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Pelopium
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<p>Pelopium was the proposed name for a new element found by the chemist <a href="/facts/Heinrich_Rose/Dq5okQCt">Heinrich Rose</a> in 1845. The name derived from the Greek king and later god <a href="/facts/Pelops/gJbeLxrr">Pelops</a>, son of <a href="/facts/Tantalus/dEVcNBCa">Tantalus</a>. During the analysis of the mineral <a href="/facts/Tantalite/oEVgGTLG">tantalite</a>, he concluded that it does contain an element similar to <a href="/facts/Niobium/3zNI8AKp">niobium</a> and <a href="/facts/Tantalum/VwaxMm33">tantalum</a>. The similar reactivity of niobium and tantalum complicated preparation of pure samples and therefore several new elements were proposed, which were later found to be mixtures of niobium and tantalum. </p><p>The differences between tantalum and niobium and the fact that no other similar element was present were unequivocally demonstrated in 1864 by <a href="/facts/Christian_Wilhelm_Blomstrand/lNxTv7QJ">Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand</a>, and <a href="/facts/Henri_Etienne_Sainte-Claire_Deville/Pc8C0VmY">Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville</a>, as well as <a href="/facts/Louis_J._Troost/kSFHKqVr">Louis J. Troost</a>, who determined the formulas of some of the compounds in 1865 and finally by the Swiss chemist <a href="/facts/Jean_Charles_Galissard_de_Marignac/Iqe4UAHX">Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac</a>. </p><p>This confusion arose from the minimal observed differences between tantalum and niobium. Both tantalum and niobium react with <a href="/facts/Chlorine/y27UwYBM">chlorine</a> and traces of oxygen, including atmospheric concentrations, with niobium forming two compounds: the white volatile <a href="/facts/Niobium_pentachloride/lNS7GClJ">niobium pentachloride</a> (NbCl5) and the non-volatile <a href="/facts/Niobium_oxychloride/VBopM1Yo">niobium oxychloride</a> (NbOCl3). The claimed new elements <i>pelopium</i>, <i><a href="/facts/Ilmenium/qdBTFspg">ilmenium</a></i> and <i><a href="/facts/Dianium/SI8BUyxr">dianium</a></i> were in fact identical to niobium or mixtures of niobium and tantalum. </p>