The Periodic Table of Stuff*

Learning new German words is a daily (hourly?) event, and yesterday was no exception. As a matter of fact, I was introduced to a whole new world of vocabulary and ideas yesterday. A local College put on Science-Fair-Type-Event where different departments (biology, physics, mathematics, chemistry, etc.) displayed their various projects. Syd, The Little Rascal, Mariposa**, her brother and I went, and it was great fun. Though I had a throbbing headache afterwards from (a) too little drinking and (b) too much thinking.

For some reason, I got a kick out of the German names for the Elements. The names often end with the suffix "-stoff", which I found rather odd until discussing the issue with Leo. Until yesterday, I'd understood "Stoff" to mean "fabric/material/stuff"... but it also has other meanings: "matter/substance."

[Side Note: frequently, the German language will have one word for multiple ideas whereas English will split the ideas into multiple words.]

Hydrogen, for example, is Wasserstoff. "Water-stuff." Makes sense.

Nitrogen is Stickstoff, which supposedly comes from the word "ersticken" - "to suffocate/quench/smother." Why? Because in pure nitrogen, living things suffocate and fires are quenched. "Smother-stuff." Heh.

Oxygen is Sauerstoff, which was particularly perplexing. "Acidic-stuff." *scratches her head* There's an explanation, but I'll let it be (let it be, there will be an answer... let it be).

Carbon is Kohlenstoff. "Coal-stuff." Ok.

Something else I found odd is the fact that Germans have their own, non-Latin/Greek names for certain elements. Even Americans use Latin/Greek names (think: non-English) for most of the elements. I'd think that names would be universal in the scientific realm.

And the plot thickens... though they don't use Latin/Greek names, they use the same Periodic Table and abbreviations that we use. Yay for Scientific-Semi-Universality! The abbreviation for Wasserstoff would be H, for example. And I thought having to memorize Fe and Pb and other funky elemental exceptions was complicated.

Then again, Germans are notorious for complicating even the simplest of matters. Chemical matters being no exception. :)

But what-ev. It's all relative and meaningless, anyway.


Coming up next: Mary's dramatic 10th grade chemistry experience gone bad and an otherwise dull day in school turned into an exhilirating trip to the local hospital. Yup, it's true, folks.


*Elements

**a German friend who recently returned to Germany after spending a year in Mexico. She's awesome.