Tuesday 14 June 2016

New elements on the periodic table are named

New elements on the periodic table are named
Names for four new elements, formerly known by their respective atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118, have been proposed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
  • The proposed names are- nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts) and oganesson (Og).
  • The names are on a five-month probation before things are made official.
Background:
The elements were recognized by IUPAC on December 30, 2015. Their addition completed the seventh row of the periodic table.
Naming:
The discoverers of the elements were invited to propose the names. IUPAC provided the discoverers with guidelines to assist them in creating the names. These names keep with the longstanding tradition of being named after a mythological concept or character (including an astronomical object), a mineral or similar substance, a place or geographical region, a property of the element or a scientist. Also, they must end in “-ium,” “-ine,” or “-on” depending on the grouping of elements they belong to. IUPAC also prefers the names translate easily across major languages.
Key facts:
  • All four elements are not found in nature, and were synthetically created in laboratories. They are super-heavy elements.
  • Tennessee is the second US state to be recognized with an element; California was the first.
  • oganesson, symbol Og, for element 118. The name honors Russian physicist Yuri Oganessian.
  • nihonium, symbol Nh, for element 113. The element was discovered in Japan, and Nihon is one way to say the country’s name in Japanese. It’s the first element to be discovered in an Asian country.
  • Moscovium has been named after Russia’s capital Mosow.
Periodic table:
There are seven rows, called periods, and 18 columns, called groups, in the table.
  • Elements in the same group share similar properties. Those in the same period have the same number of atomic orbitals (the wave-like behaviour of either one or a pair of electrons in an atom) – for instance, the first period only has two elements, hydrogen and helium, with only a single orbital.
  • Most elements on the table are metals divided into six broad categories – alkali metals, alkaline earths, basic metals, transition metals, lanthanides and actinides. They are located on the left, separated from the non-metals on the right by a zig-zag line.
  • Lanthanides and actinides, often called “inner transition metals”, are commonly hived off as a separate section under the main table as including all 30 – including Uranium – would make the table too wide.
  • The table is a useful tool for people to derive relationships between the different properties of the elements. It can also help predict the properties of new elements that have yet to be discovered or created.
periodic table
About IUPAC:
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations that represents chemists in individual countries. It is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
  • The international headquarters of IUPAC is in Zürich, Switzerland.
  • The IUPAC was established in 1919 as the successor of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry for the advancement of chemistry.
  • Its members, the National Adhering Organizations, can be national chemistry societies, national academies of sciences, or other bodies representing chemists.
  • There are fifty-four National Adhering Organizations and three Associate National Adhering Organizations.
  • The IUPAC’s Inter-divisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols (IUPAC nomenclature) is the recognized world authority in developing standards for the naming of the chemical elements and compounds.