Thursday, October 11, 2012

Element 113

Let's be real, after plutonium (element #94) on the periodic table, the names of the elements get really weird.  Americium?  Einsteinium?  Nobelium?  Do you see a theme here?  They sound so silly (sorry, element namers of the world). 

It's hard work to identify a new element and it's even harder to gain the right to name it.  Japanese researchers recently made their third atom of element 113 (meaning an atom that has 113 protons in its nucleus).  They are not the first to make the element (Russians and Americans have already done it), but they are the first to do it three times.  This means that they might be able to name it!

Please let them pick a cooler name than ...Curium?  I'm all for honoring awesome scientists but these names are crazy.







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