By Michael Banks
Unobtanium, collossium and fibonaccium. Those were just some of your suggestions for the name of element 112 following its confirmation two years ago.
In the end researchers, led by Sigurd Hofmann and his group at the Centre for Heavy Ion Research (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany, went for copernicium, which was finally approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC in July 2009.
Now we want your suggestions for two new elements – 114 and 116 – after they were added to the periodic table following a three-year review by the IUPAC, which develops standards for naming new elements and compounds.
Currently element 114 is known as ununquadium with element 116 named ununhexium.
The elements were spotted by researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, back in 2004, but only confirmed last year by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and the GSI lab.
Researchers at the JINR will now get the chance to name the new elements. They will submit their suggestions to the IUPAC who will then publish them on its website for six months giving scientists and the public time to scrutinize and comment on the new name.
So physicsworld.com readers what are your suggestions?
