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Periodic Table Soon to Get a New Element

by Leila Brillson on June 11, 2009 at 04:01 PM


German scientists have officially pulled ahead of their Russian, U.S., and Japanese peers in what has been dubbed a "friendly competition" to find a new element for the periodic table, the BBC reports. The new, as-of-yet unnamed element is "super heavy," a description referring to its high atomic number (112, to be exact) and instability. All such elements decay quickly, this one in a matter of milliseconds.

The element does not appear to occur naturally on Earth and was created by fusing zinc ions to lead atoms, which merged the atomic nuclei together. Because the German team, lead by Professor Sigurf Hoffman at the Centre for Heavy Ion Research, found the element, they get to name it. The element will not find its official place on the periodic table until it is named and, according to the BBC, Hoffman is keeping the list of potential names under lock and key. [From: BBC.co.uk]

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Tags: chemistry, element, periodic table, PeriodicTable, science, top

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