The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has announced four proposed names for the four new elements that were added in periodic table in January 2016.
These names and symbols were chosen by the by nuclear researchers who discovered them. They will be finalised after public review and formal nod by the IUPAC Council.
Key facts
- All these four elements are super heavy and are synthetic in nature i.e. they were created in laboratory.
- These new elements are Nihonium (Nh), Moscovium (Mc), Tennessine (Ts), and Oganesson (Og).
- They were added in the seventh row of the periodic table. Their addition has completed the seventh row of the periodic table of the elements.
| Atomic No | Element Name | Element Symbol | Facts |
| 113 | Nihonium | Nh | It was created by a group of Japanese researchers. The element incorporates word “Nihon” which means Japan in Japanese. |
| 115 | Moscovium | Mc | It has been named after Russian capital Moscow. |
| 117 | Tennessine | Ts | It has been named after American state of Tennessee by American researchers. Indian scientist Susanta Lahiri also had played an important role in discovering it. |
| 118 | Oganesson | Og | Named in honour of Russian researcher Yuri Oganessian. It is only the second element to be named after a living scientist. |
About International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
- IUPAC is panel of scientist that governs chemical research and the admission of the new elements in the periodic table.
- Under it rules, names of the elements must reflect one of the physical characteristics or chemical properties, a place, a mineral, a scientist (living or dead), or a mythological concept.
- The names of elements is finalised by IUPAC which are easy to translate across major languages.
- The names usually have endings like “-ine”, “-ium,” or “-on,” depending on the grouping of elements they belong to.