Existence of Element 117 Confirmed
Element 117, first discovered by Lawrence Livermore scientists and international collaborators in 2010, is one step closer to being named.
The existence of element 117 and its decay chain to elements 115 and 113 have been confirmed by a second international team led by scientists at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, an accelerator laboratory. The research will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal, Physical Review Letters.
The next step is for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to accept the confirmation. The IUPAC will review the new findings and the original research and decide whether further experiments are needed before acknowledging the element’s discovery. After acceptance, IUPAC would determine which institution may propose names.