I'd like to share this article that I've read on chemistry. Please read the article below.
Two Elements Named: Livermorium and Flerovium
By Jennifer Welsh | LiveScience.com
Chemistry's periodic table can now
welcome livermorium and flerovium, two newly named elements, which were
announced Thursday (Dec. 1) by the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry. The new names will undergo a five-month public comment period before
the official paperwork gets processed and they show up on the table.
All five of these elements are so large and unstable they can be made only in the lab, and they fall apart into
other elements very quickly. Not much is known about these elements, since they
aren't stable enough to do experiments on and are not found in nature. They are
called "super heavy," or Transuranium, elements.
The newly named elements fit in the
114 and 116 spots, down in the lower-right corner of the periodic table, and
were officially accepted to the periodic table back in June. They originally were synthesized more than 10
years ago, after which repeat experiments led to their confirmation.
Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 have
also been synthesized at Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, located
in Dubna, Russia (about two hours drive from Moscow), but their creation hasn't
been confirmed by the International Union yet. Once they have been confirmed,
they will also have to go through the naming and public-commenting periods.
Both livermorium and flerovium were
also synthesized at the same Russian lab, where Russian researchers were
working with American researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory in California.
Element 114, previously known as
ununquadium, has been named flerovium (Fl), after the Russian institute's
Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions founder, which similarly is named in
honor of Georgiy Flerov (1913-1990), a Russian physicist. Flerov's work and his
writings to Joseph Stalin led to the development of the USSR's atomic bomb
project.
The researchers got their first
glimpse at flerovium after firing calcium ions at a plutonium target.Element 116, which was temporarily
named ununhexium, almost ended up with the name moscovium in honor of the
region (called an oblast, similar to a province or state) of Moscow, where the
research labs are located. In the end, it seems the American researchers won
out and the team settled on the name livermorium (Lv), after the national labs
and the city of Livermore in which they are located. Livermorium was first
observed in 2000, when the scientists created it by mashing together calcium and curium.
"Proposing these names for the
elements honors not only the individual contributions of scientists from these
laboratories to the fields of nuclear science, heavy-element research, and
super-heavy-element research, but also the phenomenal cooperation and
collaboration that has occurred between scientists at these two
locations," Bill Goldstein, associate director of Lawrence Livermore
National Labs' Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, said in a statement.
The names for the next batch of
super-heavy atoms is still up for grabs, perhaps moscovium will make a
comeback.
December 4, 2011 news
online
There is still so much to discover in our world. If only man would channel its energies to the unraveling of these mysteries instead of quarreling over petty things, then our race can move in leaps rather than in steps.
