What are the modern names given to the elements that mendeleev called ekaboron (Eb), ekaaluminium (El),?
Before all the elements had been discovered, their existence was predicted by Dimitri Mendeleev using his periodic table. As these predicted elements hadn’t been observed yet, he didn’t give them names of their own; he named them by taking the element directly above them in the periodic table and adding the prefix “eka”. If the predicted element was two periods below a known element, he gave it the prefix “dvi” and if it was three below, he gave it the prefix “tri”. This is because eka, dvi and tri are the Sakskrit words for one, two and three. So ekaboron is the element directly below boron on the periodic table i.e. Aluminium. Ekaaluminium is the element directly below aluminium in the periodic table i.e. gallium. Ekasilicon is the element directly below silicon in the periodic table, i.e. germanium.
