The element with the atomic number 113 has been named ‘Nihonium’.
Four new elements have been added to the periodic table and have been named by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The element names are expected to be approved later this year by the IUPAC council.
Amongst the four new elements is ‘Nihonium’ or Nh: atomic number 113. The name was proposed by the Japanese element discoverers, who wanted to pay homage to their home country, where they discovered the element. In Japanese, ‘Nihon’ is one of two ways to say Japan. The word itself means “land of the rising sun”.
In an IUPAC statement, the team behind the discovery said that they hope “that pride and faith in science will displace the lost trust of those who suffered from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster”.
The other new elements are Moscovium AKA Mc (atomic weight 115), Tennesine AKA Ts (element number 117) and Oganesson AKA Og (number 118 on the atomic table).
Moscovium was unsurprisingly named after a team from Moscow. More specifically, the name pays tribute to the work of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, based in Russia. Tennessine recognises the contributions of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Oganesson is named after Russian Professor Yuri Oganessian who helped to discover superheavey elements.
