Chemistry for Everyone
Find the Symbols of Elements Using a Letter Matrix Puzzle V. D. Kelkar Department of Chemistry, University of Pune, Pune 411 007, India;
[email protected] It is essential for a student of chemistry to learn and use the symbols of chemical elements very carefully. Otherwise, inadequate knowledge may lead to serious problems as a few anecdotes show. Perhaps you have heard one in which a laboratory assistant with a misconception of the symbol “P” for potassium was intending to store pieces of the metal in a bottle with the label “P” being used to store yellow phosphorus under water: fortunately the possible mishap was avoided because of the timely entry of an instructor. Another anecdote relates that students with the misconception that the symbols are connected to spelling of names of the elements had written symbols for gold and iron as Gd and Ir respectively. (Actually these symbols are for gadolinium and iridium metals!) In a final example, a teacher who had devised general symbols of Ln and An for lanthanides and actinides, respectively, was astonished to see that the students had gotten the impression that these were symbols for lanthanum and actinium, respectively. A letter matrix puzzle related to the symbols of elements may be a useful tool to help remember them. It may also help in testing one’s knowledge about the etymology, characteristic properties, and role and applications related to the chemistry of elements because one has to recognize the elements and their symbols using the clues given. Letter Matrix Puzzle This article presents a puzzle similar to one previously published (1). In this 4 × 4-letter matrix puzzle, the squares are numbered as shown. Below, clues are given to the identity of 46 elements. (There are also two clues to the identity of well-known isotopes of an element.) The symbols of the elements are to be written in the square or squares bearing the numbers shown in the clues, in the order specified, assigning only one letter to each square. Thus the two letter symbols may appear horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or semi-diagonally in any direction. There is only one correct solution. 001
002
003
clues given with serial numbers, but they are without letter locations. One must find the symbols of respective elements, and also the letter locations for them. In the puzzle solution for Part A the symbols associated with the letter locations are given; the solution for Part B provides the clue numbers and the corresponding letter locations and symbols. Part A One-Letter Symbols: Single Squares 1.
An isotope of hydrogen, the oxide of which is known as ‘heavy water’ and is useful in the nuclear industry (2).
3.
Most reactive and electronegative of all elements.
6.
Lightest and most abundant element in the universe. It forms the largest number of compounds (3).
9.
Most abundant element in Earth’s crust (49.2% by weight). Lavoisier named this element thinking that it was essential in making acids. Actually it is not essential, but the name remains (4).
11.
A 4d series metal named after a town in Sweden, Ytterby (4). The metal is used in superconducting alloys and in alloys for strong magnets (in both cases, with cobalt) (2).
12.
An isotope of hydrogen with mass number 3. It is radioactive, made artificially and used in ‘labeling’ (2).
13.
Alkali metal discovered by Sir Humphry Davy in 1807. Its name derives from the name of its carbonate (in German and in Scandinavian languages). The carbonate is obtained from plant ash by extraction with water (4).
14.
Element from 3d series that is named after Vanadis— the nickname for Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty. The metal got this name because of the beautiful, different colors of its compounds (4, 5).
15.
Metal with the highest melting point: 3410 °C (2). It is used in lamp filaments.
16.
A semimetal that makes fireworks green and the hydride of which has multi-center bonds (6a, 7).
004
Two-Letter Symbols: Two Squares Horizontal: forward 5&8. Element named after Latin name (Gallia) for France (4). Its arsenide is extensively used as a semiconductor in many applications (2).
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
It generally happens that the grid is completed less than halfway through the 46 clues; one gets the solution of the puzzle and then loses interest in going through the remaining clues. This puzzle is, therefore, divided in two parts. Part A has the clues with letter locations; Part B has the remaining
9&10. Element that derives its name from the Greek word Osme (meaning odor) because of a strong, unpleasant smell its volatile, poisonous tetroxide has (4). Horizontal: backward 4&2. The noble gas first found to form compounds (7). 8&7.
A transuranic element named after the Americas (4).
16&13. An actinide named after Berkeley (U.S.A.), site of the University of California, Berkeley, where the element was first produced (4).
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 80 No. 4 April 2003 • Journal of Chemical Education
411
Chemistry for Everyone Vertical: downward 6&10. Element 108 discovered by GSI (Society for Heavy-Ion Research), in Darmstadt, and named for the German state Hesse, where Darmstadt is located (6b). 12&16. Element 65 named after Ytterby, a town in Sweden (4).
Semi-diagonal (Miscellaneous) 16&2. Element named after the Greek name of its ore, meaning ‘a precious stone’ (3). It is used for the windows in an X-ray apparatus (7). Its compounds show high covalent character.
2&10. Element named after Albert Einstein, originator of the theories of relativity (4).
Part B
Vertical: upward 12&8. Metal from group 5 or VB, and used in surgery for joining bones because the human body does not reject implants of this element (7).
1.
A yellowish chalcogen the name of which may be related to the Sanskrit word sulvere, meaning fire (5).
2.
Most abundant metal in the universe; on Earth it’s the metal most consumed in the form of alloys (3, 8a).
16&8. The alkaline earth metal that is extracted from barite (3). Its sulphate is insoluble in water and opaque to X-rays and so it is used in diagnosing stomach or duodenal ulcers (7).
3.
The only metal liquid at ordinary temperature and pressure. This shining silver-white liquid is capable of dissolving many metals and the mixture obtained is known as ‘amalgam’ (8b).
4.
Metal used in flashbulbs and found in chlorophyll (7).
5.
The transition metal having highest electrical and thermal conductivity (6a). It forms photosensitive halides.
1&11. Element 66 named after the Greek word meaning ‘difficult to isolate’. The etymology recalls the history of isolating this lanthanide (4).
6.
Element named after Enrico Fermi, discoverer of nuclear reactions (4).
7.
A radioactive and, therefore, unstable halogen (4).
Diagonal: left to right, upward 10&7. Lanthanide named after the mineral samarskite that was in turn named after the Russian mining engineer V. E. Samarshi–Bykhovets (4).
8.
Element 64 named to honor Johann Gadolin, a Finnish chemist who discovered yttrium while experimenting with a mineral from Ytterby (a town in Sweden) in the late 18th century. This mineral contained novel, uncommon oxides, or ‘earths’. Over the next century other investigators were able to identify more than a dozen unknown elements contained in this rare earth, which are called lanthanides (6c).
9.
Element having lowest boiling point of all substances (−268.93 °C); discovered in the solar spectrum in 1868 by Lockyer (4).
10.
The photoconducting element that is used in xerography (3). It is named after the Greek name Selene—‘moon’ (4).
11.
Element 70 named after Ytterby, a town in Sweden (4).
12.
Element 105 named in honor of the Dubna Laboratory (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia) (6b).
13.
Element named to honor Germany (4). Mendeleev predicted its (eka-silicon) existence in 1871; Winkler discovered it in 1886 (2).
14.
Element coexisting with zirconium and whose name derives from the Latin name (Hafnia) of the city of Copenhagen (5).
15.
Element named after Thule, an early name for Scandinavia (3).
16.
A chalcogen named after the Latin tellus, for Earth (4).
17.
A 4d series metal that occurs in a mineral of lead. It is still known by the Greek name of ‘lead only’ (4). This metal is associated with the nitrogen-fixation process in the natural nitrogen cycle (7).
18.
Second element of the 5f series. It is named after a mythological figure, Thor, the Norse god of thunder (4).
Diagonal: left to right, downward 7&12. A manmade element named after a woman: Lise Meitner, Austrian physicist who first conceived the idea of nuclear fission (6b).
Diagonal: right to left, downward 6&9. Element name based on the Latin name (Holmia) of the city of Stockholm (4). Diagonal: right to left, upward 10&5. Element 106 honors Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist who was co-discoverer of eleven artificial elements (6b). 16&6. Element 107 honors Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose research contributed significantly to the modern understanding of the atom (6b). Semi-diagonal (Knight’s move in chess), left to right, downward or upward 10&16. Element from group 15 or VA, the name and symbol of which derives from Greek and Arabic words used to name its sulphide. This compound was used for mascara (preparation for dyeing eyelashes) in ancient times (4). Semi-diagonal (Knight’s move in chess), right to left, downward 8&10. Element 33 whose name descends from the Persian word zarnik that means ‘golden’ (4). The compounds of this metalloid are renowned as accumulative poisons. Semi-diagonal (Knight’s move in chess), right to left, upward 7&1. Element 101 honors Dimitri Mendeleev, developer of the periodic table (4). (This element follows the one whose symbol is found in squares 3 and 7.)
412
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 80 No. 4 April 2003 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
Chemistry for Everyone
Literature Cited 1. Kelkar, V. D. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 456. 2. Concise Dictionary of Chemistry, Daintith, J., Ed.; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 1984 (reprinted in India, 1989), pp 44, 91, 127, 141, 209, 278, 290, 294. 3. Ramankutty, C. G. Chemistry Education Review 1999, 13 (2), 38–39. 4. Kaul, S. Chemistry Education Review 1998, 14 (2), 27.
5. Ball, D. W. J. Chem. Educ. 1985, 62, 787. 6. Malhotra, S. Chemistry Education Review (a) 1999, 14 (4), 47, 50; (b) 1999, 14 (3), 33; (c) 1999, 15 (2), 52. 7. Lee, J. D. Concise Inorganic Chemistry, 4th ed.; ELBS with Chapman & Hall: London, 1991; pp 328, 341, 351, 639, 698, and 732. 8. Garg, S. K. Chemistry Education Review (a) 1999, 14 (2), 24, 35; (b) 1999, 15 (2), 27, 49.
Solution to the Letter Matrix Puzzle
001
002
XIO
FIO
EIO
DIO
008
007
006
005
AIO
MIO
HIO
GIO
012
011
010
009
TIO
YIO
SIO
OIO
016
015
014
013
BIO
WIO
VIO
KIO
004
003
Part B Solution
Part A Solution
16 & 6 Bh
18 12 & 6 Th
17 7&9 Mo
16 12 & 2 Te
7 & 12 Mt
15 12 & 7 Tm
14 6&3 Hf
13 5&2 Ge
6 & 10 Hs
12 1 & 16 Db
11 11 & 16 Yb
10 10 & 2 Se
5&8 Ga
9 6&2 He
8 5&1 Gd
7 8 & 12 At
12 T
6 3&7 Fm
5 8&5 Ag
4 7&5 Mg
1 D
3 6&5 Hg
2 3&2 Fe
1 10 S
10 & 16 Sb 1 & 11 Dy 12 & 16 Tb 9 & 10 Os 13 K 3 F
8 & 10 As 10 & 7 Sm 2 & 10 Es 4&2 Xe 14 V 6 H
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 80 No. 4 April 2003 • Journal of Chemical Education
413
16 & 2 Be
7&1 Md
10 & 5 Sg
6&9 Ho
16 & 8 Ba
12 & 8 Ta
16 & 13 Bk
8&7 Am
16 B
15 W
11 Y
9 O
