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Un-Un-Pentium On Your Periodic Table of the Elements?

Posted by Unknown on from the waiting-for-unobtanium dept.

PolygamousRanchKid writes, quoting Forbes "Researchers at Sweden's Lund University have announced that they've been able to confirm the existence of element 115 on the periodic table. This research team isn't the first to create element 115, which is currently known as ununpentium. The first claim that ununpentium had been synthesized in a lab was by a joint group of Russian and American researchers, who believed that they created it in their lab in 2004."

5 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Hope they give it a better name by barlevg · · Score: 4, Informative
    Wikipedia was remarkably informative on the subject (even for them):

    Ununpentium is a temporary IUPAC systematic element name derived from the digits 115, where "un-" represents Latin unum. "Pent-" represents the Greek word for 5, and it was chosen because the Latin word for 5 ("quin") starts with 'q', which would have caused confusion with flerovium (previously known as ununquadium), element 114.

    From the sentence before the section I quoted, I think even "eka-bismuth" would be a better name.

  2. Also know as Elerium by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Elerium-115

  3. Re:so... by __aaeihw9960 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Since when do we need a specific reason to do science? You never know what you'll find out once you've done the research.

    Since we started implementing austerity measures.

  4. Re:Hmmmm .... by Exitar · · Score: 3, Informative

    un un pentium = 1 1 5

  5. Re:so... by elistan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's a highly moderated comment on why, from 2004:

    http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=95064&cid=8153826