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IUPAC proposes four new chemical element names
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June 9, 2016
Original URL: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/IUPAC_proposes_four_new_chemical_element_names



The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced
yesterday<!-- on Wednesday --> the proposed names of four chemical
elements recently discovered by scientists around the world. According
to the rules of IUPAC, the four names — nihonium, moscovium,
tennessine, and oganesson — are to be subject to a five-month period
of public scrutiny which ends November 2016. IUPAC allows the teams of
scientists who discover and synthesize new elements to name them,
subject to process.

Element number 113, nihonium, is named after the Japanese name for the
country of Japan  --  ''''  --  where it was first synthesized and
discovered by researchers at the RIKEN institute. 

Elements 115 and 117, moscovium and tennessine, were co-discovered by
researchers in the United States and Russia. Moscovium's name comes from
the Moscow-based Joint Institute of Nuclear Research where researchers
discovered the element. Similarly, tennessine is named after the US
state of Tennessee where chemical research is commonly conducted.

Lastly, element number 118, oganesson, is named for a Russian physicist,
Yuri Oganessian, team leader from the synthesis of tennessine, element
117.

Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 complete the bottom row of the current
periodic table. Further discoveries would likely add a new row on the
table. <!-- I don't necessarily think this requires a reference;
logically, the table would just add another row as it is a table after
all; this probably can be sourced if it is necessary -->Currently, these
elements are given the systematic placeholder names ununtrium,
ununpentium, ununseptium and ununoctium, respectively.

The elements are formed as a result of colliding two smaller atoms
together to form a larger atom. These resultant atoms are made in small
amounts, are generally unstable, and decompose into smaller components
in periods of time less than a second.

IUPAC confirmed discovery of these four elements in December. These were
the first confirmed discoveries since IUPAC confirmed elements 114 and
116, flerovium and livermorium, in 2011. <!-- in BBC source; element
names can be checked against any current periodic table -->

== Sources == 

* http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/4-new-elements-get-names1/)
|pub=Scientific American
|date=June 8, 2016
}}
* http://iupac.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Press-Release_Naming-Four-New-Elements_8June2016.pdf
* http://www.nature.com/news/four-new-element-names-proposed-for-periodic-table-1.20069
* http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35220823