Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Jun 2017)
Notes on the language of chemistry. 12 On the language of chemistry - local and regional problems
Abstract
The language of chemistry consists of symbols, words and expressions. The symbols of the chemical elements are the most common ones in practically any text in chemistry – the words denote chemical entities and chemical properties while the expressions are used to explain the meaning of the characteristic words. The chemical symbols are internationally agreed and are written in the same way in any language and independent of the script (Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic or any other). Among the words characteristic for chemistry, the most important are those denoting the basic units of matter (e.g. atoms, molecules etc.), the general or specific forms of matter and, of course and the chemical names of substances. The characteristic expressions, as already pointed out, are needed to give the meaning of words, either characteristic for chemistry (such as chemical names) or more general. Although the language of chemistry tends to be universal in character, local terms are used and it is the aim of this communication to point out to problems (local, regional or wider) in this field and, when possible, to suggest the way to improve the present situation.
