<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

The group was once also known as the tetrels (from Greek tetra meaning four ), stemming from the earlier naming convention of this group as Group IVA. [link] lists the derivation of the names of the Group 14 elements.

Derivation of the names of each of the Group 14 elements.
Element Symbol Name
Carbon C From the Latin carbo meaning coal
Silicon Si From the Latin silicis meaning flints
Germanium Ge From the Latin Germania for Germany
Tin Sn From the Anglo-Saxon and from the Latin stannum meaning melts easily
Lead Pb From the Anglo-Saxon, and from the Latin plumbum meaning soft metal

Discovery

Carbon

Carbon was known in prehistory in the form of soot; while charcoal was made in Roman times (by heating wood while exclude air) and diamonds were known as early as 2500 BC in China. In 1772, Antoine Lavoisier ( [link] ) showed that diamonds were a form of carbon, when he burned samples of carbon and diamond and showed that both formed the same amount of carbon dioxide per gram of material. Carl Scheele ( [link] ) showed that graphite was a form of carbon rather a form of lead.

French chemist and biologist Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743 – 1794).
German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742 - 1786). Author Isaac Asimov has called him "hard-luck Scheele" because he made a number of chemical discoveries before others who are generally given the credit.

A new allotrope of carbon, fullerene, was discovered in 1985 by Robert Curl, Harry Kroto, and Richard Smalley ( [link] ) who subsequently shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996. Fullerenes have been reveled to include nanostructured forms such as buckyballs and nanotubes. The renewed interest in new forms lead to the discovery of further exotic allotropes, including glassy carbon, and the realization that amorphous carbon is not amorphous.

Rice University chemists Richard E. Smalley (1943 - 2005) and Robert F. Curl (1933 - ).

Silicon

Silicon was first identified by Antoine Lavoisier ( [link] ) in 1787 as a component of flints, and was later mistaken by Humphry Davy ( [link] ) for a compound rather than an element. In 1824, Berzelius ( [link] ) prepared amorphous silicon by the reaction of potassium with silicon tetrafluoride, [link]

British chemist and inventor Sir Humphry Davy FRS (1778 - 1829).
Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779 – 1848).

Germanium

In 1869 Dmitri Mendeleev ( [link] ) predicted the existence of several unknown elements, including ekasilicon (Es) between silicon and tin.

Russian chemist and inventor Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834 – 1907).

In 1885 a new mineral (named argyrodite because of its high silver content) was found in a mine near Freiberg, Saxony. Clemens Winkler ( [link] ) isolated Mendeleev’s missing element. He originally was going to name neptunium because like this element, because like ekasilicon, the planet Neptune had been preceded by mathematical prediction of its existence. However, the name neptunium had already been given to an element and so Winkler named the new metal germanium in honor of his fatherland.

German chemist Clemens Alexander Winkler (1838 –1904).

Winkler was able to isolate sufficient germanium from 500 kg of ore to determine a number properties, including an atomic weight of 72.32 g/mol by analyzing pure germanium tetrachloride (GeCl 4 ). Winkler prepared several new compounds of germanium, including the fluorides, chlorides, sulfides, germanium dioxide, and tetraethylgermane (Ge(C 2 H 5 ) 4 ). The physical data from these compounds, corresponded with Mendeleev's predictions ( [link] ).

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, Chemistry of the main group elements. OpenStax CNX. Aug 20, 2010 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11124/1.25
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'Chemistry of the main group elements' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask