72: What's in a Name?

The History of Chemistry

We see how naming inorganic compounds has evolved from the early 18th century to now. Initially chemists named compounds by their properties or origin. Then Lavoisier and friends created a new naming scheme based on elemental constituents, but this scheme didn't allow for multiple compounds with different amounts of elements. A variety of schemes appeared in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and this episode talks a bit about who and how these systems came about, and what is used now.

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