115, the Newest Element on the Periodic Table | Hacker News Reader

115, the Newest Element on the Periodic Table

news.nationalgeographic.com

75 pointstokenadult29 comments

The accompanying graphic of the Periodic Table has several errors: Lithium (Li) has an atomic number of 3, Protactinium (Pa) has an atomic number of 91, Lawrencium (at least they have Lr and not Lw) has an atomic number 103.

I thought I didn't have enough coffee! I had a double take at that too: H(1), He(2), Li(2), Be(4). Didn't even notice the other errors until you pointed them out.

I wish more articles were written like this: start reading, ask yourself x questions, only to see them answered while you keep reading, in a nice concise way, no more no less.

Any benefit for expanding the periodic table given these are "man-made" (which I believe could exist elsewhere in the universe...)?

possible benefits as an energy storage medium once you get to the island of stability.

One that take several order of magnitude more energy to create that it can store? I am in!

The same could easily be said of the battery in your phone, your car, and your laptop. The difference is that energy can be replenished easily, it's storage that's always been the hitch.

yeah by 'possible' I mean 'it would be a stretch, but it's not impossible'. You don't know that there might be a really efficient nucleosynthesis of these guys that we haven't found yet. Plus, there are places where energy is really abundant but hard to capture and store, like, really close to the sun.

Well there are several reasons, but this is the coolest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability

Basically, current theory suggests that once they get to 120 protons or so, they'll start finding stable isotopes again (ones that don't decay for minutes or more). A handle on a door affords pulling, and a hypothesis affords testing, and all that.

Edit: I should add that 115 might actually be within the island, but you'd need far more neutrons, which is currently not feasible.

Man-Made or not, At least they have existed. That should be enough to add it to periodic table. There is always a non zero probability that they might exist somewhere else in the universe.

That's the entire point of the periodic table - what makes it a 'periodic table' rather than 'a list of all the known (or 'found in nature') elements'. When originally conceived it included blank spots for yet un-isolated elements and some predictions about their properties could be made.

You find an element, it goes into the periodic table. Of elements.

> (which I believe could exist elsewhere in the universe...)

They are unlikely to exist elsewhere except for a few moments (not even a second) after a supernova. A regular star will not make them, and they decay extremely fast.

Some of them seem to last much longer than that, or are hypothesized to. If an element has a half-life of a million years, then it probably exists in large quantities throughout the universe. The solar system is a relatively closed system, though, so the elements we see around us have generally been in the solar system for its entire lifetime. So an element would have to last 5+ billion years to exist on earth.

Three reasons:

1- Scientific: Study of superheavy elements is related to the formation of elements in stars and ultimately to the origin of life.

2-Practical: Americium is a man made element which is used in smoke detectors.

3-Nuclear energy: In theory once the island of stability is reached it should be possible to have smaller and more powerful mini nuclear-plants which could fit into a watch.

Wished the Swedish scientists played more video games. Elerium is a way cooler name than Ununpentium.

Ununpentium means 115.

The name will be decided by an international vote.

Ununpentium just means "115th element".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_element_name

anything committee driven is bound to be uncreative imho...

So it probably will be Colbertium.

See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert#COLBERT_Treadmi...

That would be terrible. It's one thing to name as fleeting as a treadmill after someone like Colbert, but I cringe at the thought of future science teachers in 2025 having to explain how an element is named after an entertainer they've never heard of.

reference: http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Elerium-115

Lol yeah, this story popped right out at me because I spent so much time as an Area 51 / X-Files fiend when I was a kid. Tons of literature about "insiders" describing ununpentium as being the key to powering anti-grav and other alien technologies etc. Kind of funny to see this story now. Look up Bob Lazar for more info

Hell yeah!!

Bob Lazar! Lets call 115 Lazarium... or maybe Ununpentium itself!

All of the elements >=104 started off with a similar temporary systematic name until a final name was chosen. It may well end up being called Elerium.

Oh, so they name those not yet discovered/synthesised by their number, as Ununtrium (113), Ununpentium (115), Ununseptium (117), Ununoctium (118). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table#Layout

It needs a nice name. Hacknium.

Sadly, to the general public, hacknium sounds a lot like rapeium.

I didn't think that at all ...... you might be projecting a bit here...

i can't imagine that the general public features in the calculus for naming elements whatsoever with names like Yttrium and Dysprosium

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