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Elements of Trivia 1

By Michelle on Thursday, June 16, 2005
How cultured is your chemistry? Test your knowledge!

What element takes its name from the Greek for lead? (Hint: It's not lead and was used in medieval illuminated manuscripts.)

6 comments:

  1. AYDIN ÖRSTANJune 16, 2005 at 8:31 PM

    Gold?

    ReplyDelete
  2. MichelleJune 16, 2005 at 9:58 PM

    Not gold, it's the layer below that provides the hint!

    ReplyDelete
  3. aThinkingReedJune 18, 2005 at 6:07 AM

    I've studied some Greek, but I must confess to using Google. I've wondered before about the origin of that strangely lyrical name, but never brought myself to look it up.

    P.S. - This is an interesting resource.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MichelleJune 18, 2005 at 4:54 PM

    Anthony...

    Thanks for the pointer to the site on element names...it's a great spot.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HenryJune 22, 2005 at 8:14 PM

    I had to look it up but since it has been almost a week I hope you don't mind me giving it away. I used the above link and from there found the link to Seven metals known from antiquity in 119 languages and found the Greek word for lead, molyvdos. Then I went down an alphabetical list of the elements and found the most likely candidate and found Molybdenum which is my answer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MichelleJune 24, 2005 at 9:53 PM

    Thanks, Henry! I was about ready to post the answer (and wondering if anyone was wondering...). Molybdenum it is -- it resembles white lead, hence the name.

    ReplyDelete


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