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>The vast majority of the Chinese characters for the elements contain the "gold / metal" radical 金. Next in number are characters that contain the "gas / vapor

>The vast majority of the Chinese characters for the elements contain the "gold / metal" radical 金. Next in number are characters that contain the "gas / vapor" radical 气. After that comes a smaller group of characters containing the "stone / rock" radical 石. Last, there are two characters that contain the water radical 氵/ 水: xiù 溴 ("bromine") and gǒng 汞 ("mercury"). In terms of the classification of the elements by state (solid, liquid, gas, unknown) and type (metals [alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, lanthanoids, actinoids, transition metals, post-transition metals], nonmetals [halogens, noble gases, other nonmentals]), and metalloids, the division (according to character radicals) into metal, gas, stone, and water is not accurate. Didn't anyone tell them to make their primary keys factless? By encoding all this information in the name they'll never be able to change it if they discover some new fact about it that contradicts all this information they put in the primary key.

kccqzy 12y ago
Then it could be reduced to merely a historical coincidence. There aren't many English element names (or the etymology) that still accurately reflect the properties of the elements. Human names do not need to reflect any facts; and even they once did, they did not need to remain updated as our knowledge is updated.
mjklin 12y ago
Well a crocodile is also a "fish" in Chinese (鳄鱼) and the word for egg has the insect radical (蛋). Must be based on old concepts, but nobody has a problem with it except foreigners.
TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
You'll never get far if you condemn the users of natural languages for how they form their words!
Sniffnoy 12y ago
We have this in English too. Helium's not only found on the sun. Oxygen is not an essential component of acids. Etc. Fortunately, in chemistry, the symbol is more of the primary key than the name. Or, really, the primary key is the atomic number -- which is certainly not factless, but the facts follow from it as a result of nature; you don't have to worry that things will change and it won't work anymore.

kccqzy 12y ago

Then it could be reduced to merely a historical coincidence. There aren't many English element names (or the etymology) that still accurately reflect the properties of the elements. Human names do not need to reflect any facts; and even they once did, they did not need to remain updated as our knowledge is updated.

mjklin 12y ago

Well a crocodile is also a "fish" in Chinese (鳄鱼) and the word for egg has the insect radical (蛋). Must be based on old concepts, but nobody has a problem with it except foreigners.

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago

You'll never get far if you condemn the users of natural languages for how they form their words!

Sniffnoy 12y ago

We have this in English too. Helium's not only found on the sun. Oxygen is not an essential component of acids. Etc. Fortunately, in chemistry, the symbol is more of the primary key than the name. Or, really, the primary key is the atomic number -- which is certainly not factless, but the facts follow from it as a result of nature; you don't have to worry that things will change and it won't work anymore.