The IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party is a group convened periodically by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) to consider claims for discovery and naming of new chemical elements. [1] [2] [3] It is sometimes called the Joint Working Party on Discovery of Elements. [4] The working party's recommendations are voted on by the General Assembly of the IUPAP. [5]
Livermorium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Lv and atomic number 116. It is an extremely radioactive element that has only been created in a laboratory setting and has not been observed in nature. The element is named after the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States, which collaborated with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, to discover livermorium during experiments conducted between 2000 and 2006. The name of the laboratory refers to the city of Livermore, California, where it is located, which in turn was named after the rancher and landowner Robert Livermore. The name was adopted by IUPAC on May 30, 2012. Six isotopes of livermorium are known, with mass numbers of 288–293 inclusive; the longest-lived among them is livermorium-293 with a half-life of about 80 milliseconds. A seventh possible isotope with mass number 294 has been reported but not yet confirmed.
Oganesson is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Og and atomic number 118. It was first synthesized in 2002 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, near Moscow, Russia, by a joint team of Russian and American scientists. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of the international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. It was formally named on 28 November 2016. The name honors the nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian, who played a leading role in the discovery of the heaviest elements in the periodic table.
Moscovium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Mc and atomic number 115. It was first synthesized in 2003 by a joint team of Russian and American scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. On 28 November 2016, it was officially named after the Moscow Oblast, in which the JINR is situated.
Tennessine is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It has the second-highest atomic number and joint-highest atomic mass of all known elements and is the penultimate element of the 7th period of the periodic table. It is named after the U.S. state of Tennessee, where key research institutions involved in its discovery are located.
There are seven stable isotopes of mercury (80Hg) with 202Hg being the most abundant (29.86%). The longest-lived radioisotopes are 194Hg with a half-life of 444 years, and 203Hg with a half-life of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining 40 radioisotopes have half-lives that are less than a day. 199Hg and 201Hg are the most often studied NMR-active nuclei, having spin quantum numbers of 1/2 and 3/2 respectively. All isotopes of mercury are either radioactive or observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed. These isotopes are predicted to undergo either alpha decay or double beta decay.
Gold (79Au) has one stable isotope, 197Au, and 40 radioisotopes, with 195Au being the most stable with a half-life of 186 days. Gold is currently considered the heaviest monoisotopic element. Bismuth formerly held that distinction until alpha-decay of the 209Bi isotope was observed. All isotopes of gold are either radioactive or, in the case of 197Au, observationally stable, meaning that 197Au is predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed.
Naturally occurring platinum (78Pt) consists of five stable isotopes (192Pt, 194Pt, 195Pt, 196Pt, 198Pt) and one very long-lived (half-life 4.83×1011 years) radioisotope (190Pt). There are also 34 known synthetic radioisotopes, the longest-lived of which is 193Pt with a half-life of 50 years. All other isotopes have half-lives under a year, most under a day. All isotopes of platinum are either radioactive or observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed. Platinum-195 is the most abundant isotope.
Naturally occurring tungsten (74W) consists of five isotopes. Four are considered stable (182W, 183W, 184W, and 186W) and one is slightly radioactive, 180W, with an extremely long half-life of 1.8 ± 0.2 exayears (1018 years). On average, two alpha decays of 180W occur per gram of natural tungsten per year, so for most practical purposes, 180W can be considered stable. Theoretically, all five can decay into isotopes of element 72 (hafnium) by alpha emission, but only 180W has been observed to do so. The other naturally occurring isotopes have not been observed to decay (they are observationally stable), and lower bounds for their half-lives have been established:
Natural hafnium (72Hf) consists of five observationally stable isotopes (176Hf, 177Hf, 178Hf, 179Hf, and 180Hf) and one very long-lived radioisotope, 174Hf, with a half-life of 3.8×1016 years. In addition, there are 34 known synthetic radioisotopes, the most stable of which is 182Hf with a half-life of 8.9×106 years. This extinct radionuclide is used in hafnium–tungsten dating to study the chronology of planetary differentiation.
Naturally occurring ytterbium (70Yb) is composed of seven stable isotopes: 168Yb, 170Yb–174Yb, and 176Yb, with 174Yb being the most abundant. 30 radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 169Yb with a half-life of 32.014 days, 175Yb with a half-life of 4.185 days, and 166Yb with a half-life of 56.7 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 2 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 20 minutes. This element also has 18 meta states, with the most stable being 169mYb.
Naturally occurring erbium (68Er) is composed of six stable isotopes, with 166Er being the most abundant. Thirty-nine radioisotopes have been characterized with between 74 and 112 neutrons, or 142 to 180 nucleons, with the most stable being 169Er with a half-life of 9.4 days, 172Er with a half-life of 49.3 hours, 160Er with a half-life of 28.58 hours, 165Er with a half-life of 10.36 hours, and 171Er with a half-life of 7.516 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 3.5 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 4 minutes. This element also has numerous meta states, with the most stable being 167mEr.
Natural holmium (67Ho) contains one observationally stable isotope, 165Ho. The below table lists 39 isotopes spanning 140Ho through 178Ho as well as 40 nuclear isomers. Among the known synthetic radioactive isotopes; the most stable one is 163Ho, with a half-life of 4,570 years. All other radioisotopes have half-lives not greater than 1.117 days in their ground states, and most have half-lives under 3 hours.
Naturally occurring terbium (65Tb) is composed of one stable isotope, 159Tb. Thirty-seven radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 158Tb with a half-life of 180 years, 157Tb with a half-life of 71 years, and 160Tb with a half-life of 72.3 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 6.907 days, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 24 seconds. This element also has 27 meta states, with the most stable being 156m1Tb, 154m2Tb and 154m1Tb.
Naturally occurring cerium (58Ce) is composed of 4 stable isotopes: 136Ce, 138Ce, 140Ce, and 142Ce, with 140Ce being the most abundant and the only one theoretically stable; 136Ce, 138Ce, and 142Ce are predicted to undergo double beta decay but this process has never been observed. There are 35 radioisotopes that have been characterized, with the most stable being 144Ce, with a half-life of 284.893 days; 139Ce, with a half-life of 137.640 days and 141Ce, with a half-life of 32.501 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 4 days and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 10 minutes. This element also has 10 meta states.
Naturally occurring lanthanum (57La) is composed of one stable (139La) and one radioactive (138La) isotope, with the stable isotope, 139La, being the most abundant (99.91% natural abundance). There are 39 radioisotopes that have been characterized, with the most stable being 138La, with a half-life of 1.03×1011 years; 137La, with a half-life of 60,000 years and 140La, with a half-life of 1.6781 days. The remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than a day and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 1 minute. This element also has 12 nuclear isomers, the longest-lived of which is 132mLa, with a half-life of 24.3 minutes. Lighter isotopes mostly decay to isotopes of barium and heavy ones mostly decay to isotopes of cerium. 138La can decay to both.
Antimony (51Sb) occurs in two stable isotopes, 121Sb and 123Sb. There are 37 artificial radioactive isotopes, the longest-lived of which are 125Sb, with a half-life of 2.75856 years; 124Sb, with half-life 60.2 days; and 126Sb, with half-life 12.35 days. All other isotopes have half-lives less than 4 days, most less than an hour. There are also many isomers, the longest-lived of which is 120m1Sb with half-life 5.76 days.
Tin (50Sn) is the element with the greatest number of stable isotopes. This is probably related to the fact that 50 is a "magic number" of protons. In addition, twenty-nine unstable tin isotopes are known, including tin-100 (100Sn) and tin-132 (132Sn), which are both "doubly magic". The longest-lived tin radioisotope is tin-126 (126Sn), with a half-life of 230,000 years. The other 28 radioisotopes have half-lives of less than a year.
Naturally occurring vanadium (23V) is composed of one stable isotope 51V and one radioactive isotope 50V with a half-life of 2.71×1017 years. 24 artificial radioisotopes have been characterized (in the range of mass number between 40 and 65) with the most stable being 49V with a half-life of 330 days, and 48V with a half-life of 15.9735 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives shorter than an hour, the majority of them below 10 seconds, the least stable being 42V with a half-life shorter than 55 nanoseconds, with all of the isotopes lighter than it, and none of the heavier, have unknown half-lives. In 4 isotopes, metastable excited states were found (including 2 metastable states for 60V), which adds up to 5 meta states.
The standard atomic weight of a chemical element (symbol Ar°(E) for element "E") is the weighted arithmetic mean of the relative isotopic masses of all isotopes of that element weighted by each isotope's abundance on Earth. For example, isotope 63Cu (Ar = 62.929) constitutes 69% of the copper on Earth, the rest being 65Cu (Ar = 64.927), so
Chemical elements may be named from various sources: sometimes based on the person who discovered it, or the place it was discovered. Some have Latin or Greek roots deriving from something related to the element, for example some use to which it may have been put.