Talk:Chemical elements: Difference between revisions

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If this is just to be an alphabetical list of elements, it looks more or less complete to me --[[User:Larry Sanger|Larry Sanger]] 09:52, 17 March 2007 (CDT)
== Re-start of [[Chemical elements]] ==


I would prefer to prefix the atomic number and to see three columns (of lengths of about 37 entries): from Actinium to Gallium, from Germanium to Potassium and from Praseodymium to Zirconium (or close to this division). Is there somebody who can do this easily? --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 08:06, 27 October 2007 (CDT)
I replaced [[Chemical elements]] with the Sebastian sandbox version, with agreement of those major parties involved in the conflicted issues.  See Talk pages sections above for more information.


I put in a new HTML table (kept and commented out the old one). --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 09:12, 29 October 2007 (CDT)
[[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] suggests that future "major" revisions receive thorough discussion on the Talk page prior to incorporation, and that even some minor revisions merit a sentence or two on the Talk page.  Neither includes adding source citations.


*I removed the old list that I commented out earlier and added a list sorted on atomic number.--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 10:29, 9 November 2007 (CST)
Quoting Milton: " May I suggest that any future "major" revisions follow the same procedure of first being thoroughly discussed on the Talk page? Obviously, minor copy edits, style revisions, additional references, etc. need not be first discussed. But even then a sentence or two on the Talk page explaining even such minor changes can be most useful especially when made by Citizens who are not Chemistry or Physics Editors."


== Molecules ==
If no objections I will archive the current Talk page for the re-start, except for this entry.


The sentence:
Please join in the collaboration of this core chemistry article.
:''All matter around us (solids, liquids, and gases) are made up of atoms, either of one species (an element) or a combination of species (e.g., molecules, alloys).''
strongly suggests that a molecule necessarily consists of ''different'' elements. This is not true, of course, H<sub>2</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>2</sub> are counterexamples.  


Also I'm not certain that I agree with the definition "an element is a substance". The term "substance" implies a form of stability. However, when we speak of "elemental hydrogen" we don't mean  H<sub>2</sub>, but ''atomic hydrogen'', which is highly unstable. Personally I would not call elemental hydrogen a "substance".--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 05:00, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 18:28, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


== Chemical elements ==
== Plan to remove glossary from main article page ==
<font color=red>Following text moved from discussion page of [[User:Milton Beychok]]</font>--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 10:48, 15 June 2009 (UTC)


Hi Milton, addressing you as a chemistry editor I like to know what you think about [[Elements]]. Or, more specifically, about the definition:  "an element is a substance with unique physical and chemical properties". 
I don't believe that I have ever seen a Glossary in any other CZ article. In my opinion, it is not needed here ... and if it were needed, it would best be located in a new subpage. At present it only includes two terms and only one of them is defined. Unless there is substantial objection, I plan to remove the Glossary. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 18:29, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


When I think of a substance I think of a crystal, or a liquid or gas consisting of molecules. Take the simplest element, hydrogen. It exists as a gas of molecules, a (cold) liquid consisting of molecules, different kinds of crystals also consisting of molecules, and probably (although never found yet) a metallic lattice of H-atoms. And as you know, hydrogen chemisorbed on the surface of a transition metal catalyst (like nickel) exists in atomic form.  Now which of these substances is the element hydrogen?
:Milton, for a core chemistry article, especially thinking of non-chemists, I believe a glossary helpful. Could we move it to a subpage and see how it develops, whether all consider it then a useful addition. We can always delete it later. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 18:33, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


Let me make the analogy with the alphabet: there are 26 letters, but a letter is not a word or a sentence. There are ca. 100 elements, but an element is not a molecule or a solid. Some words consist of one letter, some molecules consist of one atom (noble gases). In my view the definition "a letter is a word with a unique meaning" corresponds to "an element is a substance with a unique property". I find both definitions wrong. What is your opinion? --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 05:41, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
:Milton, examples of articles with subpage entitled 'Glossary':
::[[Bankruptcy]]
::http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Bankruptcy/Glossary


:Paul, before I can respond meaningfully, what definition would you propose as an alternative? Than I will try to respond tomorrow, because I'm on way to bed right now. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 05:55, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
::[[Economics]]
::http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Economics/Glossary


::Hope you had a good night sleep when you read this. I wrote an earlier version of the article and in the meantime  I didn't change my mind.  If you go back in the history of [[Elements]] you see what I had to say about it. In short:  atomic species of which there are 94 naturally occurring  and about 20 man made (the latter are short-lived, don't form molecules, and are observed only as signals on a measuring device, would you call them substances?). Maybe the analogy with letters in the alphabet would be helpful? (I thought of it just today).--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 07:10, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
:Some articles put 'Glossary' as a section under subpage 'Related articles' (not cool, IMHO)
::PS I gave it some more thought: Crucial, of course,  is the meaning of "substance". Would one call diamond and graphite the same "substance"? If not, how does one define the element carbon? Would one call an artificial nucleus that lives 1 microsecond (as those with Z > 100) a "substance"?--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 13:34, 13 June 2009 (UTC)


(unindent) Paul, my first suggestion is that the article be re-named "Chemical elements" and that would avoid the need for a disambiguation page which would eventually arise.  
::[[Financial economics]]
::http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States/Related_Articles


Since you and Anthony Sebastian are the two most recent contributors to the [[Elements]] article, and I liked many aspects of both versions of the introduction, I decided to try and write an introduction that sort of merges what the two of you wrote. I also tried to use simpler wording and to avoid being too pedantic (I hope). My suggested wording is in green font:
:[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 19:15, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


:<font color=green>In [[chemistry]], '''elements''' are types (or species) of [[atom]]. All solids, liquids and gases are  composed of atoms, either of one species or a combination of species.
:::If we believe that the words "Matter" and "Substance" need a definition then they should be linked in the main article text. For example, are you aware that there is a very good existing article that defines "Matter" and linking to it would provide readers (chemists or non-chemists) with a complete explanation. One of the purposes of linking words is to provide an incentive to write new articles for those words which appear as red links. It seems to me that if we start creating Glossaries in main article pages, it would be counter-productive to that purpose.  


:There are 94 different elements (or atomic species) that occur naturally on Earth and each element has its own unique physical and chemical properties. Some elements are very abundant. For example, [[water]] is composed of the elements [[hydrogen]] and [[oxygen]] and water is very abundant on Earth. As another example, the element [[carbon]] is an important part of all animal and plant life on Earth as well all of the [[fossil fuel]]s  ([[natural gas]], [[petroleum]] and [[coal]]) which are the remains of plant material that once lived.
:::As for creating a sub-page, if there were a very large number of special "jargon" words needing definition, then a Glossary subpage might be warranted ... but not for just for 2 words or even a dozen words. Both of the two articles you referred to above, ([[Bankruptcy]] and [[Economics]]),  have what appears to be over a hundred words in their Glossaries and most of them could just as well have been in the Related Articles subpages. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 19:37, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


:Some of the 94 elements are very rare on Earth such as the gas [[neon]]. Some elements are stable and live for very long times while some, known as the ''[[radioactive]] elements'', have finite life times and decay into other elements while emitting [[radiation]]. For example, [[plutonium]] is a well-known radioactive element.
:::Anthony, now that I have taken the time to look more closely at [[Bankruptcy]], its Related Articles  subpage was produced by some robot and contains articles having '''absolutely nothing to do with the article''' ... but the Glossary has dozens upon dozens of very pertinent subjects ... many of which are red links and many of which are blue links. It is obvious to me that the Glossary subpage of that article really should be moved to the Related Articles subpage. The same also appears to be true, to a lesser extent, of the [[Economics]] article. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 21:07, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


:In addition to the 94 elements that occur naturally on [[Earth]], about 23 other known elements that do not occur naturally on Earth have been man-made and are characterized by having very short life times and being radioactive.</font>
::::Milton, as to number of words in glossary, I did not intend it to remain at two, but to grow in number as needed as the article developed. I distinguish between that "needed" and that "not needed, but helpful to the reader". By helpful, I include many things that make it easier for the reader. Not all readers will be chemists or scientists. Regarding CZ's matter article, it does not do what it would need to do for a chemistry article, especially one on chemical elements. Chemists use 'matter' in the sense of anything having mass and occupying space, which differs from the physicists perspective, as in [[Matter]]. Note the precise wording I employed to enable a non-scientist reader to understand matter from a chemist's perspective. That will become clear when I flesh out the definition of 'substance', critical in IUPAC's second conceptual sense of 'chemical element'.  Chemists define 'substance' in terms of 'matter' in the chemist's sense of 'matter' As a teacher, I strongly argue for a glossary for [[Chemical elements]], wherever located &mdash as a teacher.


[I believe there are 118 known elements but I thought one of them has not yet been synthesized. Thus, 117 - 94 = 23 man-made]
:::::Anthony, if CZ were to accept your point of view on this, it would mean that all technical articles (be they chemistry, economics, biology, physics, engineering, mathematics, earth science, astronomy) would need a Glossary sub-page for the non-technical readers. Before adopting such an all-encompassing position, I believe that a proposal would need to be made to the Editorial Council and voted upon.


I suggest that the next paragraph should begin with these words:
:::::Meanwhile, I have created a Related Articles subpage for this article and populated it with links to existing articles, including [[Allotrope]], [[Atom (science)]], [[Atomic number]], [[Chemical compound]], [[Elementary charge]], [[Matter]], [[Periodic table of elements]], [[Proton]] and [[Substance]]. In other words, I am deleting the Glossary section from the main article and moving its two words to the Related Article subpage. As you can see in the Related Articles subpage, all of those 9 articles (except for [[Substance]] already exist and their definitions are listed ... so it is really a Glossary in effect and there is no need for a separate Glossary subpage. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 23:36, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


:<font color=green>Each of the elements is distinguished by its unique integral number Z, known as the [[atomic number]]. The number Z is</font> .... (without using the expression "we recall")
::::::Milton, in my judgment, CZ´s erudite article on ´matter´ has little pedagogic value for a non-scientist, or science student, trying to understand how chemists understand and use the concept of matter and substance.  It starts with:  "Matter is defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed." It does not define ´substance´, and CZ has no article [[Substance]]. So the definition lacks information.  Besides, matter is a more fundamental concept than substance, so the latter should be defined in terms of the former, not the other way around. Substances, like iron ingots and pools of water, are composed of matter, the kinds of matter we call iron and water.


I also suggest that atomic isotopes and allotropes also be discussed somewhere in the article.
::::::CZ's article [[Matter]] does not state that matter is anything that takes up space and has mass, and that substances have the particularity of being different kinds of matter – the chemist´s perspective.  What´s a poor struggling encyclopedia-inquirer to do? How will she understand the IUPAC´s definition of ´chemical element´ as a substance, a kind of matter, composed solely of a single species of atoms, if we do not define ´matter´ and ´substance´ the way the physical and applied chemists do.  Let´s make it easier for her with a glossary of terms.  She won´t find joy in [[Matter]] and the nonexistent [[Substance]]. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 00:41, 28 July 2009 (UTC)


Also, regarding the quote from Aristotle at the top of the article (what Anthony called an epigraph), it is a bit too "artsy" for my taste and I would prefer to remove it ... but that is just my personal opinion.
:::::::Anthony, if you feel that a [[Substance (chemistry)]] article is needed, then the proper thing to do is to write such an article ... and not to to try piggybacking it on this article. And if you feel that the existing [[Matter]] article does not reflect the chemist's definition of "matter", then you should write a [[Matter (chemistry)]] article  instead of trying to piggyback it on this article. Alternatively, you could approach Paul Wormer and David Volk to collaborate with you in editing the existing [[Matter]] article so that it satisfactorily defines "matter" from both the physics viewpoint and the chemistry viewpoint.


I would like to say that all of my comments above are simply my comments as a fellow author. They are '''not''' to be taken as decisions made as part of my role as a Chemistry Editor.
:::::::I remain strongly opposed to piggybacking such articles on this one whether it be by a Glossary sub-page or by attaching lengthy quotes or annotations to selected references. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 01:31, 28 July 2009 (UTC)


Finally, Paul, I suggest that you move all of the exchange of comments by you and I (here on my talk page) to the discussion page of the article. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 02:55, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
::::::::Milton, I will take your advice and write [[Matter (chemistry)]] and same for substance. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 14:59, 28 July 2009 (UTC)


<font color=red>End moved text</font>
== Re archiving this Talk page ==


:I copied Milton's (green) text, rephrasing it a little, inspired by Anthony's text. Moved Aristotle's quotation down,  added sentence about transmutation, allotropy, and about isotopes. Some remarks:
Any objections to archiving the segment of this Talk above this and the two preceding sections? [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 19:20, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
:* Stable nuclei live as long as the universe. Unstable nuclei may live a very long time, for instance the half-life of 238-uranium is  4.46 × 10<sup>9</sup> years.
:* The people making new elements are (nuclear) physicists not chemists.
:* I removed Calvert's (former) function. It is quite uncommon to give somebody's function when you refer to him/her.
:* Shouldn't the two tables be moved to a subpage?


:--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 11:59, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
:No objection at all. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 19:37, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


::Well done, Paul! I think it looks very good now. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 17:08, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
::Great. Now I have to learn how to do it. Haven't found the pertinent help page yet. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 21:28, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


== Great improvement ==
:::Anthony, if you will ask Matt Innis, Joe Quick or Drew Smith to do the archiving, I am sure they will do it for you. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 01:35, 28 July 2009 (UTC)


Paul, excellent work.  Thanks to Milton, too.  &mdash;[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 03:06, 16 June 2009 (UTC)
== Deletion of the excessive and unnecessary annotation for Reference 8 ==


== Still not happy ==
I removed this article from my watchlist sometime ago and hence did not see the reference 8 (N.E. Holden's presentation to the 41st IUPAC General Assembly) added by Anthony Sebastion on September 24th. The reference includes:


The first sentence (abbreviated) is:
#The author's name and date of the presentation, the title of the presentation, and a hyperlink to a PDF of the complete presentation available on the Internet. It then includes a brief sentence explaining that the presentation was made to the 41st IUPAC General Assembly. (At this point, the reference is formatted properly and contains all of the information usually provided in such references.)
:''Chemical elements are types of matter each composed of a single unique type (or species) of atom.''
#The reference then includes a second hyperlink to the identical PDF document for which a link has already been provided. That redundancy is not required.
#The reference then includes a lengthy quotation from Holden's presentation which is not needed. The readers can easily go to the PDF and read the complete presentation.
#Finally, the reference includes a Table of Contents of the various sections of the PDF document.


I'm still not happy with this definition. Solids, liquids, and gases are "types of matter". Hence the definition says: an element is a solid, liquid, or gas  composed of a unique type of atom. It says, for instance,  that a pure lithium crystal is an element, a pure hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>) gas is an element, solid hydrogen is an element, molten lithium is an element, etc. It excludes, for example:  ''a water molecule consists of the elements hydrogen and oxygen'' (which for any chemist is a commonplace statement).
The net result is a reference that contains 12 lines of text including 4 levels of bulleted items. I cannot recall ever seeing such a lengthy reference in a reference here in CZ, in Wikipedia or any journal or book that I have read. Just imagine what a reference list would look like if this were done for all references!


The point is that an element does not necessarily exist in pure form. It may happen that an element only occurs in compounds, i.e., chemically bound to other elements. Take iron;  in nature it appears only in oxidized form, as iron ore. Mankind made a great leap when it invented how to reduce the ore to pure iron. Wasn't iron  a chemical element before Iron Age?  --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 08:05, 27 June 2009 (UTC)
Therefore, I have decided to exercise my authority as a Chemistry Editor and I am deleting items 2, 3 and 4 above.


:Paul, in response to your comments, to avoid ambiguity, I rewrote the first sentence of the Intro as follows:
Normally, I would have simply made the deletions with perhaps a very brief explanation in my edit summary. However, a lengthy annotation of this sort in this article occurred earlier and was deleted after discussion between Anthony and myself in the archived section of this Talk page, I felt a detailed explanation was needed in this case.


::'''Chemical elements''' — "''the substances from which everything tangible is made''"[1] — are those particular types of matter each of which is characterized by its composition by a single unique type (or species) of atom.
Anthony, you may of course ask Paul Wormer and David Volk, who are also Chemistry Editors, to review my decision. That is your perogative. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 05:51, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


:I edited the remainder of the first paragraph to read:
==Deletion of the excessive annotation for Reference 4==


::On Earth there are 94 different naturally-occuring elements,[2] and therefore 94 different naturally-occuring atomic species, each element having its own unique set of physical and chemical properties. Typically, elements are found in nature in the form of populations of atoms, often mixed with other elements.
The excessive annotation of this reference (Atkin's book ''General Chemistry'') by Anthony Sebastian is identical with the annotation I deleted from from reference 4 on July 27th after much discussion back and forth with Anthoney Sebastion. I was under the impression that he finally acquiesced and it was settled without my exercising my authority as a Chemistry Editor. I was evidently wrong, because Anthony has reinserted the excessive annotation.


:I will change the last sentence, in response to your last point, to read:
Accordingly, this time I am exercising my authority and deleting the excessive annotation again. Atkin's book is readily available in most libraries and there is no need to include a lengthy bit of content from the book.


::Typically, elements are found in nature in the form of populations of atoms, often with the atoms of other elements or the selfsame atoms as [[Compound (chemistry)|compounds]] (e.g., oxygen gas, a population of compounds each of two oxygen atoms; iron ore, a population of compounds each of iron and oxygen atoms) or as [[Mixture (chemistry)|mixtures]].
As noted in my remarks on reference 8 above, just imagine what a reference list would look like if all references were annotated to this extent.  


:Thanks for the challenges. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 20:46, 27 June 2009 (UTC)
Again, you may review my decision with Paul Wormer and David Volk who are also Chemistry Editors. That is your perogative. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 05:51, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


:::Since my above note, I further tweaked the Intro. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 20:43, 28 June 2009 (UTC); and again [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 21:30, 16 July 2009 (UTC)
:I saw the lengthy quote by Atkins. This quote doesn't add anything new, there are millions of books out there that say something similar. We have this old-fashioned (fuzzy and non-unique) definition of "chemical element" already in the article, why would we need a confirmation of it by an overrated bestseller writer (known among professional physical chemists for the many errors in his many textbooks)?--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 06:23, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


== Recognizing elements? ==
:: Though I am not a chemist, I fully agree. I would object to similar usage in mathematics or physics, as well. (The situation might be different in humanities, but I doubt even this.) I even suggest to remove both references. Paul says that Atkins is a popular book -- a secondary or tertiary source is not a suitable reference for a definition. Concerning reference 8, a trivial statement like "the names of the elements are of historical origin" requires no footnote. It is enough to list the book in the bibliography. By the way, the comments there are also much overdone, they read like publisher's blurb, not as annotations helping to find the best literature. [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 09:38, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


Since the distinction is not made between elemental forms and compounds, I worry that fluorine would be the last element someone would ever recognize. [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]] 02:30, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
:::Paul and Peter, thank you for your comments. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 15:18, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


:Good point. I'll remove.  Though when I ask my non-scientist friends whether carbon figures into their everyday life, they often mention global warming. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 03:58, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
== Annotating Bibliography Entries ==


::"Diamonds are a girl's best friend" [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]] 21:52, 16 July 2009 (UTC)
Milton: The heading on the Bibliography subpage states: "Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner." My annotations of the bibliographic entries that I entered, which you deleted, I designed specifically for user-friendliness.  I had the reader in mind throughout the annotation process, which took hours of my time, deleted in an instant.  You would not allow such annotations in the reference section of the main article.  I had hoped you would allow them on the Bibliography subpage.  I feel you have deleted useful information for the reader, information that might very well have encouraged the reader to consult the bibliographic entries by describing and illustrating what they could provide.  The annotations on a subpage in no way damage the main article. Respectfully, I feel you have denied the reader something of value.  Where can I give the reader that information?  Apparently nowhere in the article.  As a teacher, I feel very frustrated.  As a three-year contributor to Citizendium I find for the first time that my sincere efforts to deliver quality content to the reader restricted by an Editor.  I cannot tell you how discouraged I feel. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:26, 29 September 2009 (UTC)


== The article's first sentence is hopelessly convoluted ==
:I regret that you feel discouraged, but the annotations to those bibliography entries were even more lengthy than your annotations of the references. One of them was practically a separate article unto itself. My edit summary reads: ''Deleted grossly excessive annotation for same reasons discussed on main article's Talk page re references 4 & 8. Annotation for the link to a periodic table was almost a separate article unto itself.''


Anthony, with all due respect, that first sentence is hopelessly convoluted. Here it is:
:I don't believe that the subpage heading of "Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner" anticipated or expected anyone to intrepret it to mean such grossly excessive annotations.


<blockquote.>''Chemical elements''' &mdash; "''the substances from which everything tangible is made''" &mdash; are those particular types of matter of which a sample of each element type is constituted of a population solely of a single type (or species) of [[atom]] &mdash; each element type unique in virtue of the number of [[Proton|protons]] in each of its sample population's constituent atoms' [[Nucleus (physics)|nuclei]], referred to as the [[atomic number]], symbolized ''Z'', of the element type.</blockquote>
:Anthony, I note on your user page that you have published dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals. I don't have access to any of them but I am fairly sure that most, if not all, of those journals had certain rules about the formatting of references and bibliographies ... and that they would not have allowed lengthy  annotations such as you seem to be prone to writing. Again, I regret that you feel frustrated with me, but I assure you there is nothing personal about my edits. I believe that I am just performing my duties as an Editor. If you have read the above comments by Paul Wormer and by Peter Schmitt, you will see that I am not alone in believing that such lengthy annotations are unwarranted. Both Paul and Peter are also CZ editors ... Paul is a retired university professor and Peter is an active university professor and one must assume that both of them are or were teachers like yourself. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 03:28, 29 September 2009 (UTC)


In my opinion, it needs to be completely scrubbed and re-written in a '''much''' simpler, more grammatical and much shorter language. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 04:24, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
:: I very much appreciate your efforts to be reader-friendly. Therefore I feel that I have to explain, at least briefly, why I completely agree with Milton:
::* Holden "surveys (alphabetically) the origin of the names given to the chemical elements". Why don't you say this in your annotation instead of cryptically saying "'Origin' here refers to the 'origin of discovery' on Earth", adding a lengthy quote that says nothing about the paper, and giving subject headings which are only of interest if one reads the paper?
::* Trapp is "a (very) nicely made site providing detailed historical accounts on the chemical elements". Why do you copy the mission statement of the site and some of its internal links?
::* Jefferson Lab "provides (brief) information on the properties, the uses, and the history of the chemical elements". Why do you want to reproduce the instruction how to use the site, and why to you reproduce one entry?
:: You should bear in mind that being "reader-friendly" also includes to be brief: Giving more information than needed means that the reader has to read more and might easily miss the important part(s). [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 10:09, 29 September 2009 (UTC)


:It probably just needs to be split into multiple sentences.  Here's my attempt, sans citations: <blockquote>'''Chemical elements''' are the building blocks of [[matter]], "the substances from which everything tangible is made." Each element type is constituted by a single type of [[atom]], distinguishable from other elements by virtue of the unique number of [[proton]]s in each atom's [[nucleus]]. Thus, each element has a unique [[atomic number]], symbolized Z.</blockquote>--[[User:Joe Quick|Joe Quick]] 12:58, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
:::I agree with Milt and Peter, but noticed in the part of the bibliography, which is now gone, some interesting facts that could go into the articles of some of the elements. Anthony, why don't you start, for instance, an article on vanadium? (I'm working on transition elements). Or add something to [[Periodic table of elements#History]]? --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 15:16, 29 September 2009 (UTC)


::It became pure gibberish to me after about the second "of which" -- geez, I don't think I've ever '''seen''' a more impenetrable sentence! [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 15:43, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
(Unindent)&nbsp;Milton, Peter, and Paul: I tremendously respect each of you, from whom I continually learn, both of natural science and CZ-mechanics.  As you undoubtedly know, I contribute content to CZ in Biology, Health Sciences, and in numerous other workgroups.  I have taken to the wiki mode of writing for many reasons, in particular because it allows me more freedom of style than writing peer-reviewed research papers, review articles, editorials and the like (which I nevertheless continue to write).  I love the freedom to include text-boxes, blockquotes, epigraphs, color, and such.  I also like the freedom to include editorial-type notes in the reference section, which many journals do not permit, and to annotate source citations for the convenience and edification of the reader.  Those latter two mechanisms I have extensively employed in the CZ articles I have initiated and developed over the past three years, as well as the articles to which I have contributed but did not initiate, often with what you all would label excessively long notes/annotations.  Not to pat myself on the back, I tell you I work hard to select and prepare those 'long' notes/annotations. I accede to your proscription of 'long' notes/annotations in the reference section of the main article, but very much regret the proscription of them also on the Bibliography subpage. In my view they add value for the reader and do no real injury to the overall contribution led by the main article. Nevertheless, Editors have the last word.


== "predated introduction" ==
Paul: I did think that once we more fully developed [[Chemical element]] I would start an article on a specific element, and I like your suggestion of vanadium, as I also know a little about its biological role and would like to learn more through the process of writing about it. When a server-person asks me whether I want fresh ground pepper on my salad I always reply yes, that I need the vanadium. If only you could slow down the clock.  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 21:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC)


That's a *lot* better! But what the devil does "predated introduction" mean? To me, nothing at all.... [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 20:03, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
: Anthony, I am sorry that feel suppressed. It is not the length of your annotations that I reject (I can imagine lengthy annotations). But you have not convinced us that, in this case, they add value for the reader. (I have tried to explain my reasons.)
:Well done, Eaux Noble Rheaux! That actually makes sense now! [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 21:59, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
::Ta, myte. [[User:Ro Thorpe|Ro Thorpe]] 22:09, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


== Explaining my revisions to the lead-in paragraphs ==
== Names ==


For the reasons expressed above by myself, Joe Quick and Hayford Pierce, I split the first two paragraphs into three pragraphs and reworded them to for clarity and grammar. I also removed the superscripted atomic numbers from the element (e.g., revised He<sup>2</sup> to He) because that introduces a convention that is not explained in the article and which most lay readers are not conversant with.  
The official IUPAC names are a compromise between British (caesium, aluminium) and American (sulfur). The article imposes American spellings for all. [[User:Peter Jackson|Peter Jackson]] 09:22, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
:Why this encyclopædia doesn't follow IUPAC nomenclature is puzzling. [[User:Meg Ireland|Meg Ireland]] 10:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


In-line references are meant to provide relevant documenting sources. They are not meant to include an exceedingly lengthy publisher's description of the book. Nor are they meant to include exceedingly lengthy verbatim quotations for a source. Therefore, I revised the references accordingly.  
::Meg, I prepared the tables and I wasn't aware that I didn't follow IUPAC nomenclature, my mistake.  Hopefully this confession solves your puzzle. I'm in favor of following standards, so please make corrections  everywhere where I went wrong (i.e., deviated from the standard). --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 15:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


Reference 1 (Atkin's book) included a hyperlink to "Basic Books" which is broken ... so I deleted it. It really isn't needed since Reference 1 has a hyperlink to the full text of the book.  
:::It's not your fault Paul. The articles in question were created by others. They are going to have to be renamed to conform to IUPAC standards. [[User:Meg Ireland|Meg Ireland]] 00:54, 18 April 2010 (UTC)


One note was included that was replaced by a CZ link (e.g., the note defining "matter" was replaced by the CZ linking of [[matter]]). After all, that is the primary reason for CZ linking. One other note (defining the word "sample") was deleted because that is a common word that really does'nt need a definition or a CZ link.
== How many chemical elements possible? ==


I think that covers almost all of my revisions. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 20:26, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
Many years ago I read an essay by Asimov suggesting you could have substantially larger nuclei with a toroidal structure. [[User:Peter Jackson|Peter Jackson]] 09:44, 2 September 2011 (UTC)


:Hayford, I changed "predated" to "dated", is that better? [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 20:26, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
:Interesting, Peter. I wonder whether a toroidal nucleus could develop naturally, or whether nature would sustain an artificial one.
::Yes, that's a lot better -- now I understand it. But isn't there a better word than "introduction"? To me that means a brief couple of words in front of something else.... [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]]


:::Anthony, your reworded sentence: '''"This modern definition replaces that which predated the introduction by John Dalton of a quantitative atomic theory, which defined an element as a substance that neither ordinary physical nor chemical methods can decompose into simpler substances."''' is still far from understandable. Can you please re-write it so that is it crystal clear? [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 21:34, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
:I wonder also what the implications/possibilties/advantages of stable atoms with Z>150. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 05:47, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
 
::::Ro, I am not sure that your revision is what Anthony means. He may be referring to the definition that existed ''before'' John Dalton conceived his quantitative atomic theory. It would be most helpful if Anthony joined this discussion and helped explain what he means before any further changes are made in the article. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 22:11, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::::Yes, indeed, I had it the wrong way round. I hope it meets with Anthony's approval now. [[User:Ro Thorpe|Ro Thorpe]] 23:17, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== Reiteration of my point of view ==
 
I explained this before, but I don't like the statement that an element is a kind of matter. There are two kinds of matter: the physicist's (quarks, electrons, mesons, etc.) and the chemist's (solids, liquids, gases, and hybrids, such as liquid crystals and fluids above the critical point). An element is neither of the two. Since I get tired of this article, I won't say more about it and let it pass. Don't ask me for approval, though. --[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 07:08, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Paul: When you write, "…. I don't like the statement that an element is a kind of matter", you disagree with Linus Pauling, who wrote: "A kind of matter consisting of atoms that all have nuclei with the same electric charge is called an ''element'' (General Chemistry). Nevertheless, whether or not it makes a difference, I used the word ´type´, inasmuch as the ´type-token´ distinction is well-established.
 
:More modern chemists, such as Fred Senese, continue to refer to elements as types of matter: "An element is a type of matter composed of atoms that all have exactly the same positive charge on their nuclei."
 
:When I read chemists writing that an element is a ´type´ of matter, I interpret ´type´ as meaning entities having in common characteristics that distinguish them as a group or class.  Given that matter refers to anything that has mass and occupies space, that interpretation would allow for many different types of matter, not just two.
 
:For example, U.S. coins, which qualify as matter in virtue of having mass and taking up space, come in many types, such as the different U.S. State quarters, each collection of a particular State quarter having common characteristics that distinguish them as a group.  Each State quarter constitute a type of matter, a type with many ´tokens´, viz., all the individual quarters (coins) of the type, the Texas State quarter type, say.
 
:Chemical elements obviously qualify as matter, and in keeping with the above formulation, they certainly come in types &mdash; 94 naturally-occurring types, wherein all samples of each type (e.g., all samples of potassium) have common characteristics (e.g., atomic number) that distinguishes them a group, the definition of a type.
 
:That line of reasoning led to my offer of this definition of chemical elements:
 
:Chemical elements — "the substances[1] from which everything tangible is made"[2] — are those particular types of matter[1] of which a sample[3] of each element type is constituted of a population solely of a single type (or species) of atom — each element type unique in virtue of the number of protons in each of its sample population's constituent atoms' nuclei, referred to as the atomic number, symbolized Z, of the element type.[4]
 
:No other type of matter &mdash; U.S. State quarters, iron ore, pure water, identical steel or plastic ball-bearings, etc. &mdash;  is constituted of a population solely of a single type (or species) of atom.
 
:I submit that explicating chemical elements with ´type of matter´ terminology is not fatal and has didactic value.
 
:Paul, I hope you will give further consideration.[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 22:18, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:: After reading most of the arguments I tend to agree that "type/kind of matter" is not a good expression. I never before thought about defining "element", so I do not have a suggestion. But O<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>3</sub> are two different forms consisting/made of the same element, thus the "element" is some sort of abstraction(?), not matter itself. <br> That (even well-known) chemists use an expression (e.g. when addressing fellow chemists) does not prove that it is suitable for a definition in an encyclopedic article that must define its terms precisely and unambiguously. Of course, if this definition is likely to look strange for a non-chemist, its significance should be explained, as well. <br> [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 00:43, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== Please see my Sandbox ==
I wrote two quick paragraphs that I think is preferable to the current intro, please look [[http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User:David_E._Volk/Sandbox here]], and give me your thoughts.  The two paragraphs may need to be reversed. [[User:David E. Volk|David E. Volk]] 12:51, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:David, I like both your paragraphs. In particular, the points you make in the 2nd paragraph merit inclusion in the article.  However, neither paragraph truly introduces the subject/concept of 'chemical elements'.  We need to think of an audience somewhat naive in chemistry, at least for the Intro.
 
:I do not find the lead sentence of the current version of the article especially helpful in that regard: "Chemical elements are those particular types of matter that serve as the building blocks of all other types of matter."  It seems more of a teaser. The first sentence should be more inclusive, more definitive. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 00:25, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:: The first sentence is not at all a good replacement: "The 94 naturally occuring chemical elements each have, by definition, a certain number of protons (Z)" It assumes knowledge of protons (which is more advanced than element), and the elements do not have a number of protons "by definition", but rather they are classified according the number of protons in their atoms. [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 00:49, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::Look above at the version in green font text (June 14th) that Paul Wormer and I had agreed upon ... and for which Anthony said: "Paul, excellent work. Thanks to Milton, too" (June 16th).
 
:::Perhaps that version needs to be re-visited. I don't know how that version somehow got transformed into the current version. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 01:23, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== It would really be helpful to STOP revising the lede until it thrashed out here on the Talk page. Otherwise we have a moving target. ==
 
I think it would be most helpful to STOP revising the lede until some sort of concensus is reached or until a Chemistry Editor makes a ruling. Every time I look at it, it has changed again. Trying to discuss and agree upon a moving target is too difficult. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 01:57, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== Suggested lede ==
 
Milton, following your previous note, I suggest:
 
'''Chemical elements''' are those particular types of matter that consist solely of a population of a single type (or species) of [[atom]], as exemplified by a wire made solely of [[copper]] atoms, say, or a sheet made solely of [[aluminum]] atoms. It follows then that the number of Earth´s naturally occurring types of atoms, established as 94, determines the number of Earth´s naturally occurring types of chemical elements, of which copper and aluminum are just two examples. The distinguishing characteristic of the 94 naturally occurring atom types is the number of [[protons]] in the nucleus of the atom, referred to as the [[atomic number]], symbolized Z. 
 
The atoms of the chemical element hydrogen, Z=1, have the fewest number of protons, and those of the element plutonium, Z=94, have the greatest number of protons, among the naturally occurring elements.
 
As protons each carry a positive charge, ''Z'' gives the positive charge of the nucleus in units of the so-called [[elementary charge]], symbolized ''e''. It is known that ''Z'' electrons (of charge &minus;''e'', or negative ''e'', and of mass much smaller than the proton) "orbit" the nucleus of an atom, so that an atom as a whole is electrically neutral, with its mass concentrated in the nucleus.
 
[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:14, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Anthony, leaving aside for the moment Paul's dislike of the word "matter" which is a major point that must yet be resolved:
 
:* "It follows then ..." : That does not make sense to me. Nothing in the first sentence proves that "it follows then ..."
:* "Sheet" : what kind of sheet? A paper sheet? A plywood sheet? A bed sheet? Or a metallic sheet?
:* "... referred to as the [[atomic number]], symbolized Z." :As I have pointed out before, "symbolized" is not needed. It reads just as well if it is written very simply as "... referred to as the [[atomic number]], Z."
:* "...94 naturally occurring atom types ..." : Change to "...94 naturally occurring types of atoms ...". Would you not say "types of apples" rather than "apple types"?
:* "...in the nucleus of the atom, ..." : Should that not be written as "... in the nucleus of the various types of atoms, ..." ?
 
:Admittedly, these 5 items are rather trivial compared to the major point that must be resolved between you and Paul. But taken as a whole, they do indicate (at least to me) that more thought must be given the wording to be sure that the sentences are precise and accurate as well as clearly understandable. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 02:51, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::Milton, I have rewritten my suggested lede to respond to your comments.  I appreciated your feedback.
 
::'''Chemical elements''' are those particular types of [[matter]] that consist of a population solely of a single type (or species) of [[atom]], as exemplified by a wire made solely of [[copper]] atoms, say, or a roll of kitchen foil made solely of [[aluminum]] atoms. The number of Earth´s naturally occurring types of atoms, established as 94, determines the number of Earth´s naturally occurring types of chemical elements, of which copper and aluminum are just two examples. The distinguishing characteristic of each of the 94 naturally occurring types of atoms is the number of [[protons]] in the [[Nucleus (physics)|nucleus]] of its atoms, referred to as the [[atomic number]], Z, unique for each type of atom and for each of the corresponding chemical element. 
 
::Among the 94 naturally occurring chemical elements, the atoms of the element hydrogen, Z=1, have the fewest number of protons, and those of the element plutonium, Z=94, have the greatest number of protons.
 
::As protons each carry a positive charge, ''Z'' gives the positive charge of the nucleus in units of the so-called [[elementary charge]], symbolized ''e''. It is known that ''Z'' electrons (of charge &minus;''e'', or negative ''e'', and of mass much smaller than the proton) "orbit" the nucleus of an atom, so that an atom as a whole is electrically neutral, with its mass concentrated in the nucleus.
 
::[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 15:58, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::As I said before, the major point about using the word "matter" remains that you must resolve with Paul Wormer and with David Volk as well. But, please, no more unilateral changes to the article until that point has been resolved here on the Talk page. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 18:08, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
::::We now have 'Some particular types of [[matter]], referred to as '''chemical elements'''...' which suggests that other types may not be chemical elements, somewhat misleading even if literally true. The CZ definition, however, has 'Atomic species...'; would that be better? [[User:Ro Thorpe|Ro Thorpe]] 21:19, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
&mdash;&mdash;Ro, I agree. See changes I made, working in sandbox: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User:Anthony.Sebastian/SebastianSandbox/Chemical_elements [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:38, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::::And isn't "particular types" redundant? Every type of *anything* is particular to itself. Why can't we simply say, "Some types of matter etc?" [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 21:34, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 
&mdash;&mdash;Hayford, good point. 'Particular used for emphasis, but not required. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:38, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::::: Why not take a broader view? This certainly is a core article addressed (also/mainly?) to general readers. Obviously it is difficult or even impossible to give a short, one-sentence definition of "element" which satisfies the experts and is easy to understand. But '''must''' it be one sentence starting (or containing) "element"? I think of something like (not well formultated, just giving the structure of what I mean): <br> "Matter consists of molecules, molecules consist of atoms. Atoms are the smallest building blocks that can be separated and identified by chemical reactions(?). Each type/species of atoms constitutes a '''chemical element'''. The chemical properties of an element are determined by their positive electric charge which is given by the number of protons in the nucleus. This number is called the atomic number of the element." <br> By the way, as a core article it should eventually contain more on the history than the short remarks made so far. And should the table better be moved to a Catalog? <br> [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 00:28, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
&mdash;&mdash;I like your idea, but CZ guidelines ask for defn first sentence.  I'll try to find link. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:38, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
*
 
If anyone interested, I moved my approach to Intro to a sandbox: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User:Anthony.Sebastian/SebastianSandbox/Chemical_elements
until issues resolved.  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:38, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:There you have: Chemical elements are those types of matter composed of a population solely of a single type (or species) of atom, as exemplified by...
:But 'matter' is, as we have seen, controversial. How about simplifying to something like: A chemical element is a species of atom. Some objects, such as... consist of only one element, being made up only of a population of atoms of that element...
:Continuing on to molecules, as suggested by Peter? [[User:Ro Thorpe|Ro Thorpe]] 10:59, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::In response, I changed the lede pgraph there to read:
 
 
:::* '''Chemical elements''' are those types of [[matter]] — 'matter' defined here simply as anything that takes up [[space]] and has [[mass]] — that are composed of a population solely of a single type (or species) of [[atom]], as exemplified by a segment of wire made solely of [[copper]] atoms, say, or a roll of kitchen foil made solely of [[aluminum]] atoms. Some chemists refer to chemical elements so defined as 'elementary substances'.[1] Others define a chemical element, without reference to the concept of 'matter', simply as a species (or type) of atoms, distinguishing species as described presently.[1] The distinguishing characteristic of each of the 94 naturally occurring types, or species, of atoms is the number of [[protons]] in the [[Nucleus (physics)|nucleus]] of its atoms, referred to as the [[atomic number]], Z, unique for each type of atom and for each corresponding chemical element.[1] [2] The number of Earth´s naturally occurring types of atoms, established as 94, determines the number of Earth´s naturally occurring types of chemical elements, of which the examples of copper and aluminum represent just two.
 
::Despite the controversial nature of 'matter', here we define specifically how we use the word, which incidentally chemistry textbooks frequently use in defining chemical elements. This version also raises from the footnote that some chemists define chemical element, without reference to the concept of 'matter', simply as a species (or type) of atoms. It would seem that might satisfy most commentators.  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 20:23, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
 
:: From the sandbox, but also in the main article: <br> "of a single type (or species) of atom, as exemplified by a segment of wire made solely of copper atoms," <br> How should this example help to understand the meaning of element? One does not ''see'' or ''feel'' that copper is different (with regard to being an "element") from salt (or even bronze). If this were obvious, the elements would have been discovered much earlier. [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 11:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::When we say "as exemplified by a segment of wire made solely of copper atoms" we are saying, in the context of the sentence as a whole, that copper atoms represent a type or species of atoms and that a wire of only copper atoms exemplifies a chemical element. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 20:47, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Yes. 'A chemical element is a species of atom. Atoms are the smallest building blocks...' [[User:Ro Thorpe|Ro Thorpe]] 11:57, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::Yes, Ro, a chemical element is a species of atoms, by one definition. But that's just one meaning of chemical element. The IUPAC states (see footnotes 1and 2) that two definitions of chemical element qualify as valid, the second, where chemical elements are sometimes referred to as 'elementary ''<u>substances</u>''', means that a lump of pure iron or a wire of pure copper can 'exemplify' chemical elements.  We must accommodate both definitions sanctioned by the IUPAC, and not fixate on just one, as you appear to be doing. Even WP gets the point, though you might not be able to tell from the poor wording. Pease re-read the revised lede pgraph above or in my sandbox, where I elevated the crux of footnote 1 on IUPAC's statement into the main text.  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 20:47, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::Here, the IUPAC defn 'chemical element':
:::* 1. A species of atoms; all atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus.
:::* 2. A pure chemical substance composed of atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus. Sometimes this concept is called the elementary substance as distinct from the chemical element as defined under 1, but mostly the term chemical element is used for both concepts.
 
::Note the revised lede pgraph incorporates both. Surely you do not doubt that a segment of wire made solely of copper atoms is a "A pure chemical substance composed of atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus"? [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 20:56, 20 July 2009 (UTC
:::No, I don't. But I don't think it helps: it is like saying the tea I'm drinking would be a pure chemical substance if it didn't have milk in it. It's confusing the explanation of the thing with an example of it. Saying that this wire is pure copper & that one isn't doesn't help me understand what a chemical element is. [[User:Ro Thorpe|Ro Thorpe]] 23:53, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== as exemplified by ==
 
<blockquote>
When we say "as exemplified by a segment of wire made solely of copper atoms" we are saying, in the context of the sentence as a whole, that copper atoms represent a type or species of atoms and that a wire of only copper atoms exemplifies a chemical element. Anthony.Sebastian 20:47, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
</blockquote>
 
Sure, copper is an ''example'' for an "elementary substance" -- but it does not ''exemplify''
the difference between an elementary substance and a composite substance.
This statement on the second line of the introduction does not help to explain what an element is.
First the concept should be explained.
[[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 22:57, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Personally I would *love* to have a simple intro paragraph that makes clear the difference between say, a hydrogen molecule and a hydrogen atom, the relation between the two, and how, what, and which of them, say, is filling up a balloon. And to make clear how and what the difference is between a copper atom, copper molecule, copper element, and a copper wire. The wire, for instance, is it composed of all *three*, one within the other, as it were, like a Russian doll? (How on earth did I manage to sell dozens of stories over the years to [[Analog]], the science-fiction magazine for hardcore engineers? Guess I could fake it pretty well, hehe....) [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 23:10, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== two definitions ==
 
As I see it, the "two definitions" are no problem at all (and even less contradicting).
The first one says that an element is a "species of atom",
the second says that the same word is also used as short for "elementary substances"
whose molecules consist of atoms of one element only.
<br>
Therefore, the logical procedure is to define ''element'' according to the "first definition",
and later to explain the second use of the word when (in contrast to elementary substances)
composite substances are mentioned/explained.
<br>
Any discussion of and reference to further subtle differences or difficulties should be postponed
until later in the text: The introduction should be simple.
<br>
(By the way, [[CZ:Article_Mechanics#Opening section]] only says
''"The first paragraph usually begins with a definition of the topic"''.
It does not demand that "Chemical elements" are the first words, or in the first sentence.
-- such a restriction would not be sensible, anyway.)
<br>
[[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 23:18, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Let's say that a couple of years of tradition have now made it at least a semi-official standard that the name of the article is always incorporated, in the same form, in the lede sentence. Frankly I don't see why any article at all can't be written this way - surely our native intelligence and keen ingenuity will guide our typing fingers as we figure out a way to do it.... [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 23:31, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:: ''Usually'' -- certainly. But if things are easier (more ''narrative'' -- another CZ principle!) one should be "allowed" to not follow this practice. (The remark addressed my (vague) suggestion of an introduction in the middle of [[#Suggested lede]] above. There the topic to be defined appears on the second line (approx.) only. [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 23:51, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::: Peter, I note that Encyclopedia Britannica Online, with bazillions of articles, usually manages to pull it off.  Anyway, see next section. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 01:31, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== Suggested new lede in response to above comments ==
 
In response to the above comments, suggest this lede:
 
''''Chemical elements'''', in one sense of the term, refers to species, or types, of [[Atom|atoms Familiar species of atoms include [[oxygen]], [[copper]], [[gold]], and [[mercury]] &mdash; among the 94 naturally occurring species of atoms on Earth. See tables below. The distinguishing characteristic of a species of atoms is the number of [[protons]] in the [[Nucleus (atomic)|nucleus]] of its atoms, referred to as the [[atomic number]], Z, unique for each species of atom and for each corresponding chemical element.
 
In another sense of the term,'chemical elements' refers to chemical 'substances', each composed of a population of atoms solely of a single species, or type, of atoms, again as distinguished by its atomic number. In this sense of a 'chemical element', sometimes the term 'elementary substance' is used instead, but most often 'chemical element' is used for both senses. Familiar examples of such 'pure' chemical substances are segments of wire made solely of copper atoms, and rolls of [[aluminum]] foil made solely of aluminum atoms.  This second sense, or concept, renders 'chemical element' a somewhat more tangible particular, defining it in terms of a ''substance''. 'Substance' remains undefined, but chemists typically define it in terms of [[matter]], or imply matter, in its sense of something that takes up [[space]] and has [[mass]]. In particular they refer to substances having a definite composition, and often restricting them to 'pure substances' such as pure chemical elements or compounds, but not to [[Mixture (chemistry)|mixtures]] of substances, such as [[Alloy|alloys.]]
 
[[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 01:34, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Yes, that's looking a lot better, but why not begin, "'''Chemical elements''', in one sense of the term, refer to species, or types, etc..."? It's a more robust opening. [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 01:38, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::Super. Will do. Made change, look again, above.  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 01:43, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:::Looks good. But is the phrase singular or plural -- I think it could be argued either way. [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 02:17, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::::The phrase is embraced by single quotes, rendering it 'mentioned' rather than 'used' in linguistic terminology, and it is appositionally referred to as a term, therefore I argue 'singular'. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 02:42, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::::: Well, here is it again, the "moving target". One has to go back in history to understand the comments. <br> And - talking of "usual" introductions: It is not usual to embrace the term by quotes. :-) [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 10:08, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::::::Respectively, Peter, it doesn't seem appropriate to label continued editing for clarity, precision, and coherence as a "moving target", presaged by words of impatience.  I believe everyone is sincerely trying to achieve a quality product.  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 17:57, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::::::: Sorry, Anthony, this was not meant as an insult. "moving target" was taken from a remark by Milton a few days ago (see above), and should remind you that it is difficult to follow a discussion (as in this subsection) where you suggested a text and Hayford commented it, when you ''change'' the text instead of following up with a new version ''after'' this comment (so that one can easily compare the two versions). [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 22:42, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
::::::::You are right, Peter.  Dumb of me. Check below, two lede pgraphs. I'm hopeful we can get consensus to at least put them on the Main Article as a start for collaborative work.  I've tried to distill everyone's comments into two compact pgraphs. I'd like to end the Intro with them, put rest of material in sections to follow.  See example at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User:Anthony.Sebastian/SebastianSandbox/Chemical_elements. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 03:44, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== Another suggestion ==
 
Since it easy to criticize I also offer an attempt:
 
A '''chemical element''' is, in the narrow sense of the term, a species (or type) of [[atom]],
characterized by the number of protons &mdash; its ''atomic number'' &mdash; in its nucleus.
In a wider sense, a chemical element or '''elementary substance''' is a substance
which is composed of (molecules of) atoms of only one particular element.
 
:The distinction between the two senses, or concepts, of chemical elements is not one of 'narrower' and 'wider'. It's more closely related to 'abstract'/'general' and 'concrete'/'particular'.  I do not feel that narrower versus wider gives us any additional clarity or precision. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 17:45, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
In contrast to that, chemical ''compounds'' are composed of two or more elements.
Compounds can be decomposed by chemical processes into elements,
elements can be combined or recombined to compounds.
It is a characteristic property of elements that they cannot be decomposed any further by chemical processes.
 
There are 94 elements which occur naturally on earth. Familiar examples are oxygen, copper, gold, and mercury.
Examples of elementary substances are a wire made from pure copper, or a foil made from pure aluminium.
On the other hand, water is a chemical compound consisting of hydrogen and oxygen.
 
(I think that the definition of "substance" need not be discussed in this context
because it may be understood in its informal sense.)
 
:I think the discussion of 'substance' should be covered in a footnote. [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]] 17:45, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 
== A succinct lede that seems to meet the needs of most Talk respondents ==
 
From my sandbox: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User:Anthony.Sebastian/SebastianSandbox/Chemical_elements<br>
NB: Suggest these two pgraphs end the Intro:
 
===Intro===
Following the convention of the International Union of Physical and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC),<ref name=iupac>[http://iupac.org International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.]
* The world authority on chemical nomenclature, terminology, standardized methods for measurement, atomic weights and other critically evaluated data.</ref> ''''chemical elements'''', in one sense of the term, refers to species, or types, of [[Atom|atoms]].<ref name=iupacdef97>[http://old.iupac.org/goldbook/C01022.pdf chemical element.] Definition of 'chemical element' by the Physical Chemistry Division, unpublished; R.B. 35. IUPAC [International Union of Physical and Applied Chemistry] Compendium of Chemical Terminology 2nd Edition (1997)
* 1. A species of atoms; all atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus.
* 2. A pure chemical substance composed of atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus. Sometimes this concept is called the elementary substance as distinct from the chemical element as defined under 1, but mostly the term chemical element is used for both concepts.</ref> The distinguishing characteristic of a species of atoms is the number of [[protons]] in the [[Nucleus (atomic)|nucleus]] of its atoms, referred to as the [[atomic number]], Z, unique for each species of atoms and for each corresponding chemical element. Familiar species of atoms include [[oxygen]], [[copper]], [[gold]], and [[mercury]] &mdash; among the 94 naturally occurring species of atoms on Earth. See tables below.
 
In another sense of the term,'chemical elements' refers to chemical pure 'substances' each composed of a population of atoms solely of a single species, or type, of atoms, again as distinguished by its atomic number, Z.<ref name=iupacdef97/> In this sense of a 'chemical element', sometimes the term 'elementary substance' is used, but most often 'chemical element' is used for both senses. Familiar examples of such 'pure' chemical substances are segments of wire made solely of copper atoms, and rolls of [[aluminum]] foil made solely of aluminum atoms.  This second sense, or concept, renders 'chemical element' a somewhat more tangible particular, defining it in terms of a ''substance''.<ref>'''<u>Note:</u>'''&nbsp;'Substance' remains undefined by the IUPAC but chemists typically define it in terms of [[matter]], or imply matter, not as physicists view [[matter]], but in its sense as something that takes up [[space]] and has [[mass]]. In particular they refer to substances having a definite composition, and often restricting them to 'pure substances' such as pure chemical elements or compounds, but not to [[Mixture (chemistry)|mixtures]] of substances, such as [[Alloy|alloys.]]</ref> <ref name=atkinsgenchem89>Atkins PW. (1989) ''General Chemistry''. Scientific American Books. ISBN 0716719401.
* As in everyday life, in chemistry we distinguish between different <u>substances</u>, or different kinds of matter. Water is one substance, iron another. We recognize different substances by their different<u> properties</u>, or distinguishing features. These properties include color, taste, smell, the ability to conduct electricity, and what happens when the substance is heated or mixed with other substances…. Often the first characteristic of a substance we notice is its <u>physical state</u>; that is, whether it is a solid, a liquid, or a gas at a particular temperature….Having defined atoms, we can now define an element as a substance that consists of only one kind of atom. Hence there are about 100 different elements, each consisting of just one type of atom (cites figure). The element hydrogen, for example, is a substance that consists only of hydrogen atoms, the element oxygen consists only of oxygen atoms, and so on.</ref>
 
===References===
<references />
 
== Dust is settling ==
 
I hope that the article is now close to convergence.
Let me make a few comments on Anthony's version in his  [[User:Anthony.Sebastian/SebastianSandbox/Chemical_elements|sandbox]].
 
1. I see that IUPAC's first definition agrees with the one I wrote many versions ago (David Volk and Peter Schmitt suggested  essentially the same definition). I notice that Anthony  is finally convinced that that definition must come first.
 
2. I don't see the need for a reference to the IUPAC, it is clear from the previous discussion that any chemist agrees with the definition "an element is an atomic species" (or similar words to that effect). Also the quotes around chemical element don't serve any purpose. If we use them here, we must use them everywhere, as for example in:  '[[Taxonomy]]' is the science of collecting ...
 
3. Peter remarked that it is better to use  "units of positive charge" instead of "protons". It could indeed be more pedagogical.
 
4. The second IUPAC definition is the one that Anthony had in mind all along and that I objected to. I had two reasons for this objection: (a) The existence of allotropes, e.g., what now is elemental carbon, graphite or diamond? (b) The fact that some elements may not exist in pure form at all. I gave the example of iron before the Iron Age. Iron  did not exist in pure form before that time. I may add silicon (Si) before the semiconductor age, pure silicon is man-made.  Having said this, I now recognize that the second definition is the lay person's definition and as such it  deserves to be mentioned. 
 
5. Except for the word "population" Anthony's second definition is OK. I don't like the word population in this context because it implies something that is populated. (In daily life it is often a piece of land, as in the "population of the Bay Area is 20% Latino"). In science for instance quantum mechanical states and  adsorption sites are populated.  So write simply:
"each composed of a large number of atoms solely of a single species". "Population" is used a lot further down, IMHO in all cases  misused.
 
6. Anthony likes quotes and underscores much more than I do. I learned from Donald Knuth (TeXbook) that in printed matter underscores are a no-no. I always write as if CZ is printed matter, but this is open to discussion. Does CZ have laws on this, constable Peirce? (Our law-enforcing officer doubtlessly knows the law).
 
Except for a few  very minor things, Anthony's sandbox version is close to approval, especially  when my remarks are taken care of.
 
--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 08:53, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:Just adding in my two cents; I don't know much about the subject. In general, underscores are discouraged. That being said, I didn't see a single underscore in Anthony's sandbox.[[User:Drew R. Smith|Drew R. Smith]] 09:12, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:: Paul talks about ''underlined'' words. [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 09:43, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 
:: I agree with Paul. Some more remarks:
::: 1. The letter ''Z'' for the atomic number is not used and not needed here.
::: 2. Since "element" is ''defined'' by the number of protons, "unique for each species of atoms and for each corresponding chemical element" is a (circular) repetition. I think the sentence would be simpler and clearer without it.
::: 3. Sorry, but I do not understand what the last sentence ("tangible particular") should tell me.
::: 4. Paul: What is your opinion on mentioning the role of chemical processes in recognizing elements?
:: [[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 10:20, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

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 Definition:  In one sense, refers to species or types of atoms, each species/type distinguished by the number of protons in the nuclei of the atoms belonging to the species/type, each species/type having a unique number of nuclear protons; in another sense, refers to substances, or pieces of matter, each composed of multiple atoms solely of a single species/type. [d] [e]
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Re-start of Chemical elements

I replaced Chemical elements with the Sebastian sandbox version, with agreement of those major parties involved in the conflicted issues. See Talk pages sections above for more information.

Milton Beychok suggests that future "major" revisions receive thorough discussion on the Talk page prior to incorporation, and that even some minor revisions merit a sentence or two on the Talk page. Neither includes adding source citations.

Quoting Milton: " May I suggest that any future "major" revisions follow the same procedure of first being thoroughly discussed on the Talk page? Obviously, minor copy edits, style revisions, additional references, etc. need not be first discussed. But even then a sentence or two on the Talk page explaining even such minor changes can be most useful especially when made by Citizens who are not Chemistry or Physics Editors."

If no objections I will archive the current Talk page for the re-start, except for this entry.

Please join in the collaboration of this core chemistry article.

Anthony.Sebastian 18:28, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Plan to remove glossary from main article page

I don't believe that I have ever seen a Glossary in any other CZ article. In my opinion, it is not needed here ... and if it were needed, it would best be located in a new subpage. At present it only includes two terms and only one of them is defined. Unless there is substantial objection, I plan to remove the Glossary. Milton Beychok 18:29, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Milton, for a core chemistry article, especially thinking of non-chemists, I believe a glossary helpful. Could we move it to a subpage and see how it develops, whether all consider it then a useful addition. We can always delete it later. Anthony.Sebastian 18:33, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Milton, examples of articles with subpage entitled 'Glossary':
Bankruptcy
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Bankruptcy/Glossary
Economics
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Economics/Glossary
Some articles put 'Glossary' as a section under subpage 'Related articles' (not cool, IMHO)
Financial economics
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States/Related_Articles
Anthony.Sebastian 19:15, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
If we believe that the words "Matter" and "Substance" need a definition then they should be linked in the main article text. For example, are you aware that there is a very good existing article that defines "Matter" and linking to it would provide readers (chemists or non-chemists) with a complete explanation. One of the purposes of linking words is to provide an incentive to write new articles for those words which appear as red links. It seems to me that if we start creating Glossaries in main article pages, it would be counter-productive to that purpose.
As for creating a sub-page, if there were a very large number of special "jargon" words needing definition, then a Glossary subpage might be warranted ... but not for just for 2 words or even a dozen words. Both of the two articles you referred to above, (Bankruptcy and Economics), have what appears to be over a hundred words in their Glossaries and most of them could just as well have been in the Related Articles subpages. Milton Beychok 19:37, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Anthony, now that I have taken the time to look more closely at Bankruptcy, its Related Articles subpage was produced by some robot and contains articles having absolutely nothing to do with the article ... but the Glossary has dozens upon dozens of very pertinent subjects ... many of which are red links and many of which are blue links. It is obvious to me that the Glossary subpage of that article really should be moved to the Related Articles subpage. The same also appears to be true, to a lesser extent, of the Economics article. Milton Beychok 21:07, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Milton, as to number of words in glossary, I did not intend it to remain at two, but to grow in number as needed as the article developed. I distinguish between that "needed" and that "not needed, but helpful to the reader". By helpful, I include many things that make it easier for the reader. Not all readers will be chemists or scientists. Regarding CZ's matter article, it does not do what it would need to do for a chemistry article, especially one on chemical elements. Chemists use 'matter' in the sense of anything having mass and occupying space, which differs from the physicists perspective, as in Matter. Note the precise wording I employed to enable a non-scientist reader to understand matter from a chemist's perspective. That will become clear when I flesh out the definition of 'substance', critical in IUPAC's second conceptual sense of 'chemical element'. Chemists define 'substance' in terms of 'matter' in the chemist's sense of 'matter' As a teacher, I strongly argue for a glossary for Chemical elements, wherever located &mdash as a teacher.
Anthony, if CZ were to accept your point of view on this, it would mean that all technical articles (be they chemistry, economics, biology, physics, engineering, mathematics, earth science, astronomy) would need a Glossary sub-page for the non-technical readers. Before adopting such an all-encompassing position, I believe that a proposal would need to be made to the Editorial Council and voted upon.
Meanwhile, I have created a Related Articles subpage for this article and populated it with links to existing articles, including Allotrope, Atom (science), Atomic number, Chemical compound, Elementary charge, Matter, Periodic table of elements, Proton and Substance. In other words, I am deleting the Glossary section from the main article and moving its two words to the Related Article subpage. As you can see in the Related Articles subpage, all of those 9 articles (except for Substance already exist and their definitions are listed ... so it is really a Glossary in effect and there is no need for a separate Glossary subpage. Milton Beychok 23:36, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Milton, in my judgment, CZ´s erudite article on ´matter´ has little pedagogic value for a non-scientist, or science student, trying to understand how chemists understand and use the concept of matter and substance. It starts with: "Matter is defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed." It does not define ´substance´, and CZ has no article Substance. So the definition lacks information. Besides, matter is a more fundamental concept than substance, so the latter should be defined in terms of the former, not the other way around. Substances, like iron ingots and pools of water, are composed of matter, the kinds of matter we call iron and water.
CZ's article Matter does not state that matter is anything that takes up space and has mass, and that substances have the particularity of being different kinds of matter – the chemist´s perspective. What´s a poor struggling encyclopedia-inquirer to do? How will she understand the IUPAC´s definition of ´chemical element´ as a substance, a kind of matter, composed solely of a single species of atoms, if we do not define ´matter´ and ´substance´ the way the physical and applied chemists do. Let´s make it easier for her with a glossary of terms. She won´t find joy in Matter and the nonexistent Substance. Anthony.Sebastian 00:41, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
Anthony, if you feel that a Substance (chemistry) article is needed, then the proper thing to do is to write such an article ... and not to to try piggybacking it on this article. And if you feel that the existing Matter article does not reflect the chemist's definition of "matter", then you should write a Matter (chemistry) article instead of trying to piggyback it on this article. Alternatively, you could approach Paul Wormer and David Volk to collaborate with you in editing the existing Matter article so that it satisfactorily defines "matter" from both the physics viewpoint and the chemistry viewpoint.
I remain strongly opposed to piggybacking such articles on this one whether it be by a Glossary sub-page or by attaching lengthy quotes or annotations to selected references. Milton Beychok 01:31, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
Milton, I will take your advice and write Matter (chemistry) and same for substance. Anthony.Sebastian 14:59, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Re archiving this Talk page

Any objections to archiving the segment of this Talk above this and the two preceding sections? Anthony.Sebastian 19:20, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

No objection at all. Milton Beychok 19:37, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Great. Now I have to learn how to do it. Haven't found the pertinent help page yet. Anthony.Sebastian 21:28, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Anthony, if you will ask Matt Innis, Joe Quick or Drew Smith to do the archiving, I am sure they will do it for you. Milton Beychok 01:35, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Deletion of the excessive and unnecessary annotation for Reference 8

I removed this article from my watchlist sometime ago and hence did not see the reference 8 (N.E. Holden's presentation to the 41st IUPAC General Assembly) added by Anthony Sebastion on September 24th. The reference includes:

  1. The author's name and date of the presentation, the title of the presentation, and a hyperlink to a PDF of the complete presentation available on the Internet. It then includes a brief sentence explaining that the presentation was made to the 41st IUPAC General Assembly. (At this point, the reference is formatted properly and contains all of the information usually provided in such references.)
  2. The reference then includes a second hyperlink to the identical PDF document for which a link has already been provided. That redundancy is not required.
  3. The reference then includes a lengthy quotation from Holden's presentation which is not needed. The readers can easily go to the PDF and read the complete presentation.
  4. Finally, the reference includes a Table of Contents of the various sections of the PDF document.

The net result is a reference that contains 12 lines of text including 4 levels of bulleted items. I cannot recall ever seeing such a lengthy reference in a reference here in CZ, in Wikipedia or any journal or book that I have read. Just imagine what a reference list would look like if this were done for all references!

Therefore, I have decided to exercise my authority as a Chemistry Editor and I am deleting items 2, 3 and 4 above.

Normally, I would have simply made the deletions with perhaps a very brief explanation in my edit summary. However, a lengthy annotation of this sort in this article occurred earlier and was deleted after discussion between Anthony and myself in the archived section of this Talk page, I felt a detailed explanation was needed in this case.

Anthony, you may of course ask Paul Wormer and David Volk, who are also Chemistry Editors, to review my decision. That is your perogative. Milton Beychok 05:51, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Deletion of the excessive annotation for Reference 4

The excessive annotation of this reference (Atkin's book General Chemistry) by Anthony Sebastian is identical with the annotation I deleted from from reference 4 on July 27th after much discussion back and forth with Anthoney Sebastion. I was under the impression that he finally acquiesced and it was settled without my exercising my authority as a Chemistry Editor. I was evidently wrong, because Anthony has reinserted the excessive annotation.

Accordingly, this time I am exercising my authority and deleting the excessive annotation again. Atkin's book is readily available in most libraries and there is no need to include a lengthy bit of content from the book.

As noted in my remarks on reference 8 above, just imagine what a reference list would look like if all references were annotated to this extent.

Again, you may review my decision with Paul Wormer and David Volk who are also Chemistry Editors. That is your perogative. Milton Beychok 05:51, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

I saw the lengthy quote by Atkins. This quote doesn't add anything new, there are millions of books out there that say something similar. We have this old-fashioned (fuzzy and non-unique) definition of "chemical element" already in the article, why would we need a confirmation of it by an overrated bestseller writer (known among professional physical chemists for the many errors in his many textbooks)?--Paul Wormer 06:23, 28 September 2009 (UTC)
Though I am not a chemist, I fully agree. I would object to similar usage in mathematics or physics, as well. (The situation might be different in humanities, but I doubt even this.) I even suggest to remove both references. Paul says that Atkins is a popular book -- a secondary or tertiary source is not a suitable reference for a definition. Concerning reference 8, a trivial statement like "the names of the elements are of historical origin" requires no footnote. It is enough to list the book in the bibliography. By the way, the comments there are also much overdone, they read like publisher's blurb, not as annotations helping to find the best literature. Peter Schmitt 09:38, 28 September 2009 (UTC)
Paul and Peter, thank you for your comments. Milton Beychok 15:18, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Annotating Bibliography Entries

Milton: The heading on the Bibliography subpage states: "Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner." My annotations of the bibliographic entries that I entered, which you deleted, I designed specifically for user-friendliness. I had the reader in mind throughout the annotation process, which took hours of my time, deleted in an instant. You would not allow such annotations in the reference section of the main article. I had hoped you would allow them on the Bibliography subpage. I feel you have deleted useful information for the reader, information that might very well have encouraged the reader to consult the bibliographic entries by describing and illustrating what they could provide. The annotations on a subpage in no way damage the main article. Respectfully, I feel you have denied the reader something of value. Where can I give the reader that information? Apparently nowhere in the article. As a teacher, I feel very frustrated. As a three-year contributor to Citizendium I find for the first time that my sincere efforts to deliver quality content to the reader restricted by an Editor. I cannot tell you how discouraged I feel. Anthony.Sebastian 02:26, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

I regret that you feel discouraged, but the annotations to those bibliography entries were even more lengthy than your annotations of the references. One of them was practically a separate article unto itself. My edit summary reads: Deleted grossly excessive annotation for same reasons discussed on main article's Talk page re references 4 & 8. Annotation for the link to a periodic table was almost a separate article unto itself.
I don't believe that the subpage heading of "Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner" anticipated or expected anyone to intrepret it to mean such grossly excessive annotations.
Anthony, I note on your user page that you have published dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals. I don't have access to any of them but I am fairly sure that most, if not all, of those journals had certain rules about the formatting of references and bibliographies ... and that they would not have allowed lengthy annotations such as you seem to be prone to writing. Again, I regret that you feel frustrated with me, but I assure you there is nothing personal about my edits. I believe that I am just performing my duties as an Editor. If you have read the above comments by Paul Wormer and by Peter Schmitt, you will see that I am not alone in believing that such lengthy annotations are unwarranted. Both Paul and Peter are also CZ editors ... Paul is a retired university professor and Peter is an active university professor and one must assume that both of them are or were teachers like yourself. Milton Beychok 03:28, 29 September 2009 (UTC)
I very much appreciate your efforts to be reader-friendly. Therefore I feel that I have to explain, at least briefly, why I completely agree with Milton:
  • Holden "surveys (alphabetically) the origin of the names given to the chemical elements". Why don't you say this in your annotation instead of cryptically saying "'Origin' here refers to the 'origin of discovery' on Earth", adding a lengthy quote that says nothing about the paper, and giving subject headings which are only of interest if one reads the paper?
  • Trapp is "a (very) nicely made site providing detailed historical accounts on the chemical elements". Why do you copy the mission statement of the site and some of its internal links?
  • Jefferson Lab "provides (brief) information on the properties, the uses, and the history of the chemical elements". Why do you want to reproduce the instruction how to use the site, and why to you reproduce one entry?
You should bear in mind that being "reader-friendly" also includes to be brief: Giving more information than needed means that the reader has to read more and might easily miss the important part(s). Peter Schmitt 10:09, 29 September 2009 (UTC)
I agree with Milt and Peter, but noticed in the part of the bibliography, which is now gone, some interesting facts that could go into the articles of some of the elements. Anthony, why don't you start, for instance, an article on vanadium? (I'm working on transition elements). Or add something to Periodic table of elements#History? --Paul Wormer 15:16, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

(Unindent) Milton, Peter, and Paul: I tremendously respect each of you, from whom I continually learn, both of natural science and CZ-mechanics. As you undoubtedly know, I contribute content to CZ in Biology, Health Sciences, and in numerous other workgroups. I have taken to the wiki mode of writing for many reasons, in particular because it allows me more freedom of style than writing peer-reviewed research papers, review articles, editorials and the like (which I nevertheless continue to write). I love the freedom to include text-boxes, blockquotes, epigraphs, color, and such. I also like the freedom to include editorial-type notes in the reference section, which many journals do not permit, and to annotate source citations for the convenience and edification of the reader. Those latter two mechanisms I have extensively employed in the CZ articles I have initiated and developed over the past three years, as well as the articles to which I have contributed but did not initiate, often with what you all would label excessively long notes/annotations. Not to pat myself on the back, I tell you I work hard to select and prepare those 'long' notes/annotations. I accede to your proscription of 'long' notes/annotations in the reference section of the main article, but very much regret the proscription of them also on the Bibliography subpage. In my view they add value for the reader and do no real injury to the overall contribution led by the main article. Nevertheless, Editors have the last word.

Paul: I did think that once we more fully developed Chemical element I would start an article on a specific element, and I like your suggestion of vanadium, as I also know a little about its biological role and would like to learn more through the process of writing about it. When a server-person asks me whether I want fresh ground pepper on my salad I always reply yes, that I need the vanadium. If only you could slow down the clock. Anthony.Sebastian 21:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Anthony, I am sorry that feel suppressed. It is not the length of your annotations that I reject (I can imagine lengthy annotations). But you have not convinced us that, in this case, they add value for the reader. (I have tried to explain my reasons.)

Names

The official IUPAC names are a compromise between British (caesium, aluminium) and American (sulfur). The article imposes American spellings for all. Peter Jackson 09:22, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Why this encyclopædia doesn't follow IUPAC nomenclature is puzzling. Meg Ireland 10:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
Meg, I prepared the tables and I wasn't aware that I didn't follow IUPAC nomenclature, my mistake. Hopefully this confession solves your puzzle. I'm in favor of following standards, so please make corrections everywhere where I went wrong (i.e., deviated from the standard). --Paul Wormer 15:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
It's not your fault Paul. The articles in question were created by others. They are going to have to be renamed to conform to IUPAC standards. Meg Ireland 00:54, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

How many chemical elements possible?

Many years ago I read an essay by Asimov suggesting you could have substantially larger nuclei with a toroidal structure. Peter Jackson 09:44, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Interesting, Peter. I wonder whether a toroidal nucleus could develop naturally, or whether nature would sustain an artificial one.
I wonder also what the implications/possibilties/advantages of stable atoms with Z>150. Anthony.Sebastian 05:47, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
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