To Darmstadtium... and beyond! (Revision 1)
"These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered."
-Tom Lehrer, "The Elements"
Several years ago, I wrote about some of the new elements on the periodic table. And now I can't find that article. I looked as far back as 2008; didn't see it. So I'll write a new entry.
I've always been fascinated by chemistry and physics. Around 1974-75, I read Issac Asimov's Building Blocks of the Universe, and another book on the elements. This other book was the first mention of elements 104 (rutherfordium) and 105 (hahnium), and also theorized that element 114 would be relatively stable since it appeared under lead. (Sidenote: Hahnium was later renamed dubnium, to honor the Russian nuclear physics research facility.)
This past December, IUPAC announced the confirmation of the existence of four new elements -- elements 113, 115, 117, and 118, thus competing the seventh row of the table. And in June, IUPAC announced their official names and symbols -- Nihonium (Nh), Moscovium (Mc), Tennesine (Ts), and Oganesson (Og). (Technically, these are only proposed names at this time; they will become official in December, if there is no dissent.)
Of course, this renders the periodic table charts in most chemistry classrooms obsolete. But instead of requiring schools to purchase new charts, I'd like to see the scientific companies publish a sticker containing elements 104-118 that can be placed as an overlay on the chart.
So, for those of us who haven't picked up a chemistry textbook in years, what are the elements past Lawrencium (103), the last element of the actinide series? Collectively, this set is known as the transactinide series -- elements 104-118.
104 - Rutherfordium (Rf) - named for Ernest Rutherford
105 - Dubnium (Db) - named for the Russian town of Dubna (home of the research facility of the same name)
106 - Seaborgium (Sg) - named for Glenn Seaborg
107 - Bohrium (Bh) - named for Niels Bohr
108 - Hassium (Hs) - named for the German state of Hesse
109 - Meitnerium (Mt) - named for Lise Meitner
110 - Darmstadtium (Ds) - named for the German city of Darmstadt
111 - Roentgenium (Rg) - named for Wilhelm Roentgen
112 - Copernicium (Cn) - named for Nikoulas Copernicus
113 - Nihonium (Nh) - named for the country of Japan
114 - Flerovium (Fl) - named for the Flerov Laboratory in Russia (named for Georgy Flyorov)
115 - Moscovium (Mc) - named for Moscow, Russia
116 - Livermorium (Lv) - named for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
117 - Tennesine (Ts) - named for the US state of Tennessee
118 - Oganesson (Og) - named for Yuri Oganessian
But nuclear physicists aren't going to rest on their laurels and stop there. They're going to continue smashing atoms together and try to create more new elements. While they haven't been created yet, Element 119 would have the placeholder name of Ununennium (Uue), Element 120 would have the placeholder name of Unbinilium (Ubn), and so on. Starting with element 121, electrons will start filling the g-block. An extended periodic table has already been devised to accommodate this new row of elements -- the superactindes.
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered."
-Tom Lehrer, "The Elements"
Several years ago, I wrote about some of the new elements on the periodic table. And now I can't find that article. I looked as far back as 2008; didn't see it. So I'll write a new entry.
I've always been fascinated by chemistry and physics. Around 1974-75, I read Issac Asimov's Building Blocks of the Universe, and another book on the elements. This other book was the first mention of elements 104 (rutherfordium) and 105 (hahnium), and also theorized that element 114 would be relatively stable since it appeared under lead. (Sidenote: Hahnium was later renamed dubnium, to honor the Russian nuclear physics research facility.)
This past December, IUPAC announced the confirmation of the existence of four new elements -- elements 113, 115, 117, and 118, thus competing the seventh row of the table. And in June, IUPAC announced their official names and symbols -- Nihonium (Nh), Moscovium (Mc), Tennesine (Ts), and Oganesson (Og). (Technically, these are only proposed names at this time; they will become official in December, if there is no dissent.)
Of course, this renders the periodic table charts in most chemistry classrooms obsolete. But instead of requiring schools to purchase new charts, I'd like to see the scientific companies publish a sticker containing elements 104-118 that can be placed as an overlay on the chart.
So, for those of us who haven't picked up a chemistry textbook in years, what are the elements past Lawrencium (103), the last element of the actinide series? Collectively, this set is known as the transactinide series -- elements 104-118.
104 - Rutherfordium (Rf) - named for Ernest Rutherford
105 - Dubnium (Db) - named for the Russian town of Dubna (home of the research facility of the same name)
106 - Seaborgium (Sg) - named for Glenn Seaborg
107 - Bohrium (Bh) - named for Niels Bohr
108 - Hassium (Hs) - named for the German state of Hesse
109 - Meitnerium (Mt) - named for Lise Meitner
110 - Darmstadtium (Ds) - named for the German city of Darmstadt
111 - Roentgenium (Rg) - named for Wilhelm Roentgen
112 - Copernicium (Cn) - named for Nikoulas Copernicus
113 - Nihonium (Nh) - named for the country of Japan
114 - Flerovium (Fl) - named for the Flerov Laboratory in Russia (named for Georgy Flyorov)
115 - Moscovium (Mc) - named for Moscow, Russia
116 - Livermorium (Lv) - named for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
117 - Tennesine (Ts) - named for the US state of Tennessee
118 - Oganesson (Og) - named for Yuri Oganessian
But nuclear physicists aren't going to rest on their laurels and stop there. They're going to continue smashing atoms together and try to create more new elements. While they haven't been created yet, Element 119 would have the placeholder name of Ununennium (Uue), Element 120 would have the placeholder name of Unbinilium (Ubn), and so on. Starting with element 121, electrons will start filling the g-block. An extended periodic table has already been devised to accommodate this new row of elements -- the superactindes.