Niobium and Tantalum - The Myth of Tantalus

Sometime in 1801, Charles Hatchette, a chemist was analyzing a heavy black material from the rock collection of the then governor of Connecticut. He realized he had a yet unknown element in the room and called it Columbium - a name people use to refer to niobium even today (the official name being niobium.)

A year later, in 1802, Anders Gustaf Ekeberg was investigating two samples (one from Sweden and another from Finland) and found the same previously unknown element in both samples. He named it tantalum. There are two theories as to why he chose this name. Both of them are related to the myth of Tantalus so let's dive right in.

The Myth of Tantalus

Tantalus was born of Zeus and Pluto. He visited Mt. Olympus frequently and was on pretty good terms with the gods. Even after he stole ambrosia from them on more that one occasion. They tried to make him realize the error of his ways but oh no he paid no heed. Lets take a moment to acknowledge the weirdness of Tantalus here because what he does next will disgust you at least a little. Even if you're into cannibalism. Because there's a way to do things. So he invites his dear friends - the gods to dinner. And what does he serve? The obvious answer is he kills his son (Pelops) and cooks him till medium brown and serves warm. Right? (Actually, he serves him in stew, cut up in pieces according to some sources. Getting too graphic for you?) It isn't really clear why he does this. Maybe to test the gods or something of the sort. But they realize this and decides they've had enough of this very hospitable man. Zeus kills Tantalus pretty painfully and then takes him to the underworld where he is made to stand in a pool of crystal clear water. A fruit tree stands nearby. What's so bad about that? Well whenever he tries to drink the water, it magically recedes. When he tries to pick one of the luscious fruits from the tree, the branches would move just a little out of reach. Thereby condemning him to eternal hunger and thirst. If this wasn't bad enough, there was a huge boulder hanging precariously above him. It swayed every now and then threatening to crush Tantalus below. It never really falls so he has to live through eternal terror too. 

Why is tantalum called tantalum?

As I said before, two theories. One, (the lame one - but it exists nevertheless) that Gustaf Ekeberg found the experience of discovering a new element 'tantalizing' for same reason. And the other - my favorite - that tantalum is so nonreactive that even when in excess acid it doesn't react. Really insoluble. So like Tantalus, even with so much water/ acid, it is unable to drink it (react/dissolve)

The Separation of Tantalum and Niobium

In 1809 William Wollaston proposed that columbium and tantalum were in fact the same material. Their striking similarities in both physical (shiny, grayish, hard - soft in the pure  state though) and chemical properties (extreme unreactivity) didn't make this hard to accept. And that's what people came to believe. For thirty five whole years.

It was only in 1844 when Heinrich Rose showed that although columbium exhibited both the +3 and +5 stable oxidation states, tantalum showed only the +5 state that this misconception was remedied. He renamed columbium as niobium after Tantalus' daughter Niobe. This was because niobium was often found present associated with tantalum in tantalite ( an ore of tantalum with iron).  

It was still pretty hard to separate Niobium and Tantalum though, because of their very similar properties. So it was a breakthrough when around 1866 Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac discovered that both these elements could be separated by fractional crystallization of potassium heptafluorotantalate (K2TaF7) and potassium oxypentafluoroniobate mono hydrate (K2NbOF5.H2O) This was a really good method to use because the fluoride of  niobium is much much more soluble that the tantalum one.

Columbium and Niobium

Although Columbium and Niobium were shown to be two distinct elements a not very long after, both these names were used to refer to the same element for almost a century until the IUPAC officially named niobium niobium. Some people still prefer columbium. A lot of them Americans because the name columbium was thought of because after all, Charles Hatchette did get his niobium sample from America.

Essentialism and Existentialism

What is the meaning of life?

One of the most oft asked questions, yet nobody knows the answer (save the cornfield mafia - allegedly). One of the questions philosophy attempts not to give you the answer - that would just defeat the purpose wouldn't it?- but to help you discover the answer to. There are many schools of thought that attempt to make sense of this world we live in and the seemingly insignificant roles we play in the theater of life. Existentialism and essentialism are two of the most popular.

Essentialism - the essence of things.

Essentialism is essentially the belief that everything and everyone has an essence. And this 'essence' is what makes it what it is. without this essence it ceases to have an identity. It is the defining or core property of the individual. What this implies for us humans is that we were born to be a certain way or do a certain thing fulfill a certain purpose - if you will . Everything is predetermined and our actions are reflections of our essence. We were born with this essence and it defines every aspect of our personalities, our lives. To be a good human being is to fulfill your purpose and the only way to do this is to discover your essence and adhere to and live by it.

This school of thought has been the dominant for centuries. With popular thinkers like Plato and Aristotle endorsing it, why not? Until the late nineteenth century when philosophers like Soren Kierkegaard and Jean Paul Satre - also considered to be the first proper existentialist philosophers challenged this view.

The birth of Existentialism

There's no way to know if anyone believed in the principle that we know as existentialism today before Kierkegaard and Satre 'introduced' it in the late 1800's. But we can agree that it formally originated as a separate school of thought then.

Commonly existentialism is associated with the meaninglessness of life. Thanks to Albert Camus - the french philosopher who introduced the idea of absurdism (which is basically that we have no purpose and are looking for meaning in a meaningless world). This isn't all there is to existentialism. It is rather a belief that 'existence precedes essence' according to Satre. We exist and therefore we have the ability to create our own essence. It isn't as much about meaninglessness as it is about choosing to find meaning by cultivating an essence by way of our actions. Yes, life is intrinsically meaningless but you can choose to imbue it with any sense of purpose you want to. The point of life is to live 'authentically' without letting anybody (parents, friends, the government or even your religion) interfere in your decisions and doing what you think is right. Because everybody's actions are what make them who they are so letting someone else decide for you is synonymous with letting go of your identity.

Existentialism is also associated with atheism because it says that we are free to do anything we want,  without any god to judge our actions. We decide for ourselves what is moral and what is immoral, what is fair or just and basically whether killing someone or stealing something is right or wrong.

But the thing is, there is also theist existentialism that says that god does exist and he did create the universe but he did so without choosing to assign any particular purpose to anything.

So what can be concluded? Is essentialism right or existentialism?

This question doesn't have a single answer. According to essentialism, there is a right answer. and this answer may be in favor of either existentialism or essentialism depending on your essence. But according to existentialism, what you decide is the right answer (provided you make the decision authentically) is actually the right answer. It's a paradox of sorts. Sometimes gets my head spinning.