
115, the Newest Element on the Periodic Table - tokenadult
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130828-science-chemistry-115-element-ununpentium-periodic-table/
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5555624
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.

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eksith
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.

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stinos
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.

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

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ars
> (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.

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mtdewcmu
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.

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

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chm
The name will be decided by an international vote.

Ununpentium just means "115th element".

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_element_name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_element_name)

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mkuhn
So it probably will be Colbertium.

See e.g.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert#COLBERT_Treadmi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert#COLBERT_Treadmill)

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csmatt
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.

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6ren
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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table#Layout)

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coldcode
It needs a nice name. Hacknium.

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

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

