List of misidentified chemical elements explained

Chemical elements that have been mistakenly "discovered". Further investigation showed that their discovery was either mistaken, that they have been mistaken from an already-known element, or mixture of two elements, or that they indicated a failing in theory where a new element had been assumed rather than some previously unknown behaviour.

Name Symbol Atomic number Actual element Discovery date Discoverer
Ab 85 1931data-sort-value="Allison, Fred" Fred Allison
87 1926data-sort-value="Druce, Gerald J. F." Gerald J. F. Druce, Frederick H. Loring
See Helvetium
1911data-sort-value="Nicholson, J. W." J. W. Nicholson
1898data-sort-value="Lockyer, Norman"
1874data-sort-value="Huggins, William" [1]
Ao 93 1934 data-sort-value="Fermi, Enrico"
31 1886 data-sort-value="Linnemann, Eduard"Hypothesised from spectral line observations in the rare-earth mineral orthite.[2] It was later confirmed that these lines were due to the recently discovered gallium.
Bz 90 1901 data-sort-value="Baskerville, Charles"Charles BaskervilleSee Carolinium
93 1934 data-sort-value="Koblic, Odolen"
Cn 90 1901 data-sort-value="Baskerville, Charles"With Berzelium, erroneously identified as a mixture of three elements, with thorium, during work at the University of North Carolina.[3]
26 1869 data-sort-value="Young, Charles Augustus"Hypothesised from a 530.3 nm green emission line in the solar coronal spectrum. Later, around 1902, renamed as Newtonium. In the 1930s recognised as highly ionized iron, rather than a new element.
61 1941data-sort-value="Prout, William"
Dk 85 1937data-sort-value="De Cepare, Rajendralal" Rajendralal De Cepare
1877 data-sort-value="Kern, Serge"[4]
1878 data-sort-value="Delafontaine, Marc"Thought to have been isolated from the mineral samarskite in 1878.[5]
1860 data-sort-value="Kobell, von, Wolfgang Franz"See Pelopium
1841data-sort-value="Mosander, Carl"
85 1936data-sort-value="Hulubei, Horia"
87
107
61 1924data-sort-value="Rolla, Luigi" Luigi Rolla and Lorenzo Fernandes
Gh 118 1999data-sort-value="Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory"
1892 data-sort-value=""Not discovered, but hypothesised to explain discrepancies within the iron group elements for an early periodic table ordered by mass. The concept of atomic number clarified the situation without requiring the invention of a new element.
85 1940 data-sort-value="Minder, Walter"Rediscovered in 1942 and named Anglohelvetium
Hs 94 1934 data-sort-value="Fermi, Enrico"
61 1926data-sort-value="Hopkins, Smith"
1847 data-sort-value="Hermann, R"R. Hermann See Pelopium
39 1896 data-sort-value="Barrière, Prosper"
43 1925data-sort-value="Noddack, Walter"
Mi 87 1936data-sort-value="Hulubei, Horia"
1898See Victorium
17 1774data-sort-value="Scheele, Carl Wilhelm"
1785data-sort-value="Berthollet, Claude Louis"
1864 data-sort-value="Huggins, William"
0 (Neutronium) 1926data-sort-value="Antropoff, Andreas"
1902See Coronium
Nv 118 1999data-sort-value="Ninov, Victor Victor NinovStudies proved inconsistencies in the data shown from Victor Ninov
Np 75 1908data-sort-value="Ogawa, Masataka" [6]
1846 data-sort-value="Rose, Heinrich"Confused with mixtures of the difficult to distinguish niobium and tantalum, extracted from the mineral tantalite.[7]
77 1828data-sort-value="Osann, Gottfried"
76 1803data-sort-value="Collet-Descotils, Hippolyte-Victor"
1816data-sort-value="Prout, William"
87 1925data-sort-value="Dobroserdov, D. K."
Sg 108 1963 data-sort-value="Cherdyntsev, Victor"
93 1939 data-sort-value="Hulubei, Horia"Thought to have been present in tantalite ore, actually not present, rather than mis-identified.
Ubb 122 (Unbibium) 2008data-sort-value="Marinov, Amnon"
1898data-sort-value="Crookes, William"
Vi (Vm) 87 1930data-sort-value="Allison, Fred"
1862 data-sort-value="Bahr, J.F."Another element identified in ores from Ytterby.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interstellar and Intergalactic Medium. Ryden. Barbara. Pogge. Richard.
  2. 10.1007/BF01516564 . Austrium, ein neues metallisches Element . 1886 . Linnemann . Eduard . Eduard Linnemann . . 7 . 1 . 121 . 97322406 .
  3. 10.1021/ja02036a004 . On the Existence of a new Element associated with Thorium . 1901 . Baskerville . Charles . . 23 . 10 . 761–764.
  4. 10.1080/14786447708639315 . On a new metal, davyum. Serge . Kern . . Series 5 . 4 . 1877 . 158 - 159 . 23 .
  5. Sur le décepium, métal nouveau de la samarskite . Marc . Delafontaine . Journal de pharmacie et de chimie . 28 . 1878 . 540.
  6. 10.1016/j.sab.2003.12.027 . Discovery of a new element 'nipponiumʼ: re-evaluation of pioneering works of Masataka Ogawa and his son Eijiro Ogawa . 2004. Yoshihara. H. K. . Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy . 59 . 1305–1310 . 2004AcSpe..59.1305Y. 8.
  7. On a new metal, pelopium, contained in the Bavarian tantalite . Heinrich . Rose . . Series 3 . 29 . 195 . 1846 . 409–416 . 10.1080/14786444608645529 .
  8. 10.1002/jlac.18641310316 . Ueber das Wasium. 1864. Delafontaine, M.. Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. 131. 3. 368–372.