Four new elements in the Periodic Table

2016/01/07 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Kimika

The periodic table has begun the year with four new elements. Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 were officially approved on 30 December by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). With these elements, the seventh line of the Periodic Table has been completed.

In the table, the elements are ordered by atomic number, that is, by the number of protons that the atom has. The elements with more than 92 protons are very unstable and it is rare to find them in nature. However, scientists have been creating new elements in particle accelerators for decades, demonstrating their short-term existence. Since the incorporation of elements 114 and 116 in 2011, the periodic table had not been updated.

These last four elements have been found between 2002 and 2010. According to IUPAC, 113 was discovered by Japanese researchers and the remaining three by a team of Russian and American researchers. In the coming months, discoverers will be able to name the elements.