The method of discovery of the chemical elements in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries used the properties of the new substances, their separability, the colors of their compounds, the shapes of their crystals and their reactivity to determine the existence of new elements. The basis for the claim of discovery of an element has varied over the centuries. There are also some miscellaneous names as well as some obscure names for particular elements. The names of the various chemical elements come from many sources including mythological concepts or characters places, areas or countries properties of the element or its compounds, such as color, smell or its inability to combine and the names of scientists. ![]() As we shall see in the following elemental review, the origin of the chemical elements show a wide diversity with some of these elements having an origin in antiquity, other elements having been discovered within the past few hundred years and still others have been synthesized within the past fifty years via nuclear reactions on heavy elements since these other elements are unstable and radioactive and do not exist in nature. What do we mean by a chemical element? A chemical element is matter, all of whose atoms are alike in having the same positive charge on the nucleus and the same number of extra-nuclear electrons. Holden* National Nuclear Data Center Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, New York 11973-5000 USA Prepared for the 41st IUPAC General assembly in Brisbane, Australia June 29th - July 8th, 2001 ![]() History of the Origin of the Chemical Elements and Their Discoverers
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