Four elements have just earned a permanent spot in the periodic table
The seventh row is now officially complete.
Officials from the International Union of Pure
and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) have confirmed
the discovery of elements 113, 115, 117, and
118, announcing that there is now enough
evidence to give them permanent places on the
periodic table, which means they’ll also need
new, official names.
You won’t find these four elements in nature -
they are synthetic elements that can only be
produced in the lab, and because they decay in
a matter of seconds, their existence has been
extremely difficult to confirm. Until now,
elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 had temporary
names and positions on the seventh row of the
periodic table because scientists have
struggled to create them more than once.
"For over seven years we continued to search
for data conclusively identifying element 113,
but we just never saw another event," Kosuke
Morita from RIKEN in Japan said of one of the
four elements. "I was not prepared to give up,
however, as I believed that one day, if we
persevered, luck would fall upon us again."
Morita’s team has been credited with the
confirmed discovery of element 113, which
means they’ve won the naming rights too . Until
now, the element been known by the temporary
name, ununtrium, and temporary symbol Uut.
The three remaining elements, 115, 117, and
118 - known temporarily as ununpentium
(Uup), ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium
(Uuo), respectively - will also get new names.
The IUPAC has announced that a team of US
and Russian researchers have fulfilled the
criteria for proving the existence of the
remaining three elements, 115, 117, and 118,
and will be invited to propose permanent
names and symbols. They have been
temporarily known as ununpentium (Uup),
ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium (Uuo),
respectively.
"The chemistry community is eager to see its
most cherished table finally being completed
down to the seventh row," Jan Reedijk,
president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division
of IUPAC, said last week.
The organisation advises that the new
elements can be named after a mythological
concept, a mineral, a place or country, a
property, or a scientist, and will be presented
for public review for five months before a final
decision about the new official name and
symbol is made.
While reports on the confirmation of elements
115, 117, and 118 are yet to be published,
details of element 113’s discovery have been
reported in the Journal of Physical Society of
Japan.
The RIKEN researchers describe how in 2003,
they began bombarding a thin layer of bismuth
with zinc ions travelling at about 10 percent
the speed of light, and according to theory, the
reaction should occasionally produce an atom
of element 113.
In 2004 and 2005, the team saw signs of
dubnium-262 (element 105), which is believed
to be the decay product of element 113, but
this was not enough evidence to prove its
existence.
“[T]he group performed a new experiment,
where a sodium beam was collided with a
curium target, creating borhium-266 and its
daughter nucleus, dubnium-262," explains a
press release . "With this demonstration, the
grounds for a stronger claim were laid. They
just needed to wait to see an atom decaying
through the alpha chain rather than
spontaneous fission."
It wasn’t until 2012 that the team achieved
this, and it took almost four years for the
IUPAC to wade through the scientific literature
and confirm that the evidence met their criteria
for the discovery of elements.
"Now that we have conclusively demonstrated
the existence of element 113," says lead RIKEN
researcher, Kosuke Morita , "we plan to look to
the uncharted territory of element 119 and
beyond, aiming to examine the chemical
properties of the elements in the seventh and
eighth rows of the periodic table, and someday
to discover the Island of Stability. "
We can't wait to see what the new names will
be.
Officials from the International Union of Pure
and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) have confirmed
the discovery of elements 113, 115, 117, and
118, announcing that there is now enough
evidence to give them permanent places on the
periodic table, which means they’ll also need
new, official names.
You won’t find these four elements in nature -
they are synthetic elements that can only be
produced in the lab, and because they decay in
a matter of seconds, their existence has been
extremely difficult to confirm. Until now,
elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 had temporary
names and positions on the seventh row of the
periodic table because scientists have
struggled to create them more than once.
"For over seven years we continued to search
for data conclusively identifying element 113,
but we just never saw another event," Kosuke
Morita from RIKEN in Japan said of one of the
four elements. "I was not prepared to give up,
however, as I believed that one day, if we
persevered, luck would fall upon us again."
Morita’s team has been credited with the
confirmed discovery of element 113, which
means they’ve won the naming rights too . Until
now, the element been known by the temporary
name, ununtrium, and temporary symbol Uut.
The three remaining elements, 115, 117, and
118 - known temporarily as ununpentium
(Uup), ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium
(Uuo), respectively - will also get new names.
The IUPAC has announced that a team of US
and Russian researchers have fulfilled the
criteria for proving the existence of the
remaining three elements, 115, 117, and 118,
and will be invited to propose permanent
names and symbols. They have been
temporarily known as ununpentium (Uup),
ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium (Uuo),
respectively.
"The chemistry community is eager to see its
most cherished table finally being completed
down to the seventh row," Jan Reedijk,
president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division
of IUPAC, said last week.
The organisation advises that the new
elements can be named after a mythological
concept, a mineral, a place or country, a
property, or a scientist, and will be presented
for public review for five months before a final
decision about the new official name and
symbol is made.
While reports on the confirmation of elements
115, 117, and 118 are yet to be published,
details of element 113’s discovery have been
reported in the Journal of Physical Society of
Japan.
The RIKEN researchers describe how in 2003,
they began bombarding a thin layer of bismuth
with zinc ions travelling at about 10 percent
the speed of light, and according to theory, the
reaction should occasionally produce an atom
of element 113.
In 2004 and 2005, the team saw signs of
dubnium-262 (element 105), which is believed
to be the decay product of element 113, but
this was not enough evidence to prove its
existence.
“[T]he group performed a new experiment,
where a sodium beam was collided with a
curium target, creating borhium-266 and its
daughter nucleus, dubnium-262," explains a
press release . "With this demonstration, the
grounds for a stronger claim were laid. They
just needed to wait to see an atom decaying
through the alpha chain rather than
spontaneous fission."
It wasn’t until 2012 that the team achieved
this, and it took almost four years for the
IUPAC to wade through the scientific literature
and confirm that the evidence met their criteria
for the discovery of elements.
"Now that we have conclusively demonstrated
the existence of element 113," says lead RIKEN
researcher, Kosuke Morita , "we plan to look to
the uncharted territory of element 119 and
beyond, aiming to examine the chemical
properties of the elements in the seventh and
eighth rows of the periodic table, and someday
to discover the Island of Stability. "
We can't wait to see what the new names will
be.
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