January 5, 2016

The year 2016 heralded the addition of four new chemical elements—the building blocks of matter—to the periodic table. The new elements, which have yet to be officially named, are numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118 on the table. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recognized the new elements on Dec. 30, 2015. Teams of scientists from America, Japan, and Russia discovered them.

Periodic Table. Credit: WORLD BOOK

The periodic table is one of the most useful tools in science. It organizes the chemical elements into rows and columns, which show how the elements are related and what properties they share. For example, elements in the left and center of the table are metallic. Elements in the far right column, called the noble gases, do not normally react with other elements. The discovery of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 fills all the remaining gaps in the periodic table’s seventh row.

Each chemical element is a kind of atom. The core of an atom, called a nucleus, contains even smaller particles called protons. An atom’s proton count determines its number on the periodic table. The lightest element, hydrogen, has just one proton, so it is the first chemical element on the table. Helium—element #2—has two protons. Carbon has six protons, oxygen has eight, and iron has 26. The more protons an element has, the heavier it is.

Extremely heavy elements are unstable, tending to fall apart like towers of loose blocks. Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 are so heavy and unstable that they do not even exist in nature. Scientists created them in the lab by smashing together the nuclei of lighter atoms. They then observed the resulting new atoms—easier said than done, since the heavy atoms disintegrate into lighter atoms and particles in just a fraction of a second.

Other World Book articles: 

• Mendeleev, Dmitri Ivanovich
• Two New Superheavy Chemical Elements – A Behind the Headlines article

Dec. 2, 2011

The names flerovium and livermorium have been proposed for two recently discovered chemical elements, according to an announcement by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). A chemical element is a substance with only one kind of atom. IUPAC is the recognized authority for naming chemical elements. The two elements were officially recognized in June. IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics spent about three years determining if the elements had actually been created. IUPAC will allow the public about six months to voice its opinion of the proposed names before they are made permanent. The addition of flerovium and livermorium increases the total number of recognized elements in the periodic table to 114.

Flerovium (atomic symbol, Fl), previously known as element 114, was named in honor of the Russian scientist Georgi N. Flerov, who founded the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. Livermorium (atomic symbol, Lv), previously known as element 116, was named in honor of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. Both elements were discovered in collaborations between the JINR and Livermore.

A particle accelerator can be used to create chemical elements that do not occur naturally on the earth. GSI

Both flerovium and livermorium are superheavy artificial elements–chemical elements made in a laboratory by smashing atoms of two lighter elements together in a particle accelerator in the hope that they will combine into one heavier atom. Plutonium is the heaviest naturally occurring chemical element. Most artificial elements exist for only a fraction of a second before breaking down into lighter elements once again. Many scientists believe that there may be other superheavy elements that do not break down so quickly but remain stable for a longer period. Such elements are believed to occupy a so-called “island of stability” long sought by chemists.

Additional World Book articles:

• Mendeleev, Dmitri Ivanovich
• Meyer, Julius Lothar
• Moseley, Henry Gwyn-Jeffreys