On 19/05/2015 10:22, Tim Watts wrote:
On 19/05/15 08:50, GMM wrote:
On 18/05/2015 23:47, Tim Watts wrote:

"sulfur" is the new official english scientific spelling since a decade
or two ago - apparently.


I'm not sure such merkanisms are official, but more likely the fault of
MS Word.


It does seem to be according to the International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry (IUPAC):

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebit...uelsrev5.shtml


https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/contac...ications/16238

I suspect the BBC and Oxford are going with the "official" spelling.

Interesting: I don't read IUPAC publications very often (or at all
really), but the only time I've ever had it altered has been by
sub-editors of US journals, never in UK journals.

In general though, I wouldn't take BBC style as guidance for anything
these days. A lot of their online offer is very poorly written and/or
sub-edited.

Oddly enough, there are many place names in the US spelt Sulphur (-
something, Springs etc), so there must have been a time when they could
spell properly.....