You’ll be thanking the heavens that you no longer have to deal with the periodic table – the much dreaded periodic table that made our lives a living hell back in school – since four new elements have been added to it. The seventh row is complete now and we all would like to take a moment of silence for the kids who will be the victim of this discovery (ies).
The new elements – 113, 115, 117 and 118 – have been discovered by scientists from Japan, Russia and the United Sates and have been confirmed by officials from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). These would be the first elements to be added to the Periodic Table since 2011 when elements 114 and 116 were incorporated into it. The table was created back in 1869 by Russian scientist, Dmitri Mendeleyev.
IUPAC stated that a team of US and Russian researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California came up with evidence that was deemed sufficient for the discovery of elements 115, 117 and 118. The element 113 was also claimed by the Russian and American scientists, however, has been awarded to a team of Japanese scientist from the Riken Institute. This would be the first element that has been discovered by Asian scientists. Kosuke Morita, Japanese team leader, also said that the team is now focusing on investigating the element 119.
Professor Jan Reedijk, President of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC said, “The chemistry community is eager to see its most cherished table finally being completed down to the seventh row. IUPAC has now initiated the process of formalizing names and symbols for these elements temporarily named as ununtrium, (Uut or element 113), ununpentium (Uup, element 115), ununseptium (Uus, element 117), and ununoctium (Uuo, element 118).”
