When you buy through links on our site , we may bring in an affiliate deputation . Here ’s how it works .

Nihonium is a radioactive , synthetic element about which small is known . It is classified as a metal and is expected to be solid at room temperature .

The component , No . 113 on thePeriodic Table of Elements , had antecedently been designate atomic number 113 , a proxy name that have in mind one - one - three in Latin . In November 2016 , the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC)approved the name nihoniumfor element 113 .

nihonium

Nihonium

Scientists with Japan ’s RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator - Based Science purpose the element name nihonium , which is one way to say " Japan " in Japanese and means " the land of the rising sun , " according to the IUPAC . Nihonium ’s atomic symbol is Nh .

The IUPAC also O.K. public figure for component   115 ( moscovium , with nuclear symbol Mc ) , 117 ( tennessine , Ts ) and 118 ( oganesson , Og ) .

Discovery

Kosuke Morita and his colleagues created the elusive constituent on Aug. 12 , 2012 , after colliding zinc nuclei together in a tenuous layer of bismuth . Like other superheavy elements , after 113 was create , it   rapidly decayed , ultimately turn element 113 into 111 , and then 109 , 107 , 105 , 103 and finally into element 101 , according to Morita .

Nihonium has six isotope with have it off half - lives . The most stable is286Nh , with a half - life story of about 20 seconds .

The atomic weight for manmade transuranium element is base on the longest - live isotope . These nuclear weights should be count provisional since a new isotope with a longer half - life could be give rise in the future tense . [ SeePeriodic board of the element ]

A black and white photo of a large mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast

Just the facts

Atomic Number : 113Atomic Symbol : NhAtomic Weight : [ 286]Melting Point : UnknownBoiling Point : Unknown

Sources

To produce nihonium , Element 115 — now calledmoscovium — must first be made . Atoms ofamericium(Element 95 ) are bombard with ion ofcalcium(Element 20 ) in a cyclotron , which make moscovium . Then , moscovium speedily alpha decay into nihonium .

Uses of nihonium

Only a few atoms of nihonium have ever been made , and they are only used in scientific work .

Additional resources

A rendering of batteries with a green color and a radioactive symbol

an abstract illustration with swirls of light around up and down arrows

A photo of the Large Hadron Collider�s ALICE detector.

Radiation Detection Manager Jeff Carey, with Southern California Edison, takes a radiation reading at the dry storage area during a tour of the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station south of San Clemente, CA

an illustration of two stars colliding in a flash of light

Prometheus

Neptunium sphere

Strontium

hafnium

Californium

platinum

An illustration of a large UFO landing near a satellite at sunset

Panoramic view of moon in clear sky. Alberto Agnoletto & EyeEm.

an aerial image of the Great Wall of China on a foggy day

an abstract illustration depicting the collision of subatomic particles

an illustration of a black hole

two ants on a branch lift part of a plant