Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Fun Flag for Indium Element 49


The fun flag for Indium, Element 49, is based upon the old Colonial German Flag which was once a part of the East Indies, or rather the Spanish East Indies.  This flag reminds us that Germans were responsible for the discovery of this new material in our universe: Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymous Theodor Richter.  By luck, both of these men lived in what was to become East Germany, whence a small fraction of the East Indies were united with Germany. But these scientists lived long before WWII and WWI.  They lived in during the heart of the Imperial Age of Queen Victoria.
 
Official Flag of German New Guinea
 Although the basis of this flag comes from the flag of German New Guinea, part of the East Indies were a part of Germany when Mr. Richter was alive.

The Central Coat of arms pays homage to the flag of modern India, where this element, by serendipity gets its namesake.  Since this element was discovered by its indigo blue line spectrum, it was called Indium, and at the time much of the world's indigo was made in India, and coincidentally Germany bonded with East India shortly after the discovery of Indium.  But remember only Mr. Richter, who co-discovered Indium, was able to live to see Germany's frontiers expand into fringes of India, or rather Spanish East India, via the Caroline and Mariana Islands.

An atom with Indium's Z number is present on a green field.  49 indicates that Indium has 49 protons in its nucleus, which gives it its chemical properties.


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