Two Elements Added To Periodic Table

smitty777 writes "Two new elements have been added to the periodic table of the elements. Elements 114 and 116 are the weightiest known, with atomic weights of 289 and 292 respectively. The discoverers are proposing flerovium and moscovium as names for these two new discoveries. There are also arguments being made to add in three more as well: 113, 115 and 118." We've noted element 114 in the past, but this is more official.

Re:Element 115

[calmofthestorm]

No it should be called elerium.

How close are we to the island of stability?

[JoshuaZ]

The real issue isn't these elements which are unstable and not that interesting. The real question is whether the island of stability exists and how close we are to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability [wikipedia.org] If current theories are correct then there may be a section of elements with atomic numbers near 120 that are much more stable. They might even be stable enough to be used for practical purposes if we can synthesize them on a large scale. Depending on the exact model, they might have half-lives as short as a few seconds (which for elements in this range is comparatively large but not large enough to use for any practical purposes) or it might be as much as 100,000 years (there are more optimistic estimates but they seem extremely unlikely). For comparison, tritium has a half-life of about 12 years and is used in a lot of practical applications. So, if the island exists and we find good ways to synthesize these elements, then we might get some very interesting chemistry.

Re:Weightiest

[kimvette]

I agree, and what's more, the use of the term "weightiest" would be perfectly cromulent had we been discussing weight. However massiest would probably have been even cromulenter.