Naming Molecules and Naming Animals
Names are important in all sphere of life; they help with identification of elements. The binomial nomenclature and the IUPAC name systems are equally important because they assign names to elements; hence making it easier to identify each of them based on their distinctive features. The two naming systems have great importance in biological and chemical sciences, as they group organisms and elements according to their general features before assigning specific names to each member of the groups according to their finer and unique chemical and biological features (Winston, 2016). Binomial nomenclature and IUPAC naming systems have some fundamental similarities and differences worth noting.
The first similarity between IUPAC and binomial nomenclature naming systems is that they both have widespread use. The names assigned to chemicals and living organisms both have wide spread use in the biological and chemical fields. For example, the chemical compound Nobelium (No) is known by that name all across the world, while the name Homo sapiens, is used across the world to refer to human beings (Winston, 2016). The names are unique, once a name has been assigned to an organism or a chemical compound it cannot be assigned to another element of a different kind. For example, there will never be another element called mercury with a chemical symbol Hg and atomic number of 80 (Leigh, 2011). Similarly, there will never other organism with the name Homo sapiens other than human beings.
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The major difference the two is the rules used in the naming processes. Binomial nomenclature used in zoology is a double naming system that assigns two named to an organism, one being a genus notation while the other being a species notation respectively (Leigh, 2011). On the other hand, in IUPAC naming system, chemical elements are given named based on their chemical composition, atomic numbers, and masses.
- Leigh, G. J. (2011). Principles of chemical nomenclature: A guide to IUPAC recommendations. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
- Winston, J. E. (2016). Describing species: Practical taxonomic procedure for biologists. New York: Columbia University.
