RobJim
Senior Member
Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 320
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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 Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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Na is sodium, not potassium.
A lot of times elements have different names in different languages because they were known in ancient times. In these cases, one standard symbol is picked for each; in the case of sodium, the symbol is based on the Latin name (which is common). The Latin name is Natrium, which is what you use, but the English have known of it a long time. They called it "soda" which is where 'Sodium' came from.
The etymology of the names for sodium can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium#History
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