The Name of Element 112 is...

http://www.iupac.org/web/nt/2010-02-20_112_Copernicium

Cp ... yes, that would cause confusion with valves' Cp factors.

Not to mention, just try teaching kids that Cp doesn't mean copper. Well what, copper's been known since forever, right, so why wasn't it called Co? I mean cobalt was discovered much later and it's much less important so it should've been Cb instead of Co, right? Then why is copper Cu because the Romans called it cuprium? Who cares what they called it .. NOW is what matters.

So: Co copper; Cb cobalt; and Cn copernicum (since we can't use Cp).

Just saying ... DZ

P.S. And why isn't gold 'Go'?!?

My latest Periodic Table the wall hanging lists 112 as ununbium. It arrived in the mail 48 hours ago. That is less obvious than copernicium, but the thing I disliked was that it lists the initials as UUb. This is far too long. The symbol for this new (July, 2009) name for 112 is Cn, by the way, so it should present less risk of ambiguity than a Cp would.

For all those whose education came after all teaching staff had lost all recollection of Latin, the world must seem a stranger than needed place. I actually learned the elements about 5 years before I studied Latin in school, so I had a good grounding in both. Nearly all the names of the elements (which do not follow from their English names) have a good link through Latin to their symbols. I do not like Hg for Mercury, as we never use its latin name, in common English, like we do (for derivatives of) Aurum, Plumbum, and Kalium.

Tom Lehrer's song was written not long after I recall failing to convince my science teacher in about 1961 that there were 103. The school's principal agreed with me, but would not tell his teacher she was wrong. I would not expect to see many of the 104-111 elements in his 60's ditty. I still remember his disclaimer, in his exaggerated Boston accent: "These are the only ones of which the news has come to Hahvad, there may be many others, but they haven't been discahvad...." You have no doubt heard of the migration of letters as an explanation of regional accent? The "Rs" went south to Texas one winter and never came back to Wintry Boston, hence "Hahvad" ... but the Rs had to find jobs in Texan. Some found work where they really did not belong. "Warshed your hands yet?"

Just out of curiosity, why are new elements always ended in "ium"? What's wrong with good old-fashioned names, eh? Why must they always be named after something or someone and given a preposterous -ium nailed to the trailing edge?

Why can't the next one be called "Blarfeh"? Or "Quashmadge"? Or "Ploooop"?

Just had an effluvium of coffee all over the laptop---thank yew.

Now THAT'S a thought ... name elements after their PROPERTIES! We've already done it for mercury ('hydragyrum' = 'liquid silver') ... let's do it for the rest!

Blarfeh: element whose compounds upset people's stomachs and makes them evacuate their contents.

Quashmadge: element that has an oatmeal texture when heated and hydrated.

Ploooop: a viscous, almost gummy liquid that has sono-chemical particularities when poured.

Hats off to guest! DZ