The periodic table now has a filled seventh row with the addition of four new elements to it.
The four new elements- Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson- were synthesized in labs around the world between the years 2002 and 2010. These names, at numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 replace placeholders ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium, ununoctium.
The superheavy elements were officially recognized by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) during December of last year. Names for approval were submitted by the scientists in June. They were finally approved on Wednesday. During the five-month period between submission and approval, the gate was opened to the public to ask questions they had about the elements, as well as propose names for them as well. Some of the names suggested included ‘adamantium’ (the material that made Wolverine’s claws indestructible), ‘trumpium’ (after Donald Trump) and ‘octarine’ (in honour of Terry Pratchett and hid Discworld series).
Elements are traditionally named after places or scientists, and these elements are also named so.
Nihonium with the symbol Nh, at position 113, was synthesized in Japan, and is named after the Japanese word for the country’s name, ‘nihon’, ‘land of the rising sun’. It is the first element to be named by the Japanese.
Moscovium (Mc) too has been named after the place where a majority of the research for its creation was done, the Russian capital city, Moscow. The product of the collaboration of a team of Russian and American scientists, Mc replaces the name ununpentium at 115.
Element 117, now Tennesine (Ts) is similarly named after the US state, Tennessee, the home state of the scientists who created it.
The final element to be added to the table, Oganesson, symbol Og, was named so by the Russian team that synthesized it after the Russian scientist Yuri Oganessian. It now occupies the 118 position on the table.
The periodic table, now with a finished seventh row, is complete.
