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Do the names of chemical elements need to be capitalized?

For example, in running text should it be hydrogen or Hydrogen?

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Not capitalized. Not even einsteinium, curium, and so on. –  GEdgar Oct 6 '13 at 22:05
I have another question related to this. If it's a specific isotope, say U235, do I capitalize uranium then? –  user73374 Apr 27 '14 at 17:41

2 Answers 2

up vote 18 down vote accepted

While chemical symbols always begin with a capital letter, the names of chemical elements do not. In running text, you should be writing hydrogen, oxygen, chlorine, iron, etc.

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That is what happens with the physics units: joule, watt, erg, etc. –  kiamlaluno Oct 12 '10 at 15:02

Elements are common nouns. So the answer is no.

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protected by tchrist May 25 '14 at 18:03


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