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Copernicium Confirmed As Element 112

Several sources are reporting that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has confirmed Copernicium as element 112 on the periodic table of elements with the symbol Cn. "The naming of the new element will be the culmination of a long, fraught journey involving fierce competition, dashed hopes, clever detective work and even a brush with scientific misconduct. With a nucleus containing 112 protons — 20 more than uranium, the heaviest of the naturally occurring elements — it will be the weightiest atom whose existence has been confirmed so far."

5 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Re:On Earth by ircmaxell · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, a lot more than you'd think. First, there's the analyzing of Emission Spectrum from distant worlds and stars. Second, there have been several probes to the moon, mars and other celestial bodies that have attempted to (and some succeeded) look at and identify the chemical makeup of what it was looking at. Third (as if that wasn't enough) we have theoretical physicists that can (and do) calculate the makeup of the rest of the known (and known) universe. So surely it does matter to SOME people...

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    If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
  2. Re:But But but by perlchild · · Score: 4, Informative

    Avatar wasn't the first use of that, they actually reused a name that had been used in literature for decades...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium

  3. Re:natural? by EdZ · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's theorised that somewhere in the 1xx range lies one or more "islands of stability", where one or more undiscovered heavy elements exist with either very long half-lives, or stable nuclei.

  4. Re:Take that china by Dancindan84 · · Score: 4, Informative

    .cn is the country code top-level domain for China. He was making a joke. /whoosh

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    "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
  5. Re:On Earth by mister_playboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hey jackass, how many people do we have trying to identify new elements anywhere else besides Earth?

    Actually, Helium was discovered not on Earth, but the Sun.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium

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    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will