72: What's in a Name?

We see how naming inorganic compounds has evolved from the early 18th century to now. Initially chemists named compounds by their properties or origin. Then Lavoisier and friends created a new naming scheme based on elemental constituents, but this scheme didn't allow for multiple compounds with different amounts of elements. A variety of schemes appeared in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and this episode talks a bit about who and how these systems came about, and what is used now.

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