Question: The chemical element selenium is named after which celestial body?
Show answer
The moon.
The chemical element selenium takes its name from selene, the Greek word for ‘moon’. The name was chosen by Jöns Jakob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist who is considered one of the founders of modern chemistry. He discovered selenium in 1817 when he was investigating the by-products of sulfuric acid production.
Selenium was named to follow the precedent set by the element tellurium, which Berzelius’s colleague, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, named after the Latin word for Earth (“tellus”). Because selenium was similar to tellurium but less dense, Berzelius decided to name it after the moon, reflecting the heavenly body’s perceived lesser ‘weight’ compared to Earth.
Selenium is a nonmetal with the chemical symbol Se and atomic number 34. It’s a versatile element used in a variety of applications. It has photoconductive and photovoltaic properties, making it useful in photocells, photocopiers, and solar cells. Selenium is also important in glass manufacturing to remove color, and it is used as a pigment in plastics and ceramics. In biology, selenium is an essential trace element that plays a critical role in human health, including the function of the immune system and thyroid gland. However, it’s toxic in large quantities.
