![]() Well, this appears to be the same logic behind the use of Latin in biological nomenclature too. ![]() Obviously, using a "dead-language" to assign chemical symbols helps eliminate resentment that could rise by favoring one language (say, German) over another (say, English). Now this appears to be a rather clever compromise reached by the English-speaking countries (the U.S.A, the U.K, Australia, etc) and countries that don't really use English, but use the Latin Alphabet (Germany, France, Spain, etc, etc). However, I see a hitch when it comes to a total world-wide acceptance of such a standard.Įvery Periodic Table of the Elements that I've seen in print uses the Latin Alphabet, and quite a few chemical symbols are assigned based on the Latin words for the elements ( Fe- Ferrum, Sn- Stannum, Au- Aurum, Cu- Cuprum, etc etc). The Periodic Table of the Elements, as I know it, is supposed to be a common standard adopted by the global scientific community. The question does sound pretty absurd, but hear me out first.
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