h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm not sure why you have listed the official names for caesium (I can't use the other spelling, it doesn't feel right) and sulphur (ditto) but not included them in the titles; but I'm sure you have your reasons Hell.

I'm not sure about Americans dropping the 'i' in aluminium. My understanding is that Sir Humphrey Davy, who named it, called it aluminum, without the i, but the the RSC later added the 'i' to fit with all the other '-ium's. The Americans have always kept Davy's spelling (and pronunciation).

B

I have listed the elements according to the 'British English' spellings (I think - or should I say *hope* - I was consistent throughout the Entry). The official British English spelling of the element 55 is 'cesium'. The official spelling endorsed by IUPAC (who are not linguists, and have no authority in linguistic matters) is 'caesium' to stress the fact that it comes from the latin word. The same occurs with with sulphur, where IUPAC (inconsistently) prefers a 'ph'-free spelling, as it is more common worldwide. This was indeed a bit difficult to handle. So I opted for B.E. spelling (I say so explicitly) in the titles. I comment on that whenever there are discrepancies (caesium, aluminium, sulfur) or other widespread usages (tungsten, potassium).

UNK! I hope it's not too confusing. I really did a lot of research on these issues. So, Americans use Aluminum (without the 'i') and Brits use 'Aluminium' (like the rest of the world) - I think I mention that.

I'll run to the Entry to double check that!

HELL

As mentioned in the Entry, the Americans dropped the 'i' officially in 1925. I was not sure if it was actually Davy who named it... Runs to check again...

OK, I am back.

I used B.E. spelling consistently in the titles (Tungsten, Mercury, Aluminium, Sulphur) and mention - when necessary - discrepancies in the 'body' of the text (i.e. American spelling 'Aluminum', the official spelling for 'tungsten' being 'wolframium' and French calling 'nitrogen' 'azote', the Germans calling 'potassium' 'kalium' etc...) of course I can only focus on the 'most' important languages in chemistry. I am sure the Swahili word for iron is totally different, but you're not likely to bump into that word.

Phew... I think I am being consistent, B.

I think basically the problem is that the 'official' nomenclature proposed by IUPAC is not congruent with the B.E. spelling. I try to mention this whenever necessary.

I hope you liked the Entry even so.

BTW, be careful with your literature. The origins and names are *heavily* biased depending if your source is based on a German, French or an American textbook (or website). I have checked all sources possible. All collections of ethymologies I found in the net contained discrepancies. (Bismuth is one example). I tried to be as accurate as possible. (e.g. often the discovery was posthumously proved to be an error, but people went on calling the element how the original discoverer called it. Sometimes the opposite is the case. I tried to mention these little asides whenever relevant.)

HELL

Interesting stuff.

Nit-picking aside, it's a damn fine entry.

B

Gee, thanks Master B.

Y'know? The first draft was absolutely inconsistent, then I had the idea to split it into smaller Entries, and then I got lost in details for one element, but didn't care about the details with the other element. In the end it was quite some work getting all sources together to find a plausible 'ethymology'... Then came PR and everybody had a different idea on how to sort the Elements (e.g. alphabetically, by date of discovery, by atomic number etc...).

In the end I think you are right, I am quite happy with this Entry . It was great fun doing the research. However, there will always be nits to pick (I saw a strange passage in the first paragraphs where I repeat the word 'only' about three times in the same sentence...).

Thank you very much for reading it, and commenting!

HELL