just memorizing facts on a test.

    • @paulembleton1733
      @paulembleton1733 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      I needed a teacher like you when I was in secondary/high school. I liked every subject but English was my favourite and there just weren’t enough stories being told in other classes. Rob’s “words we don’t have in English” and the etymological stories around those, would have pricked my ears in German class where I felt I was just learning synonyms with different grammar rules. History was my second favourite, but I bored of learning dates and wanted more about the characters. As for science and maths, well, no scope for story telling there at all, it’s just diagrams and symbols.
      Not dissing my teachers though. They had to satisfy the UK National Curriculum rules of the 1970s. More than one said “I have to teach you this”, and I have the feeling now they’d rather play a more inspirational role with nuggets that inspire them.

  • @melanezoe
    @melanezoe 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    Did you really think we care how long your episodes are? Never fear, we will watch all the way through (especially since we have the ability to pause and restart.) Love all you both do. While wearing my Word Nerd shirt.

  • @TrevorGrismore
    @TrevorGrismore 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +27

    I think my favorite is thallium, which means "green shoot". Basically every element has a lot of spectral lines which show how the different elements absorb and emit light. Thallium has only one obvious line in its spectrum, and it is bright green.

    • @SusanPearce_H
      @SusanPearce_H 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      The YT channel "Periodic Table", with Sir Martyn Poliakoff, did a fascinating episode explaining this.

    • @TrevorGrismore
      @TrevorGrismore 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@SusanPearce_H I love Periodic Table. I think I watch every channel Brady is involved with.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      It was also an early forensic test for a previously undetectable poison…

  • @gcewing
    @gcewing 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +25

    It was thought that the reason fires become extinguished in an enclosed space is that the air becomes saturated with phlogiston and can't absorb any more. So, the idea was that "dephlogisticated air" is air that doesn't already contain any phlogiston, and therefore has maximum ability to absorb it.

    • @bernardus4646
      @bernardus4646 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      That was nmy recollection also.

  • @curtbanner
    @curtbanner 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +26

    My Grandma was "Beryl" but it was pronounced "Burl" by her teachers in the 30'a. Poor girl. They mispronounced her last name too! Thanks you two! I think I've tuned in to every episode!

    • @litigioussociety4249
      @litigioussociety4249 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      It's not mispronounciation, if that's how the accent or dialect pronounces it. For example, Dale is usually pronounced like day-ul, but some dialects say it like də-ul, which gets slurred into dell. Likewise, those people pronounce oil with a schwa, so it sounds like ole, and hail becomes hell.
      I expect the people saying Beryl like Burl were actually saying it like Bərl; again, turning the e into a schwa.

    • @papamouse5231
      @papamouse5231 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      When I read your first sentence, I checked to see if we're related. (We don't seem to be.) Because my Grandma was also Beryl, pronounced Burl.

    • @user-gv4cx7vz8t
      @user-gv4cx7vz8t 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Was Grandma's last name Yves? Sorry.

    • @jeansmith-wl7xt
      @jeansmith-wl7xt 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I always thought they were pronounced the same but I say wash with an r in it @@litigioussociety4249

  • @AllanLees-v3n
    @AllanLees-v3n 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +46

    Surely the correct pronunciation is "zoo-logy" as in "after the crocodile died, they read a zoology over its grave."

    • @susand885
      @susand885 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      and after the eulogy, it was a logy zoo

    • @Ausecko1
      @Ausecko1 หลายเดือนก่อน

      It's Zool-ogy, after the study of Zool the Almighty as depicted in Ghostbusters

  • @udiberner2803
    @udiberner2803 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +13

    In Hebrew oxygen (chamtzan) means also something in the area of sourness generator; nitrogen (chankan) - suffocator; hydrogen (meiman) - water generator; carbon (pachman) - coal generator.
    In addition, like in french, the word for silver and money is the same (french argent, hebrew kessef).
    Thanks so much for all of your episodes. I watch them rigorously and enjoy every second. Love and admire you guys❤

    • @christopherneil8265
      @christopherneil8265 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Makes sense, since Hebrew is a revitalized language, and there were many scientists involved in its start. The first leader was a biochemist for example.

    • @rogerstone3068
      @rogerstone3068 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      - whereas the Germans use geld. That's probably due to inflation. The English-speaking world is somewhat cheaper, with coppers (slang for pennies) and nickels.

    • @petergustafsson1670
      @petergustafsson1670 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      That sounds like direct translations of the German words "Sauerstoff", "Stickstoff", "Wasserstoff". In Chinese, the words for silver and money are also the same.

    • @andrejszasz2816
      @andrejszasz2816 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Interestingly oxygen is Кислород in Russian which is also something related to sour.

  • @roaringviking5693
    @roaringviking5693 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +32

    Congrats to Rob for the good pronunciation of "Ytterby". Your Y-sound isn't 100 % accurate, but it's very close. Your attempt at 25:10 is nearly perfect.

    • @vharmi.
      @vharmi. 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      After the first attempt he sounds like a native Stockholmer

    • @M4xFr4gg
      @M4xFr4gg 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Blame Rob living in Germany for how he pronounced the y 😉

  • @Escviitash
    @Escviitash 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +40

    In Danish the names for Hydrogen and Oxygen are both releted to fire.
    Hydrogen is called Brint, which is derived from the old Danish word for "to burn": Brinne.
    Oxygen is called Ilt, which is derived from the Danish word for "fire": Ild
    I have always found it fascinatng that Hydrogen and Oxygen is one of the most flammable combinations of two elements, but when conbined into the same molecule they are capable of exstinguishing fire.

    • @eivindkaisen6838
      @eivindkaisen6838 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Also in Danish, Nitrolgen is "kvælstof" - which suffocates fires - as a translation of the German Stickstoff.

    • @Quzinqa1122
      @Quzinqa1122 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      🇸🇪 In Swedish we say:
      syre (oxygen)
      väte (hydrogen)

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Actually Hydrogen and Oxygen are just the most common not the most energetic combustion combinations. Chlorine and Fluorine both make oxygen look like a joke when it comes to combustion. Chlorine Trifluoride and Pentafluoride take this further…

    • @fastertove
      @fastertove 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Worth mentioning is that hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen are also "Danish" words for the elements today. Brint, kvælstof and ilt are still being used, but they are not the preferred way of naming the elements in Danish going forward. E.g. teachers should actively try to avoid using them if possible.
      While Denmark is changing some of the names to suit the symbols a better, we can only hope that Na and Ka will get the same treatment in English. (Na)trium and (Ka)lium surely makes more sense :)

    • @Escviitash
      @Escviitash 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@allangibson8494 I think you are confusing combinations with compounds. Hydrogen is the most inflammable free element, which when combined with another free element: Oxygen, is highly flammable. But when in a compound in form of water they can extinguish fire. Chlorine triflouride is not a free element but a highly reactive compound, which released oxygen when reacting with other compound such as water. I am not an expert on chemistry , but I am pretty sure that if there are no access to oxygen, either already in the surronding environment or created through the chemical reaction, there will be no fire. And am also pretty sure that no compound of chlorine and flouride can exstinguish fire. It si the fatc that Hydrogen and oxygen has that different properties depending on whether they are in combination or a compound.

  • @maggiesinclair9878
    @maggiesinclair9878 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +20

    The name Strontium actually derives from the Gaelic language as Strontian, the name of the lead-mining village in Argyll where it was first found, is an Anglicisation of the original Sròn an t-Sithein, which means ‘the point (promontory) of the fairy hill’.

    • @omniglot
      @omniglot 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Sròn [sdrɔːn] also means nose, snout or trunk, or the toe of a shoe in Scottish Gaelic.

    • @evanherk
      @evanherk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      In Dutch, "stront" means shit. You can imagine the classroom titters when the element "shittium" is first discussed...

    • @redcuillin
      @redcuillin หลายเดือนก่อน

      Is it a small fairy hill or a big fairy hill? Si beag, si mhor?

  • @bentucker2301
    @bentucker2301 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    So glad that the algorithm overlords suggested this to me. When i find out about word origins I feel I gain a little bit more understanding about the world and the development of our species. Its fascinating.

  • @JeeWeeD
    @JeeWeeD 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

    "Herbium?" "No, this time you are allowed to drop the h."
    This also sounds like a good place to point to the Periodic Videos channel, on which professor Poliakoff visits and interviews Oganessian about his discoveries (not much chemistry knowledge required)

  • @davidioanhedges
    @davidioanhedges 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +28

    Mendelevium is named after Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev who invented the Periodic Table ...

  • @Khyranleander
    @Khyranleander 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

    I'm mildly disappointed you didn't cover boron. Our name just comes from the name for borax in different languages... but it was once called "tincal", and I figured hearing/saying that was a good shot at making Rob blush!

  • @knaperstekt7953
    @knaperstekt7953 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +32

    Tungsten is ”heavy stone” in Swedish. Lub u

    • @popcicleSwede
      @popcicleSwede 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Vilket järngäng de måste ha varit i Ytterby. Var inte det häftigt att höra! 🇸🇪

  • @KeithKessler
    @KeithKessler 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    43:04 - Mendeleev deserved special mention as the person credited with first organizing the elements into the periodic table.

  • @stevelknievel4183
    @stevelknievel4183 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    You said that the W symbol for Tungsten was because it used to be called Wolframite. However, Wolframite is actually Tungsten Trioxide. The name of the element itself was just Wolfram.

  • @christophborner7141
    @christophborner7141 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +17

    Another fun fact regarding beryllium: the German word „Brille“ - „glasses“ is derived from this mineral, as the old scholars in their cloisters used cut beryllium stones, which are transparent to magnify the letters of the books they were reading. And so the „Brille“ - magnifying glasses you put put before your eyes, was coined.

    • @jandewet8697
      @jandewet8697 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Thank you - in Afrikaans (from Dutch) it is also Brille

    • @Snaakie83
      @Snaakie83 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      In Dutch its called bril as well...
      Closely linked

    • @MattMcIrvin
      @MattMcIrvin หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Amazing! I think of beryl as a gemstone, but I guess they could get crystals large enough to grind into lenses. It is beryllium aluminum silicate.
      Beryllium is toxic stuff, so the processing of these stones requires some care.
      Because I came from a physics background, I think of the stuff primarily as a component of neutron sources: if you combine it with various radioactive elements like plutonium, it produces a lot of neutrons. Needless to say handling this kind of thing requires even more care, because neutrons will mess you up. The one I actually saw was entombed in this sort of concrete cask the size of an oil drum.

  • @bulwynkl
    @bulwynkl 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +26

    On Polonium... I've been told that - at the time - Poland didn't exist - being an occupied country effectively 'erased' - so calling it after her native land was a ... political ... statement.

    • @jaspermooren5883
      @jaspermooren5883 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Yeah Polish troops helped Napoleon after he promised them autonomy. So in the Congress of Vienna after Napoleons defeat, they were kinda punished for that move, and completely partisioned between Prussia (what would later become Germany, kind of) and Russia. After WWI Poland got reformed and then during WWII partitioned again between Hitler and Stalin, until Hitler invaded Russia, and therefore eastern Poland, anyway. After WWII it became a Soviet State under Russian control until independence in 1989.

    • @AAaa-wu3el
      @AAaa-wu3el 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@jaspermooren5883 Are you calling the Ukrainian land under Polish occupation "eastern Poland"?

    • @jaspermooren5883
      @jaspermooren5883 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@AAaa-wu3el no? Eastern poland as in the eastern half of Poland as it existed before the war (like 2 years earlier). So poland as it existed between WWI and WW2, but the eastern part, since western poland was already occupied by Germany in 1939.

    • @AAaa-wu3el
      @AAaa-wu3el 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@jaspermooren5883 Poland was occupying Ukrainian land, and Soviet Union freed that land in 1939. It's simple as that. Everybody in 1939 understood that. British and French declared war on Germany for invading Poland, not on USSR, because USSR was right in doing so. Do you understand or not, that Soviet Union made a right lawful move by deoccupying Ukrainian land from Poland?

    • @jaspermooren5883
      @jaspermooren5883 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@AAaa-wu3el I don't know where you got this from. But I can't find anything about it other than some confirmed to be false Russian propaganda at the time that stated that was the intent. In the 19th and 20th century Poland has been in almost its entirety Polish, German (or Prussian), or Russian/USSR. To claim that the Soviet Union had a claim to 'liberate' (which they definitely didn't do btw, the USSR occupation was one of brutal oppression) eastern Poland as Ukrainian land is ahistorical at best, and to claim that that so-called rightful claim is the reason the British and French didn't attack the Russian for it is outright wrong. That was simple Realpolitik, the British and the French had no way of attacking Russia anyway, and declaring war on both Germany and Russia would force them into an alliance that didn't really exist at the time, since everyone at the time knew that the Molotov Ribbentrop pact was at best an alliance of opportunity, and almost certainly wouldn't last. It was literally just a non-aggression pact (with the secret partitioning of land attached, but the allies didn't know about that anyway). In fact the allies already had alliance talks with Stalin for months before WWII broke out, since it was long obvious what Hitlers intent was with the massive military build up that happened in years before the war and an eastern front would be hugely helpful to the allies (which in the end it was to the allies, it's not uncontroversial to state that the USSR effectively defeated Hitler). So it's just a military strategic blunder of epic proportions to declare war on the USSR at that moment in time and quite feasibly could have lost the allies the entire war if they had. It had absolutely nothing to do with this so-called claim. I mean all claims are bullshit anyway, it's what Russia uses now to declare war on Ukraine, it's why the middle east is a mess. We just have to deal with the way things are now and go forwards from there. The borders as they are now are the only rightful borders, that is what international law states for a very good reason. To state anything otherwise is to invite war. So unless you're talking about some 13th century claim or something, which is wholly irrelevant to any conversation basically anywhere after a century, I don't know of any substantial territorial holdings of Ukraine in what is now Poland. They didn't exist in the last 200 years at least.

  • @elisabethkronqvist3987
    @elisabethkronqvist3987 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Speaking of tungsten / wolfram, you've explained to me the etymology of the Swedish word 'ramsvart' (a magnifier in a "blacker than black" kind of way), which I now know to signify "as black as soot". The best thing with your videochats is that the listener is provided with answers to the kind of subconscious questions you don't even know you have.

  • @matthewgrumbling4993
    @matthewgrumbling4993 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    As a chemist who woke up this morning thinking about how to set the periodic table to music, I really appreciated this episode. Looking forward to what comes after your much-deserved respite!

    • @KR-ll4dj
      @KR-ll4dj 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      Already been done about 60 years ago by Tom Lehrer, to the tune of G&S patter song "I am the very order of a modern major general". Out of date now, of course. Ifyou google Tom Lehrer elements I'm sure you'll find recordings and lyrics.

    • @user-gv4cx7vz8t
      @user-gv4cx7vz8t 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@KR-ll4djIsn't it "I am the very model of a modern major general"? Alliteration!

    • @mrcryptozoic817
      @mrcryptozoic817 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@KR-ll4dj Yes! Do it!

  • @joseraulcapablanca8564
    @joseraulcapablanca8564 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +18

    Meitnerium. Is named after Lise Meitner, the only element named exclusively for a woman, since Curium is named after both husband and wife. Just wanted to mention I live twenty minutes from Russian and there is a large town right over the border, called Nikkel, because there is a huge nickel smelters there.

    • @bernardus4646
      @bernardus4646 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      As much imagination in naming as the Canadian "Uranium City".

    • @tulliusexmisc2191
      @tulliusexmisc2191 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Lise Meitner had an interesting career. In the First World War she treated German soldiers by exposing their infected wounds to intense radiation - which sounds like a truly terrible idea but before antibiotics it was one of the few interventions that might save a life or limb. You may be wondering whether she ever met Marie Curie who was doing the same thing for France, but no, because Meitner was on the Eastern Front.
      A couple of decades later, her nephew Otto Hahn asked Meitner to analyse some puzzling experimental data, and as a results she discovered nuclear fission. This, I feel, is the standard of excellence all aunts should aspire to. But when the research was published, she wasn't listed as an author, and so ended up missing out on the Nobel prize. (In contrast, Pierre Curie had refused a Nobel because it wasn't shared with Marie. Just saying. #NotAllMenStealYourLifesWork)
      Lise had a strange and partly accidental vindication later. When the atomic age was in full swing, teams of researchers in Berkeley (USA) and Dubna (Russia) raced to unlock nuclear secrets, for purely scientific motives, of course. By tradition, the first discoverer could name a new element, but its existence had to be confirmed by a second group. This led to the rival institutions publishing tantalising but not completely conclusive evidence of ever-heavier elements and staking their claims with rival names.
      In recognition of Otto, element 105 was named hahnium - in America - but the Soviet alternative was nielsbohrium. Successive scientists of various allegiances went on to refer to it by either of these, or unnilpentium, or kurchatovium or joliotium. Eventually someone managed to hammer out an agreement and called it dubnium, so Otto Hahn lost out in the end.
      Meanwhile, researchers in Darmstadt (Germany) had discovered even heavier elements, including number 107 with the almost undisputed name of meitnerium. So that is why, when you look at a modern periodic table, you see Meitner but not Hahn.

    • @joseraulcapablanca8564
      @joseraulcapablanca8564 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@tulliusexmisc2191 I knew the story of Lise (Liesl) Meitner,sadly she is only one of many women who failed to receive the scientific honour she deserved in her lifetime.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@joseraulcapablanca8564A number of them because Nobel prizes can only be awarded to living people - and they died before the discovery was honored…

  • @amherst88
    @amherst88 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Fascinating as always -- and how many have been added since I had to memorize the Periodic Table in HS sophomore Chemistry class in the 70's!

  • @frankhooper7871
    @frankhooper7871 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +33

    43:05 - surprising that you didn't mention that Dmitri Mendeleev was one of the earliest formulators of the periodic table.

    • @SusanPearce_H
      @SusanPearce_H 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Sp - Surprisium.

  • @tommunyon2874
    @tommunyon2874 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I took a summer one semester credit hour course "Chemical Periodicity" back in 1978. This information would have helped to round out the material.
    Thank you for correcting a faulted memory. I recalled that my physical chemistry professor, who was German, told me hydrogen was called Wasserstuck.
    Back when I repaired computers that were the size of side-by-side refrigerators, and one could actually replace discreet components, I recall replacing capacitors made with tantalum.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      tantalum is also used for implants because it bonds well with bone and the immune system doesn’t attack it …

  • @Th3OneWhoWaits
    @Th3OneWhoWaits 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    33:00 For me, the most distinctive thing about sulfur is that when you do burn it, the fire only shows up in the dark. Otherwise, it's a blood red puddle!

  • @ericfox7021
    @ericfox7021 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I found this podcast a few days ago and I'm almost done adventuring through each existing episode. This is absolutely perfect for me :D

  • @thorbjrnhellehaven5766
    @thorbjrnhellehaven5766 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I think it would be worth mentioning how there are systematic IUPAC names for larger elements, as a placeholder, until they are given a proper name.
    The IUPAC manes are basically just rearing the digits of the number in some Greek/Latin short form, and adding -ium.
    Element number 125 is unbipentium, and the symbol is Ubp.
    Like number 117, Ts, Tennessine, used to be Uus, Ununseptium; until 2016

  • @randyshepherd4042
    @randyshepherd4042 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I learn so much from you two. Love your channel, and how you two support and compliment each other.

  • @MatheusCunha-mp5ml
    @MatheusCunha-mp5ml 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I loved that you guys mentioned 'atom' and its meaning of 'non divisible', because we actually use the positive counterpart of it: 'tome'. Isn't a tome the division in volumes of a bigger work? Now, I want a tome on the anatomy of an atom.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Tome is a knife used for cutting thin sheets…

    • @evanherk
      @evanherk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      a microtome is a knife for cutting samples to view through a microscope.

  • @jdslack9999
    @jdslack9999 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    In your discussion of Cobalt, and the warning of mine collapse, there was a similar legend in Cornish mining called "tommyknockers" who were subterranean goblins/sprites that caused mischief (stealing unattended food or tools), but also warned of impending mine collapses by knocking on the walls.

  • @wailingalen
    @wailingalen 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    41:20 "Rhodon" also where we get the word Rhododendron "Rose" and "Tree" Dendron

    • @Quzinqa1122
      @Quzinqa1122 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      And Rhodes, the island?

  • @SuLokify
    @SuLokify 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This video is lovely. The thing I love most about etymology is how it spreads and touches so many other things throughout the history and evolution of a word and idea.
    You guys have done a great job at emulating the feel of wandering through wikipedia, while still sticking to the overall subject. 10/10

  • @ShieldAre
    @ShieldAre 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    Samarium is named after samarskite, which itself was named after Russian mining engineer Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets. He was the first to have an element named after him. And what did he do to achieve this honour? He was the mining engineer who happened to approve sending a sample to German mineralogists. He wasn't even himself involved with the study of samarskite. But as reward for doing a bit of bureaucracy, he got himself on the periodic table for all time. (I first heard about this from a video by Oliver Lugg.)
    But he probably didn't ask for any of that, and I suppose it is fair that samarium, element very few people know, is named after someone very few people know.

    • @gcewing
      @gcewing 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      You might say the naming decision was made by a good Samaritan?

  • @Obliperation
    @Obliperation 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Genuinely this was the best video I’ve seen in ages. I would love for you to have included ALL elements and I wouldn’t have got bored xx

  • @Th3OneWhoWaits
    @Th3OneWhoWaits 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    About the noble gases and xenon, radon and krypton are known to react as well. My favourite compound has got to be tetraxenonogold(II), where a noble metal and gas form a complex 😮.

  • @interneda98
    @interneda98 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    This is my new favourite podcast. I love the nerding out.

  • @IanKemp1960
    @IanKemp1960 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

    Dmitry Mendeleev deserves a special call-out, because he's the person who invented the periodic table!

    • @spacekiwikit
      @spacekiwikit 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      That was what I was thinking too, and then I realised that in Dutch we refer to it as Mendeliev's table in school...And that may be why The English speaking parts of the world forgot about him

  • @julescaru8591
    @julescaru8591 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Loving this , great stuff!

  • @Clinteresting
    @Clinteresting 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    If a drinking game was based on every time Jess said the word "like" out of context, you'd have to call an ambulance.
    Yet another thoroughly enjoyable episode - superfluous likes notwithstanding.

  • @alexaales7937
    @alexaales7937 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    gosh, i could listen to you for hours, you guys are just awesome! ty as always for a great show!

  • @jonathanmitchell2040
    @jonathanmitchell2040 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    About the potassium/kalium issue: both are actually Neo-Latin. The Romans knew nothing about the element, but two people discovered it around the same time. The German discoverer took the word alkali and latinized it to "kalium", while the English discoverer took the word potash and latinized it to "potassium". Similarly, both sodium and natrium are Neo-Latin, it's just a matter of which languages took which name.

    • @fastertove
      @fastertove 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      When in doubt it should always be the one most similar to the chemical symbol.
      No reason to make it harder than necessary for pupils/students.

  • @AkiSan0
    @AkiSan0 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Here is my list from robs video:
    35 named after characteristics
    15 named after people
    31 named after places
    21 named after minerals/materials
    16 named after gods/planets/mythological.
    Some with a decent amount of overlap ofc. Til 60 its mostly process/gods/material. 95+ only places and people.

  • @sadhbhjohannesiesuldtfjort3917
    @sadhbhjohannesiesuldtfjort3917 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I don't know if this is how they came across helium or not, but a way that you can identify different elements is their spectral lines. Every element has its own unique collection of absorbtion/emission lines which can be used to identify them.

    • @heatherkuhn6559
      @heatherkuhn6559 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      That is exactly how helium was first identified. If I read the Wikipedia article correctly, it was spotted by its emission spectrum during a solar eclipse.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@heatherkuhn6559And wasn’t detected on earth until it was found as a contamination in natural gas. All helium on earth is a radioactive decay product from alpha particles that get captured.
      Radon is particularly a problem because it decays from a gas to a radioactive solid in your lungs…

  • @curtisblake261
    @curtisblake261 25 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Reminds me of a years-ago controversy at work regarding antimony vs. antinomy. We had a software Switchboard (SB) that we called Antimony. Antimony is Sb while Antinomy is a contradiction like beauty and evil. We had fun batting that around for a while, because we were nerds.

  • @brandonbarwise6417
    @brandonbarwise6417 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    I only just realized that the 4 alchemic elements actually represent the 4 states of matter...
    Earth = Solid
    Water = Liquid
    Air = Gas
    Fire = Plasma
    No idea why it took me so long to realize this...

    • @kennethflorek8532
      @kennethflorek8532 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Yes, when you give ancient thinkers a little credit for having intelligence, their different analysis often has a certain amount of insight to it. Here, by injecting our current meanlng of element into ancient thinking, they seem to use to have totally misunderstood. But, leaving aside the word choice, the point they could possibly be making goes in a different direction. These are the elemental states, elemental in the sense of "basic", that we recognize in the material world.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      And there are seven states of matter commonly recognised now…
      In order of rising energy Bose-Einstein Condensate, Solid, Liquid, Gas, Plasma,Quark Gluon Plasma, Degenerate matter… (the last is technically a solid but millions of times denser than regular matter).

  • @brandonm8901
    @brandonm8901 หลายเดือนก่อน

    My background is in natural sciences and I have a strong interest in etymology, I can't believe I've never properly considered the etymology of the elements before! Great concept

  • @wailingalen
    @wailingalen 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    25:35 Thule- makes sense there is a town in the northern reaches of western Greenland called Thule. It was since been renamed, forgoing it's European name for Greenlandic name 😊

    • @omniglot
      @omniglot 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Qaanaaq in Greenlandic - one of the most northerly towns in the world.

    • @M4xFr4gg
      @M4xFr4gg 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      In Germany the name Thule is sadly only known for its misuse by the Nazis. Their occult research organization was called Thule Verein. (Think of Wolfenstein or Hellboy, we are talking about the inspiration for those stories)

    • @BobBrodie
      @BobBrodie 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​​Goethe wrote a famous poem called 'Der König in Thule'. It was set to music in a well-known Lied by Schubert.

  • @calico27
    @calico27 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What an absolutely delightful episode this was! Thank you.

  • @tunneloflight
    @tunneloflight 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    During the Manhattan Project, the Department of Energy used many code words for elements. Neptunium-237 was used to produce Plutonium-238 by neutron bombardment. That pair was given many pairs of names like Palm and Olive and the process to convert from one to other was named the Palmolive process, cycle and program.
    Similarly radioactive Lanthanum (radiolanthanum) was used to produce intensively radioactive targets that were formed into spheres and substituted for plutonium in test explosive assemblies that were exploded in Bayo canyon at Los Alamos. These were called RaLa, with the unusual capitolization.

  • @kahokekcomet8091
    @kahokekcomet8091 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Well done!!! As usual, another great episode.

  • @Yupppi
    @Yupppi 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    "Do you know why potassium's symbol is K?" and literally the rest of the world outside English speaking world shouted "because the element is KALIUM, not potassium!" And same for Natrium (Na) instead of sodium.
    There's a band in Finland called Kuha. (Pike perch.) the period is important. They make, among others, songs about science (one of their albums is called For Science - Against Fiction in Finnish) and wordplays and they made a song about Flogiston. It's like a mockery of Flogiston as if they were a person, the title is "Katsokaa tätä häviäjää" or "look at this loser", since "hävitä" in Finnish means both "to lose" and "to disappear". But it still also tells the story of Flogiston's history in science and how it panned out. Very clever band, they solved fourth level differential equations on projector on their gig, with the audience. And released studio footage trying to create dark matter with a fan and a vacuum cleaner.
    It's crazy how big part of the table of the elements is just place names from Sweden. "The y in Ytterby is this weird germanic sound that is so common in other languages." Although Swedes make an extra effort to mock the Danish by pronouncing it like potato in mouth. Yet I'm upset that Mercury and Marie Curie don't have much in common (although it would be a fantastic foresight if her parents named her after an element). We also no longer got a separate mention of Rob getting utterly flushed red from wolf's cream.
    Is Americium pronounced with s or k? K would sound so much more at home (particularly since that's how I always hear latin sound like, but also because America is amerika, not amerisa). But I'll let linguistics people decide that. Oganesson was quite a mystery until you mentioned it's after a Russian scientist and after that it's like "oh that's the most obvious way to say it" even to the point of that unexpected o->a pronunciation thing that Russian has at times and other times doesn't. It also technically has "single s" and the "e" is the common "ye" sound (at least if you rely on the "Oganyesyan" founder name, which is also for some reason romanised as Oganessian). But I'm very happy that in Finnish people named it "animal science" instead of trying to come up with word challenges like zoology. One thing I've always been wondering though is the naming or categorising of literature. Like in Finnish we have this category "information literature" like sort of informative and educational books with scientific or similar contents. Like a book of dog breeds or about plants or something. And when I tried to research how to translate that into English, all I got was "non-fiction". Like I wouldn't necessarily put everything under "non-fiction" to "information literature". I feel like biographies are not quite that for example.
    So wait, are "paladins" from Pallas Athene, image of Pallas Athene, safe guards? It would make so much sense.
    Argon? Noble and lazy? Are gone definitely. Sulfur should've probably been named after rotten eggs though and pretty sure "carbon" means the hood of the vehicel, car bonnet. Bromine being the stenchy one also makes a lot of sense. Ever smell the bros? They just hang out in their gym clothes all day. Taking that jab as readying to go weightlifting and later in the day judo, basically being sweaty half the day myself.
    Interestingly enough I've found that linguistics and similar are about the most lax people about language. Not at all pedantic. Like watching Dr. Geoff Lindsey regularly embraces all forms of language evolution that regular people are very emotional about. I guess that's the difference of studying (and discovering) the language and speech over fighting for it.
    Anyway, I feel like today you two were completely in your element.

    • @francisdec1615
      @francisdec1615 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Scheele and Berzelius were two of the greatest chemists ever.

    • @zzzaphod8507
      @zzzaphod8507 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      I remember asking someone if they could tell me the symbol for potassium and they just said "K", confusing

    • @reddblackjack
      @reddblackjack 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      For some reason when I see that O one, I think orgasmium. 😮. I have to read it.

    • @piotrnowakowski5385
      @piotrnowakowski5385 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Potassium is called "potas" in Polish so no, not the whole non English speaking world.

    • @francisdec1615
      @francisdec1615 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@piotrnowakowski5385 Potassium is 'kalium' in Swedish, but potassium carbonate is called 'pottaska' in older Swedish, though it is of course cognate with the English word.

  • @DusanPavlicek78
    @DusanPavlicek78 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    These episodes are getting progressively better and better, I love it 😁

  • @GuanoLad
    @GuanoLad 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +24

    I like any episode where Jess tilts her head like a puppy hearing its name.

    • @erickent4248
      @erickent4248 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      That is, every episode.

    • @reddblackjack
      @reddblackjack 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Yep. She's too cute!

  • @ssgtmole8610
    @ssgtmole8610 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Congratulations! High Score!
    Or, two tens of wonderful episodes. 🙂

  • @boraxmacconachie7082
    @boraxmacconachie7082 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    I'm a chemist and I can tell you from personal experience that bromine gas does indeed smell! It has a sharp, irritating odour, similar to chlorine and iodine

    • @blechtic
      @blechtic 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      As a chemist, how much do you hate the way people smell chemical compounds in movies and TV?

    • @boraxmacconachie7082
      @boraxmacconachie7082 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      ​@@blechtic I haven't noticed people on TV specifically smelling chemicals in a lab setting (maybe I'm not watching the right shows?), but I'm constantly telling first year university students not to do it. In the lab, we generally try to avoid smelling anything much. If you can smell one of the compounds, that's probably a good indication that your equipment isn't sealed properly, there's a problem with the ventilation, or your fumehood sash needs to be pulled down.
      The thing that drives me crazy on TV is how much companies market perfumes/air fresheners and various other unnecessary household products as "clean" when they're made out of the same chemicals we wouldn't handle in the lab without protective equipment. All that junk is just chemical pollution, and I wouldn't want to be breathing it in like the people in commercials do

    • @blechtic
      @blechtic 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@boraxmacconachie7082 They don't waft it towards them. They stick their nose right on the test tube and breathe in.

    • @boraxmacconachie7082
      @boraxmacconachie7082 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@blechtic Well, speaking as somebody who's accidentally had the chemicals waft towards him, that is a recipe for getting a nasty acid burn up your nose, or just being straight-up poisoned

    • @blechtic
      @blechtic 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@boraxmacconachie7082 Yep. My high school chemistry teacher told us to rather waft the air on top of the test tube towards us and sniff carefully than to breathe in to smell at the open top. I get it may not be entirely safe but it's significantly better for a bunch of highschoolers. Next time you see a CSI type of thing or that sort of crude chemistry on TV or in a movie, watch them do it horribly wrong. I guess they're all missing a type of expert advisor. I just thought you might have noticed.
      Also, OT, I was a little miffed at how the Listerine 10 mouthwash has a sort of a creosote aroma. I have no idea how coal tar becomes "clean mint".

  • @gelelied
    @gelelied 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Oooh! Two of my favorite subjects - science and etymology!

  • @turipgn1598
    @turipgn1598 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    I loved your conversation!
    Fun facts: italian students always laugh about one specific element, Strontium, because it is almost homophone with an Italian insult...😅

    • @evanherk
      @evanherk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      same in Dutch. stront = shit.

    • @EdwinMartin
      @EdwinMartin 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      In Dutch it’s also a bit strange, since in Dutch, stront means shit 🙂

    • @turipgn1598
      @turipgn1598 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@EdwinMartin ahahha so funny, same original meaning in italian 😂😂😂

    • @Turalcar
      @Turalcar หลายเดือนก่อน

      I only know it because Davie504 uses it all the time

    • @Turalcar
      @Turalcar หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@turipgn1598 It was brought in by Lombards (a Germanic people) in what is now Northern Italy.

  • @shield8709
    @shield8709 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I stumbled onto these videos, love them! Binge watched a bunch..... got to one where they both mention they are married to other people! Im calling it now: they are going to some "words conference" where they will meet in person, eventually run away together, obviously soul mates. 😂

    • @DesCoutinho
      @DesCoutinho หลายเดือนก่อน

      For these two it will be more like brief encounter

  • @pierreabbat6157
    @pierreabbat6157 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    The country is not named for the Spanish word for silver, but the river at the north end of its coast is.

    • @RaytheonTechnologies_Official
      @RaytheonTechnologies_Official 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      And the football team from that location is named after... some sort of etymological mix up, one can only presume.

    • @derekmills5394
      @derekmills5394 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@RaytheonTechnologies_Official Presumably some English cartographer who thought he knew Spanish OR a sneaky ploy by the Spaniards to disguise their supposed fortunate discovery

    • @RaytheonTechnologies_Official
      @RaytheonTechnologies_Official 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@derekmills5394 I've always assumed it was from an Argentinean misunderstanding of English, but happy to be proven wrong. As a River Plate supporter, it's just a perplexing oddity to me.

    • @MattMcIrvin
      @MattMcIrvin หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@RaytheonTechnologies_Official I have seen the river marked "River Plate" on some English-language maps (a National Geographic globe I once had, I think?) It does seem like a mistranslation, but it's an old one, I think.
      Edit: I looked it up--it turns out it's just a *really* old translation, from the 16th century when "plate" was often used in English as a term for precious metal!

    • @RaytheonTechnologies_Official
      @RaytheonTechnologies_Official หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@MattMcIrvin huh, that's really interesting. Thanks.

  • @chad3814
    @chad3814 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Okay I already follow Jess on the ticky tocky, and I just watch videos from Rob for the first time today, so finding out there's a podcast... *mindblown*

  • @SpiritmanProductions
    @SpiritmanProductions 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    Rob, you rightly said anatomy is a negating prefix + atom (+ -y of course), but didn't mention that atom itself is [Greek] a (not) + temnein (to cut) → atomos, so it's a double negative creating a positive. ;-)

    • @screwaccountnames
      @screwaccountnames 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      The prefix ana in ana-tomy actually means up* (so cutting something into its parts), rather than being a double negative.
      (Edit: Thanks, @lamudri)

    • @popcicleSwede
      @popcicleSwede 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@screwaccountnames i thought anatomy meant study of the smallest?

    • @SpiritmanProductions
      @SpiritmanProductions 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@screwaccountnames Ah, so it is. You learn something new every day.

    • @lamudri
      @lamudri 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@screwaccountnames Or rather, “up”, with “cata-” meaning “down”.

    • @screwaccountnames
      @screwaccountnames 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@lamudri Oops. Thank you, got my prefixes mixed up.

  • @theresabradley4716
    @theresabradley4716 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This was absolutely fascinating!

  • @OuryLN
    @OuryLN 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I’d thought you would mention aluminum. That was its original name, but scientists at the time suggested aluminium, to follow the then current naming conventions, which American ignored!

    • @hypsyzygy506
      @hypsyzygy506 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      The first proposal was 'Alumium'.

  • @n8nate
    @n8nate 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    A 6am upload? What a great treat to start my day ♥️.

  • @smithandshortdogs
    @smithandshortdogs 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    I am originally British, but the British use of inflammable in the oxygen section threw me for a second

    • @zzzaphod8507
      @zzzaphod8507 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      It was fire

    • @user-gv4cx7vz8t
      @user-gv4cx7vz8t 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      USA has tried to ban the word because it sounds like it shou!d mean its opposite. Flammable and inflammable are synonymous. I suppose tne root is "inflame."

  • @trolleybustoinfinity
    @trolleybustoinfinity 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    As both a science nerd and an etymology nerd, I find that this is perfect!
    P. S. Now I can't stop imagining Joseph Priestley saying 'dephlOooOgisticated air'.

  • @drmocm
    @drmocm 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    Oxy can also be translated as sharp, as in oxymoron, i.e. sharp and dull.

    • @brianarbenz1329
      @brianarbenz1329 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Or customer service.

    • @nbartlett6538
      @nbartlett6538 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@brianarbenz1329 Military intelligence

    • @brianarbenz1329
      @brianarbenz1329 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@nbartlett6538 Oh yes!

  • @BlaireM
    @BlaireM 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This episode was fascinating! Along the same science/etymology line, I’d love to see an episode about different rock and mineral words!

  • @michaelstamper5604
    @michaelstamper5604 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +23

    Zafarris.....The Iron Sapphire. Sounds like my kind of superhero.

    • @tulliusexmisc2191
      @tulliusexmisc2191 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Sapphire and steel.

    • @AC-AC
      @AC-AC 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      ​@@tulliusexmisc2191 some of David McCallum's best work!

  • @Ringcaat
    @Ringcaat 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I didn't realize before watching how much more knowledgeable this would make me feel!

  • @SoAaron_
    @SoAaron_ 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    One word that always comes to mind when I watch these videos is: Eloquent.

  • @johnsimmons2373
    @johnsimmons2373 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Great fun Thank you!

  • @KimonFrousios
    @KimonFrousios 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    I'm sure you both know zoo is the greek word for animal, basically means "living", and it is pronounced with two separate "o"s. So the germans have the right idea.

  • @vickywitton1008
    @vickywitton1008 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I love you two, you are so interesting. I have learnt a lot!

  • @Myrtlecrack
    @Myrtlecrack 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    The little goblins in the mines were also known as "Tommyknockers", I assume that is the English language version.

  • @stephaniewachter1048
    @stephaniewachter1048 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    not even 10 minutes into the video and I already learned so much. :)

  • @scottmartin5990
    @scottmartin5990 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    You skipped californium and lawrencium, which form another geographic cluster with berkelium. All were discovered at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, which is managed by the University of California, Berkeley.

    • @gavinmvagusta7769
      @gavinmvagusta7769 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I waited the whole episode to hear californium!!! But thanks to you, I did get it in the comments!! :)_

  • @44Pangaea
    @44Pangaea 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Bravo! As a chemistry teacher, I give you sn A+!

  • @BenjaminHowe-dk9oz
    @BenjaminHowe-dk9oz 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    Meitnerium, you missed out on high drama. Lise Meitner was a physicist central to the discovery of nuclear fission. She was denied a Nobel largely because she was a woman of Jewish ancestry in Hitler's Germany. Her partner, Otto Hahn was given the Nobel, but denied an “element” name. The Nobel never corrected this error despite numerous petitions. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry committee chose instead to honor Lise Meitner.

    • @conniebruckner8190
      @conniebruckner8190 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Indeed, I was hoping you'd mention her. I only recently read an article about this.

    • @richardpayne5991
      @richardpayne5991 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Glad you mentioned her. Just read a book about her life. She should have shared the Nobel with Hahn. Brilliant scientist!

    • @hypsyzygy506
      @hypsyzygy506 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Hahnium and Nielsbohrium were proposed for element 105, now called Dubnium.

  • @Gothhippie667
    @Gothhippie667 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I am loving this video, and wishing I could have been involved. Great job, y'all.

  • @PrzemyslawSadula
    @PrzemyslawSadula 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    In Poland, the periodic table is called: Mendeleev's Table

    • @turipgn1598
      @turipgn1598 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      in Italy the formal name is Tavola periodica di Mendeleev (Mendeleev's periodic table)

  • @JonRogne
    @JonRogne หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    This was quite entertaining and interesting. I just have a little comment to your description of the origin of the element letters for Wolfram. Tungsten is derived from Swedish "tung sten", which means heavy stone, not hard stone. It describes the high density of the element.

  • @TonyP_Yes-its-Me
    @TonyP_Yes-its-Me 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Family name legends, makes me think of a workmate who's family swears they are related to Attila the Hun, who died in 453AD. He once brought in a photocopy of a drawing to show the family resemblance. A drawing from 50 years ago, of a man who died 1500 years ago. And also, it didn't even look like him.

    • @loisdungey3528
      @loisdungey3528 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      😂. There are none so blind as those who will not see!
      Personally, I cannot see the attraction - why would someone think it so wonderful to be descended from Attila the Hun?!

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I knew a car mechanic that was a (fairly distant) relative of the last King of Yugoslavia. Technically he would have been an Earl under Serbian nobility. But he was (is?) happy to be a car mechanic in Rotherham!

    • @Galenus1234
      @Galenus1234 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Actually chances are quite high that your workmate is a descendant of Attila the Hun. Yet, the chances are just as high for you and me (supposing you are at least in part of European descent) to be his descendants.
      If you take today's population and go back far enough in history (~500 AD will probably be enough) and look at the population back then, there are exactly two groups of people: Those who don't have any descendants today, and those who are ancestors of *everyone* today (in a given region, say Europe).
      I wish it were different, but besides pillaging and mass murder rape has always been an integral part of warfare. (Just because it was "usual", I do not approve of it in any way. It was a crime back then, as it is today!) So, as horrible as it may be, the Huns (just like many invaders before and after) did not only reduce the local population, but also left their genetic footprints in the next generation. And the traces that Attila as the Hunnish king left are probably more significant than those of a common Hunnish soldier.

  • @conradharcourt8263
    @conradharcourt8263 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Jolly, nerdy fun and at 48 minutes a worthwhile ear-sweater!

  • @TheoCachia
    @TheoCachia 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    As a student of Architecture, Palladium reminds me of Andrea Palladio, a very influential renaissance architect. His churches and villas are quite distinctive, drawing heavily from the proportions and symmetries of ancient greek classical art and architecture. Perhaps a fun intersection between architecture and etymology is "Palladium" possibly originating as a name for buildings not of a particular type (e.g. venue) but of a particular style (e.g. Palladian Classical Revival). Not sure of this though i think it warrants more research! Love this podcast :)

    • @kaloarepo288
      @kaloarepo288 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      "Palladio" was not his original name - I believe he took the name "Palladio" from the name of an angel in an epic written by his patron Trissino. I'm originally from the area where Palladio came from - the Veneto region especially Vicenza.

  • @SOBIESKI_freedom
    @SOBIESKI_freedom 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    When the first superheavy element in the island of stability is discovered, I suggest it be called "australium," after the great country and continent of Australia, which is a geologically stable continent.

  • @johndavidnew
    @johndavidnew 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    10:01 Names change so much? I have a New name every minute of every day, but it never changes.