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Are there any elements on the periodic table named after planets?

Question #113179. Asked by great2beme.

Related Trivia Topics: Sci / Tech  
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CellarDoor star
Answer has 5 votes
CellarDoor star
Moderator
25 year member
66 replies avatar

Answer has 5 votes.
Yes: uranium.

"The 1789 discovery of uranium in the mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth, who named the new element after the planet Uranus." link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium

Mar 03 2010, 9:38 AM
ButtercupQueen
Answer has 5 votes
ButtercupQueen

Answer has 5 votes.

Mar 03 2010, 9:42 AM
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CellarDoor star
Answer has 11 votes
Currently Best Answer
CellarDoor star
Moderator
25 year member
66 replies avatar

Answer has 11 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Sorry, a couple more -- uranium isn't the only one.

Uranium is element 92.

Element 93 is named after Neptune: "Neptunium (named for the planet Neptune, the next planet out from Uranus, after which uranium was named) was first discovered by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson in 1940 in Berkeley, California." link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptunium

Element 94 is named after Pluto: "McMillan named the new element after Pluto" link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium

Element 80 (Mercury) is named after the Roman god; the planet Mercury is also named after the Roman god. link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)#History

Element 52 (Tellurium) is named after the Earth: "Tellurium (Latin tellus meaning "earth") was discovered in the 18th century" link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tellurium

Mar 03 2010, 9:45 AM
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CellarDoor star
Answer has 7 votes
CellarDoor star
Moderator
25 year member
66 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.
There are also two more named after celestial bodies that are not planets.

Element 2 (Helium) is named for the Sun: "Lockyer and English chemist Edward Frankland named the element with the Greek word for the Sun, ἥλιος (helios)" link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium#History

Element 34 (Selenium) is named for the Moon: "Selenium (Greek σελήνη selene meaning "Moon")" link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium

Mar 03 2010, 9:47 AM
Jon53
Answer has 6 votes
Jon53
16 year member
24 replies

Answer has 6 votes.
These planets were named after Roman gods - so are the elements named after the planets or after the gods?

Mercury
Neptune
Pluto

Mar 03 2010, 12:01 PM
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