Naming Chemicals: From Fear to Flourishing

If you look at the ingredient list on any number of household products, you will often read a long list of names. Some of the items listed will be very familiar: water, sodium chloride (table salt), corn oil, ammonia, and more. After these familiar names come other names that are long, complicated, and hard to pronounce and harder to spell. As a result, such names might alarm those who are purchasing the product. However, a closer look at the structure of chemical names will invite us into a deeper understanding of the chemical aspect of creation and enable us to be better stewards of creation.

To illustrate this fear, I point you to a website called the “Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division,” which is offered to provide an “unbiased data clearinghouse” regarding the controversy surrounding this chemical (abbreviated DHMO).

This site provides an FAQ to list the many effects of DHMO, of which the following are a sample:

• Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
• Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
• Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
• DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
• Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
• Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
• Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.

Its many uses include:

• as an industrial solvent and coolant,
• in nuclear power plants,
• by the U.S. Navy in the propulsion systems of some older vessels,
• in the development of genetically engineered crops and animals,
• as a spray-on fire suppressant and retardant,
• as a byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion in furnaces and air conditioning compressor operation,

I will attest to you that these statements are factually correct. This website is filled with more information about the hazards and problems stemming from the use of DHMO.

To start, we need to take a closer look at how names of chemicals come about. People have been naming substances for as long as we have used language to communicate. Sulfuric acid (chemical formula H₂SO₄), the acid in car batteries and one of the largest production chemicals in the world today, was known to the Sumerians as oil of vitriol, and has been part of chemistry and alchemy since ancient times.

That old name, oil of vitriol, was used because sulfuric acid was obtained by heating and distilling the acid from colored crystals of metal sulfates known as vitriols, with the latter term coming from the Latin word vitriolus, meaning “small glass.” The modern meaning of the word vitriolic—harsh criticism or acrimony—derives from the corrosive properties of sulfuric acid.

The point is that oil of vitriol is a historic name that has meaning relating to the origin (crystalline salts of vitriol) and properties (and oily liquid) of the substance. These names alsoimpart meaning about the nature of the substance being named.

Jumping forward to the 18^th and 19^th centuries, chemists discover the atomic nature of chemicals and begin organizing this knowledge into the modern form of the periodic table.

In this context, it becomes clear to chemists that a formal system of naming is needed to catalogue and organize all the chemicals that they are discovering. Not only that, chemists, building on the tradition of the alchemists but with the precision and quantification introduced by the scientific method, begin to synthesize new chemicals, so prolifically that now there are over 290 million known chemicals.

Thus, part of modern chemistry is a system of naming chemicals, formally called nomenclature. As students learn chemistry, they learn naming rules, much like learning basic vocabulary and grammar in a second language.

In the guidebooks on nomenclature, the key principle is that a chemical name should unambiguously describe the chemical’s structure and composition—how the given atoms are attached to each other. This could be viewed as a bit reductionistic, but in the hands of a chemist, knowledge of the structure of a molecule is an excellent starting point for understanding its properties.

So, if we go back to the example of sulfuric acid, it is obvious that this name is based on a property: its acidity. The first part of the name suggests that sulfur is involved, but it says little about the number and attachments of the atoms to each other. A better name would be (di-)hydrogen sulfate. Sulfate is a reference to a group of four oxygen atoms attached to one sulfur atom with a negative charge, symbolized by SO₄^-2. Hydrogen is clearly an element name; what is less clear is that a chemist knows that hydrogen is a positive ion with one unit of charge, so two are needed. The optional addition of di- as a prefix resolves that confusion, but a chemist familiar with sulfate can deduce the number of hydrogens.

But the most systematic name is purely structural: dihydroxidodioxidosulfur. Sulfur means one atom of sulfur. Dioxido means two negatively charged atoms of oxygen, each independently attached to the sulfur atom. Similarly, dihydroxido means a pair of negatively charged molecular ions of hydrogen and oxygen also attached to the sulfur. Yet, the systematic name is very clumsy to use, so even the guidebook allows for the use of sulfuric acid, and almost every chemist continues to use it. This is much like our use of a nickname for a friend rather than a formal name, say Bobby for Robert.

In contrast, there are a variety of ways of writing formulas, such as H₂SO₄, H₂O₄S, (HO)₂SO₂, or a number of graphic forms where the most suitable one depends on the question being asked. Figure 1 shows some of these forms.

What does this mean for DHMO? Now we are in a better position to understand a name such as “dihydrogen monoxide.” As we saw above, “dihydrogen” simply means two (di-) hydrogen atoms. With that lead, it is easy to see that “monoxide” means one oxygen atom. So DHMO means H₂O. Likely you recognize that from science class in grade school as the formula for water. That is, DHMO is just a systematic name to mean a compound with two hydrogen atoms attached to one oxygen atom, which is commonly referred to as water, a name which every one of you already know. (Ironically, this systematic name is still incorrect. Proper syntax would call it either dihydrogen oxide—no “mono” is required to specify one central atom—or oxidane—similar to other hydride compounds.)

Now go back to the lists of properties and uses of DHMO and put the word water in place of DHMO. It should become clear what is actually meant by each of the bullet points. The first three bullets refer to drowning, frostbite, and steam burns. The next four are places where water is the liquid solvent: water is the rain of acid rain, the liquid in all cells whether cancerous or not, and the liquid blown about by the winds of hurricanes and tornadoes. Water does actually chemically react with iron to make it corrode—into rust. Yes, water can be dangerous and destructive, but humans have eons of experience with those properties and are reasonably good at avoiding or managing these dangerous problems.

Ultimately, the DHMO website is a spoof. It illustrates a common problem faced by chemists: chemophobia, the irrational fear of chemicals. By using a complicated looking name for water: dihydrogen monoxide, it is possible to make water look really hazardous and even get someone to advocate for banning it. The Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division is not advocating for the ban of water. They are trying to educate about the dangers of such misinformation campaigns.

Chemical names are designed to carry meaning and information, specifically information about the underlying structure of each compound.

In Genesis 2:19-20 (NIV) we read:

“Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.”

Naming conventions in chemistry are an extension of this basic task of naming creatures that was given by God to humans as part of our role to govern and steward the creation. God gave Adam the freedom to name the creatures that God had brought forth. That is, he gave Adam authority over creation: “that was its name.”

Thus, naming chemical compounds is a foundational aspect of doing science. With such names, chemists can communicate and understand each other. They use names to unambiguously report the nature of atoms and molecules and compounds. With that knowledge, they are able to imagine and then manipulate those atoms and molecules and compounds into other interesting and useful materials that make much of our modern life possible.

In a very real sense, all matter that humans encounter in their daily lives, including the matter of which we are made, is made up of chemical compounds; compounds which scientists have identified and named.

Don’t be afraid of the names on the labels of your household products. While exploring the Internet requires diligent discernment, I have found that chemical information available on Wikipedia is quite accurate and reliable. I encourage you to take those long, scary looking chemical names and search for their Wikipedia page. Find out what the structure is, how the compound is produced, what it is used for, and how to safely use it. Like all of God’s good gifts, they are meant to be used wisely. With proper understanding and care, chemical substances can serve a meaningful purpose in helping His children flourish as they tend and keep the garden that is creation.