Chemistry Question?!?

Question

My question is: Why is tungsten's symbol W instead of somethng with a T in it? Thanks for helping me!
Will award best answer!

Answer 1

It is only Tungsten in the US. I worked for a chemical company in Europe for awhile, and the element names that they used are those that are actually represented in the Periodic table. Na is Natrium and K is Kallium, etc. This tends to be the case with elements that are old and were discovered a long time ago (at least before English became dominant).

So its not surprising that W is Wolframium, based on its original latin root name.

If you want a good chuckle, lead is Pb, which is for plumbium, beacuse Roman plumbers used lead to make sewer pipes.

Answer 2

Um. Wow.

Everyone else is really really wrong. It's not Latin. For it to be Latin, there'd have to be a Latin word for tungsten (or a tungsten ore) that starts with W, and you can't have a Latin word for something that wasn't discovered until after everyone stopped speaking Latin. Can't have a Latin name for an element unless the substance was known the the Romans.

Oh, and there's the small wrinkle that there's no W in Latin.

The W comes from the German name for the element: "wolfram", which in turn comes from the mineral wolframite, from which tungsten was first isolated in the 1780s.

Answer 3

The symbols on the periodic table usually refer to the latin names of the elements. The Latin name for Tungsten is Wolframium. Hence the W.

Answer 4

Pardon me here but it seems that if you have to ask the question you don't know the answer. If you don't know the answer how can you reward the correct answer if this is what you mean by best?

Additional:

Thanks all you answerers for proving my point. By my tally four of you said latin, one said Russian, one said German and another cited the naming convention organization. So, again assuming the questioner had no knowlege how would she have ever picked a correct answer?

Further:

According to the reference below in "1779 Peter Woulfe examined the mineral now known as wolframite and concluded it must contain a new substance." It appears that the mineral may well have been named after Peter Woulf and the symbol "W" almost certainly comes from Woulf. If so the letter "T" was probably never considered or may have been but was rejected to avoid any possible confusion with Tin.

Answer 5

Tungsten was discovered in Russia (I think) where it was named wolframium. Thats where the W came from. Other elements are different like that, for instance, gold (Au) comes from Aurora because it glistens and shines.

Answer 6

I have no idea, b ut I am guessing it is the same principal as other elements in the periodic table eg sodium (Na), potassium (K) and iron (Fe)

Most symbols derive from the (Latin/original) name for that element.

Answer 7

Because it had been decided by an organization named IUPAC..IUPAC chose W because tungsten are related to electric

Answer 8

latin roots. its like potassium is K on the periodic table