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Element 112 is Named Copernicium (Cn)
- ugh 17y agoThings only Wikipedia can teach you and which you would otherwise never learn because the topic isn’t otherwise interesting enough for you to buy any books: Elements 108 to 112 were created by the German Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research between 1982 and 1996 and named (in order Hassium, Meitnerium, Darmstadtium, Roentgenium and Copernicium) between 1997 and now. The Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research seems to have gotten lazy after that because the next five elements (113 to 116 and 118) were created by the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research between 2000 and 2006. They are all not yet named. I guess we gonna get a few elements named after Russian scientists, cities or states next. And I’m pretty astonished that it can seemingly take 14 years to name a freaking element. Copernicium seems an innocent enough name.
- mechanical_fish 17y agoit can seemingly take 14 years to name a freaking element Naming it is easy. Making the name stick is hard. I'm sure it takes time to make sure that (a) the result is real; (b) it is correctly attributed. And nobody wants to have to take an element back. That would create a small-scale version of the furor that ensured when the astronomers had to take one of the solar system's planets back.
- sown 17y agoWhat a birthday present!