Well it’s a new year and we have a new periodic table, with an unheard of 4 new elements being added to the table. The addition of these elements to the official periodic table means that the 7th row is now complete and to the dismay of periodic table shower curtain owners (not to mention schools!) the old table is obsolete.
The four new elements are superheavy elements and where confirmed by scientists from Russia & Japan. The Japanese team will suggest the name for element 113. The joint Russian/US teams will make suggestions for elements 115, 117 and 118. The current names are only place holder names that where given to every element up to 999 but almost all scientists just refer to them by their number until they are discovered & named.
The superheavy elements
Elements heavier than Rutherfordium (element 104) are referred to as superheavy. They are not found in nature, because they undergo radioactive decay to lighter elements.
Those superheavy nuclei that have been created artificially have decay lifetimes between nanoseconds and minutes. But longer-lived (more neutron-rich) superheavy nuclei are expected to be situated at the centre of the so-called “island of stability”, a place where neutron-rich nuclei with extremely long half-lives should exist.
Currently, the isotopes of new elements that have been discovered are on the “shore” of this island, since we cannot yet reach the centre.
The search Continues
This doesn’t mean that we have now completed the periodic table as scientists around the world are now gearing up to discover element 119.
#goscience #staycurious
