The periodic table of elements you once memorized back in high school just got expanded. Four new elements have now been officially added and named. The four new elements added completes the seventh row of the periodic table. You don't have to memorize the new periodic table of elements now but high school chemistry students today will sure have to.
The four new elements added to the periodic table were discovered by scientists from Japan, Russia, and the United States. These "superheavy" elements are not found in nature but created in labs. The elements were created by blasting heavy nuclei with one another in a particle accelerator. After bombardment stops, the elements instantly decay into other particles.
The "superheavy" elements will complete the seventh row of the periodic table. Elements 113, 115, 117, 118 were once known by their placeholder names ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium, and ununoctium as deliberation for new and official element names has a five-month waiting period.
Just this week, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has accepted the official names of the four new elements. Element 113 is now officially named Nihonium (Nh), element 115 is Moscovium (Mc), element 117 is Tennessine (Ts), and element 118 is Oganesson (0g).
The element contributed by the team of Japanese scientists named Nihonium from the word "Nihon" which means Japanese. The Moscovium element is named after the city of Moscow. Oganesson is based on Russian nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian and Tennessine is after Tennessee which the American scientists hail from.
Jan Reedijk, president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the IUPAC said in a statement that he was extremely happy to know that a lot of people were enthusiastic in naming the new elements. IUPAC president Dr. Mark C. Cesa is looking forward to an eighth row of the periodic table as many scientists are already working on discovering new elements.
