Introduction to solid state physics Quotes

“The orbital motion of the electron causes a magnetic moment μ = -(e/2mc)j antiparallel to the angular momentum.”
― C. Kittel, Introduction to solid state physics

“Cobalt is from Kobold, an earth spirit, or a good house spirit. The kobold came surreptitiously and stole the silver from the ore, replacing it with base cobalt. There is a Greek word kobalos, meaning "rogue, trickster," but there is probably no connection with the German. Nickel is from Nickel, a water spirit, who took the copper from the ore and washed it away, replacing it with kupfernickel. A Nix is a male water spirit, a Nixe a female water spirit. These names were from miner's slang, not traditional names for the metals, which were unknown at the time. Many minerals resemble ores, but do not yield the expected metal, and this was confusing when their chemical natures were not known. Cobalt was recognized by Brandt in 1735 and nickel by Cronstadt in 1750, but their compounds were not carefully studied until the next century.”
― C. Kittel, Introduction to solid state physics

“Our word iron is cognate to the German Eisen, which in various forms is found in all the northern European languages, though not elsewhere. Why our pronunciation of the word is metathetical, "iorn" instead of "iron," I have not heard. In Gothic, it was eisarn, and in Old High German, isan. In Greek, iron is síderos and steel is chalybicón, stems that are encountered frequently in talking of iron, as in "siderurgy" and "chalybeate spring." "Sidereal time" is not iron time, however, but the "sider-" comes from the similar Latin sidera, "stars." Iron was very valuable when it came to the bronze-age Greeks from its inventors around the Pontus Euxinus, and was used for jewellery and prizes. It has been money in other places and times. The Latin for iron is ferrum, from which the word in most European languages has been derived, and which appears more commonly than any other stem in words dealing with iron, especially in chemical nomenclature.”
― C. Kittel, Introduction to solid state physics