Roses are red and so is blood

By Peter Childs2011-09-01T00:00:00

Source: Shutterstock

Peter Childs, University of Limerick, investigates words in chemistry.

In a previous Chemlingo I looked at some words for red with chemical connections and here we look at some more. The names of two elements are related to red. Rubidium was named by Robert Bunsen and Wilhelm Kirchoff in 1861 from the colour of the distinctive lines in its atomic spectrum and takes its name from the Latin rubidus, meaning deep red.

"Therefore we propose for this alkali metal, in respect to those two remarkable dark red lines, the name Rubidium with the symbol Rb from Rubidus which was used by the ancients to designate the deepest red."

Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.

A photograph of a teacher standing in a white lab coat, speaking with a class of children in a laboratory, is superimposed on a colourful background. Text reads "Teach Chemistry means support for classroom and staff room".

Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access

Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.

Get all this, plus much more:

unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
applications for funding to support your lessons

Set up your Teach Chemistry account

Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.

Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.