Periodic table to welcome two new elements
Chemistry’s periodic table can now welcome livermorium and flerovium, two newly named elements, which were announced Thursday (Dec. 1) by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The new names will undergo a five-month public comment period before the official paperwork gets processed and they show up on the table.
The newly named elements fit in the 114 and 116 spots, down in the lower-right corner of the periodic table, and were officially accepted to the periodic table back in June. They originally were synthesized more than 10 years ago, after which repeat experiments led to their confirmation.
Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 have also been synthesized at Russia’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, located in Dubna, Russia (about two hours drive from Moscow), but their creation hasn’t been confirmed by the International Union yet. Once they have been confirmed, they will also have to go through the naming and public-commenting periods.
Both livermorium and flerovium were also synthesized at the same Russian lab, where Russian researchers were working with American researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.