91. Protactinium - Elementymology & Elements Multidict

Elementymology & Elements Multidict

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91
Protactinium
Protactinium – Protaktinium – Protactinium – Protactínio – プロトアクチニウム – Протактиний – 鏷
Pa
Multilingual dictionary

Indo-European
Protactinium Latin

— Germanic
Protaktinium Afrikaans
Protactinium Danish
Protaktinium German
Protactinium English
Protaktinium Faroese
Protactinium Frisian (West)
Protaktín Icelandic
Protaktinium Luxembourgish
Protactinium Dutch
Protactinium Norwegian
Protaktinium Swedish

— Italic
Protactinio Aragonese
Protactiniumu Aromanian
Protactiniu Asturian
Protactini Catalan
Protactínio Spanish
Protactinium French
Protoatini Friulian
Protactinio Galician
Protoattinio Italian
Protuatíni Lombard
Protactini Occitan
Protacnídio Portuguese
Protactiniu Romanian - Moldovan

— Slavic
Протактиний [Protaktinij] Bulgarian
Protactinijum, ²Protaktinij Bosnian
Пратактыній [prataktynij] Belarusian
Protaktinium Czech
Protaktinij Croatian
Protaktin Kashubian
Протактиниум [Protaktinium] Macedonian
Proaktyn Polish
Протактиний [Protaktinij] Russian
Protaktinium Slovak
Protaktinij Slovenian
Протоактинијум [Protoaktinijum] Serbian
Протактиній [protaktynij] Ukrainian

— Baltic
Protaktinis Lithuanian
Protaktīnijs Latvian
Pruotaktėnis Samogitian

— Celtic
Protaktiniom Breton
Protoactiniwm Welsh
Prótachtainiam Gaelic (Irish)
Pròtactainiam Gaelic (Scottish)
Protaghtinnium Gaelic (Manx)
Protoactynyum Cornish

— Other Indo-European
Πρωτακτινιο [prōtaktinio] Greek
Պրոտակտինիում [protaktinium] Armenian
Protaktin, ²Protactiniumi Albanian

— Indo-Iranian/Iranian
Proaktinyûm Kurdish
Протактиний [protaktinij] Ossetian
Протактиний [Protaktini'] Tajik

— Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan
প্রোটেক্টিনিয়াম [proṭekṭiniẏāma] Bengali
پروتاکتینیم [prwtaktynym] Persian
પ્રોટૅક્ટિનિયમનો [proṭekṭiniyamano] Gujarati
प्रोटैक्टीनियम [proṭaikṭiniyama] Hindi

Finno-Ugric
Protaktiinium Estonian
Protaktinium Finnish
Protaktínium Hungarian
Протактиний [Protaktinij] Komi
Протактиний [Protaktinij] Mari
Протактини [protaktini] Moksha
Protaktiinium Võro

Altaic
Protaktinium Azerbaijani
Протактини [Protaktini] Chuvash
Протактиний [protaktinij] Kazakh
Протактиний [Protaktinij] Kyrgyz
Протактини [protaktini] Mongolian
Protaktinyum Turkish
پروتاكتىنىي [protaktiniy] Uyghur
Protaktiniy Uzbek

Other (Europe)
Protaktinioa Basque
პროტაქტინიუმი [protak'tiniumi] Georgian

Afro-Asiatic
بروتكتنيوم [brūtaktīniyūm] Arabic
פרוטקטיניום [protaktinium] Hebrew
Protaktinjum, ²Protoattinju Maltese

Sino-Tibetan
Phù (鏷) Hakka
プロトアクチニウム [purotoakuchiniumu] Japanese
프로트악티늄 or 프로탁티늄 [peurotagtinyum] Korean
โพรแทกทิเนียม [phrōthaekthiniam] Thai
Protactini Vietnamese
[pu2 / pok8] Chinese

Malayo-Polynesian
Protactinyo Cebuano
Protaktinium Indonesian
Protactinium Māori
Protaktinium Malay

Other Asiatic
പ്രൊട്ടക്റ്റിനിയം [proṭṭakṟṟiniyam] Malayalam
புரொட்டக்டினியம் [puroţţakţiṉiyam] Tamil

Africa
Potinu? Lingala
Proaktiniamo Sesotho
Protaktini Swahili

North-America
Protactinio Nahuatl

South-America
Protaktinyu Quechua

Creole
Protaktinimi Sranan Tongo

Artificial
Protaktinio Esperanto

New names
Proteon Atomic Elements
Gohrjanium Dorseyville
memory peg

Shiny radioactive metal
melting point <=1600 °C; <=2912 °F
boiling point -- °C; -- °F
density 15.37 g/cc; 959.52 pounds/cubic foot
1913 Kasimir Fajans & Otto Göhring
πρωτος (prōtos) + Actinium = first (Greek) + element #89
named by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner, 1918

History & Etymology

Element #91 was predicted by Д.И. Менделеев (D.I. Mendeleyev) in 1871 and named by him Eka-Tantalum (note) .

The first isotope of Protactinium to be discovered was 234Pam (also called Uranium X2), an ephemeral member of the natural decay series of 238U. This isotope was identified by Kasimir Fajans (1887-1975) and Otto H. Göhring of Karlsruhe in 1913, who called it Brevium (= brief), because of its short half-life (note).

In 1918, two research scientist teams isolated almost simultaneously a more stable isotope (231Pa), of the decay series of 235U. These teams were led by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner (note), and by Frederick Soddy and John A. Cranston (note). The first team named this isotope Protoactinium, from the Greek πρωτος [prōtos] = first, since its place in the uranium-actinium decay series it is the first before Actinium (it falls apart in Actinium (227Ac) and an α-particle).
The isotope name Protoactinium was shortened in 1949 to Protactinium and became the general name for the element #91.

Historical names of Protactinium Isotopes
Name & Symbol (hist. and modern) First described Notes
Protoactinium Pa 231Pa 1918 O. Hahn & L. Meitner  
Uranium Z U Z 234Pa 1918 O. Hahn  
Uranium X2
Brevium
U X2
Bv
234Pam 1913 K. Fajans & O. Göhring  

John and Gordon Marks suggested in 1994 the name Meitnium (Mt), after Lise Meitner, according to them the discoverer of this element and of the many peculiar properties (especially radioactivity) of the actinides. The Marks brothers found the old names ugly and confusing. They offered alternative names that are equivalent contemporary (at the time and place of discovery) metaphors, both more euphonious and more memorable (note).

Further reading
  • Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp. 783-784, 791-795.
  • Protactinium und Isotope. Gmelins Handbuch der anorganische Chemie, 8. Aufl.; System-Nummer 41 (1952).

Sources Index of Persons Index of Alleged Elements