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No. 442: Periodic Table: 39 Yttrium

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Periodic Table: 39 Yttrium

First | Previous | 2016-07-26 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/dinosaur/?comic=442

Strip by: David Morgan-Mar, Andrew Coker

T-Rex: T-Rex presents The Periodic Table:
T-Rex: 39 YTTRIUM
T-Rex: A transition metal used in lasers and superconductors and nuclear medicine! Wow, it's so high tech!
Utahraptor: How do you say "yttrium" anyway?
T-Rex: Well noted. It's also The Most Difficult Element to Pronounce. Officially.
Utahraptor: Wow!
T-Rex: I never know if Utahraptor is being sarcastic or not...

The author writes:

Besides physical properties like melting point, heat of fusion, ionisation energy, electronegativity, and so on, elements have a pronounceability factor. Here are some sample values:

178.45 Tin
169.57 Gold
168.39 Iron
...
98.22 Silicon
96.09 Bromine
...
65.38 Potassium
63.39 Manganese
...
40.07 Gadolinium
39.82 Berkelium
...
12.54 Roentgenium
10.91 Praseodymium
8.57 Yttrium