In December last year, four new super heavy elements were revealed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), which were temporarily named ununtrium (113), ununpentium (115), ununseptium (117), and ununoctium (118). These elements have been given official names to complete the periodic table of elements.
Last week, the IUPAC revealed the official names of these four new elements, namely nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts), and oganesson (Og).
These are also not regular elements found in natural environments, but rather, they are concocted in the laboratory. When these super heavy elements come to life, their nuclei immediately break down into lighter material.
Nihonium has Japanese origins as "nihon" literally means Japan where this element was created at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science. Similarly, other elements such as moscovium and tennessine obtained their names from Moscow and the Tennessee, representing the scientists that discovered them.
On the other hand, oganesson is named after Russian scientist Yuri Oganessian and his team. This is the heaviest among all the elements in the periodic table.
According to IUPAC President Natalia Tarasova, the new official names of these elements represent the reality of our present time, such as the universality of science and giving honor to places in three continents where the elements were discovered - Japan, Russia, and the United States - and also honoring an outstanding scientist Yuri Oganessian.
The teams of scientists, who discovered these four new heavy elements, sent numerous suggestions in the past five months to the IUPAC.
According to the President of IUPAC's Inorganic Chemistry Division, Jan Reedijk, it was a pleasure to see many people interested in giving names to the new elements and participating in the discussions.