Chemical elements

["PETE THOMAS" <cbmvax!uunet!arecibo.aero.org!pthomas>]

>use in lay conversation, rather than internationality. Indeed, I have this
>nagging suspicion that numbering the damn things will do just find (the
>one-eight-chemical-primitive, rather than "Argon"). Have we given this any
>consideration?

This was my first thought when I saw the whole thread.  This is a
culturally neutral, unambiguous way of representing a chemical element.

However, I think we need to be able to say:

x1 is-an-atom with x2 protons and x2 neutrons (or something to that 
effect).  Once we can describe isotopes, we need some way of describing
chemical compounds, etc., but whatever structures exist for combination
can be used.

--Pete