Elemental Carbon and Sodium Sue to Redeem Their Reputations
This article is part of the April 1st series in the Humor section of our Series Library.
Representatives of the recently formed Society for Elemental Justice (SEJ) announced that they’re suing major media and related institutions for misuse of the basic terms “carbon” and “sodium” in place of the full molecule designations “carbon dioxide” (CO2) and “sodium chloride” (NaCl). Speaking on behalf of these vital elements, SEJ says these elements are constantly being libeled and slandered when they’re cited as sources of climate or health issues.
The spokesperson noted that “carbon” (atomic number 6, symbol C) is a vital building block for life as well as many industrial processes and products, whether it’s seen as graphite, diamonds, or many other allotropic forms (see figure). Further, carbon is harmless in its elemental state. Sodium (atomic number 11, symbol Na) is also being maligned: The soft metal is somewhat hazardous in its pure state, yet needed for many scientific and industrial processes and products.
In other words, carbon is not an “enemy,” nor is sodium. After all, no one calls water “hydrogen”—short for hydrogen dioxide—and then says water is dangerous as both hydrogen and oxygen are explosive in higher concentrations.
That’s why they claim referring to them as “carbon capture,” “carbon emissions,” and excessive “sodium” in the diet is actually inaccurate, casting aspersions and detrimental publicity on these two elements that serve so many roles in basic human life as well as industrialized society.
Representatives speaking for the two elements say that lazy journalists (at best) or ignorant ones (at worst) casually use the first half of the actual molecule name, without grasping the confusion it causes.
“It’s like saying ‘Joe’ instead of ‘Joe Smith’ and thereby linking to all those people named ‘Joe,’” said a society spokesperson. The spokesperson also admitted it wasn’t clear what actual damage compensation would be demanded or could be expected, or where the suit would be filed.
Nonetheless, the spokesperson was adamant that these elements had the right to not be maligned and misrepresented, especially by those who wouldn’t know elemental carbon or sodium if they ran into it either. “It’s somewhat analogous to using ‘microwave’ in place of ‘microwave oven,’ but that apparently doesn’t cause confusion as a result of the verbal context. However, it’s not the same with carbon and sodium.”
Read more articles in our April 1st series in the Humor section of our Series Library.
Here are the prior and next articles in the series
About the Author
Bill Schweber
Contributing Editor
Bill Schweber is an electronics engineer who has written three textbooks on electronic communications systems, as well as hundreds of technical articles, opinion columns, and product features. In past roles, he worked as a technical website manager for multiple topic-specific sites for EE Times, as well as both the Executive Editor and Analog Editor at EDN.
At Analog Devices Inc., Bill was in marketing communications (public relations). As a result, he has been on both sides of the technical PR function, presenting company products, stories, and messages to the media and also as the recipient of these.
Prior to the MarCom role at Analog, Bill was associate editor of their respected technical journal and worked in their product marketing and applications engineering groups. Before those roles, he was at Instron Corp., doing hands-on analog- and power-circuit design and systems integration for materials-testing machine controls.
Bill has an MSEE (Univ. of Mass) and BSEE (Columbia Univ.), is a Registered Professional Engineer, and holds an Advanced Class amateur radio license. He has also planned, written, and presented online courses on a variety of engineering topics, including MOSFET basics, ADC selection, and driving LEDs.