Elemental Additions | God's World News

Elemental Additions

09/06/2016
  • 1 New Element 1000x667
    Kosuke Morita led a group that discovered element 113 and named it nihonium. (AP)
  • 2 New Element 1000x550
    The new elements are boxed in red.
  • 3 New Element 1000x670
    Joe Hamilton, left, and A. V. Ramayya autograph a periodic table of the elements. (AP)
  • 4 New Element 1000x677
    The physics professors discovered element 117 and named it tennessine. (AP)
  • 1 New Element 1000x667
  • 2 New Element 1000x550
  • 3 New Element 1000x670
  • 4 New Element 1000x677

The seventh row of the periodic table of chemical elements is now complete. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry approved the names of four elements discovered in recent years. Until now, the elements were known only by their atomic numbers: 113, 115, 117, and 118.

A chemical element is a basic building block of matter. It cannot be broken down further by chemical means into another substance. Each chemical element is defined by its atomic number, which is the number of protons (positively charged particles) in its nucleus. The periodic table is organized by atomic numbers.

Three of the new element names honor places. They include:

Nihonium, atomic number 113. Its name is derived from “nihon.” That is one way to say the country name Japan, where the element was discovered.

Moscovium, atomic number 115. Its name refers to Moscow, Russia.

Tennessine, atomic number 117. It is named for Tennessee, the home state of Vanderbilt University.

Both moscovium and tennessine were discovered by a team of scientists in Russia. The team had members from around the world, including one each from Moscow and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The fourth element, oganesson—atomic number 118—is named for Russian physicist Yuri Oganessian.

All are synthetic elements. This means they don’t occur naturally in creation. They are achieved by bombarding other elements in a laboratory to produce new atoms temporarily.

All of the new elements are “superheavy elements.” Unlike the stable natural elements of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen, these superheavies rapidly break down into lighter substances. And when we say rapidly, we’re referring to milliseconds in most cases.

Only a few atoms of each have ever been created. Because of that and their extremely short lives, these elements have no practical use except for furthering scientific research at this point. For now, at least, that means you won’t have to worry about memorizing formulas with the new chemical symbols. Good ole H2O and NaCl will remain the standbys in our common experience.

The synthetic quartet was officially approved for inclusion on the chart in December 2015. Acceptance of their proposed names wasn’t established until June. Chemical element names are usually drawn from mythology, places, names of scientists, or traits of the element. Tennessee is only the second U.S. state to be honored on the periodic table. California (the namesake of californium) was the first.

The elements are the first admissions to the periodic table since 2011.