New element monikers laid on the table.The heated debate over what to name six heavy elements at the end of the periodic table may soon be resolved. In February, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) released a new roster of proposed names for the elements numbered 104 to 109: rutherfordium (104), dubnium dubnium (d  b`nēəm), artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Db; at. no. 105; mass number of most stable isotope 262; m.p., b.p., and sp. gr. unknown; valence +5. (105), seaborgium (106), bohrium bohrium (bôr`ēəm), artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Bh; at. no. 107; mass number of most stable isotope 262; m.p., b.p., sp. gr., and valence unknown. (107), hassium hassium (hăs`ēəm, häs`–), artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Hs; at. no. 108; mass number of most stable isotope 265; m.p., b.p., sp. gr., and valence unknown. (108), and meitnerium meitnerium (mītnĭr`ēəm), artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Mt; at. no. 109; mass number of most stable isotope 266; m.p., b.p., sp. gr., and valence unknown. (109). The slate represents a compromise over earlier ones, which drew protests from the U.S., Russian, and German research teams who made the discoveries (SN: 10/22/94, p. 271). Many chemists expect the IUPAC council to give its final endorsement to the name assignments in August. |
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