Four new elements got permanent spot in the periodic table

The new addition of four elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 were finally confirmed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on 30 December 2015. The four new elements, all of which are man-made, were discovered by slamming lighter ­nuclei into each other and tracking the following decay of the radioactive super heavy elements.

Until now, elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 had temporary names and positions on the seventh row of the periodic table because scientists have struggled to create them more than once.

"For over seven years we continued to search for data conclusively identifying element 113, but we just never saw another event," Kosuke Morita from RIKEN in Japan said of one of the four elements. "I was not prepared to give up, however, as I believed that one day, if we persevered, luck would fall upon us again." 

Morita’s team has been credited with the confirmed discovery of element 113, which means they’ve won the naming rights too. Until now, the element been known by the temporary name, ununtrium, and temporary symbol Uut.

The three remaining elements, 115, 117, and 118 - known temporarily as ununpentium (Uup), ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium (Uuo), respectively - will also get new names. The IUPAC has announced that a team of US and Russian researchers have fulfilled the criteria for proving the existence of the remaining three elements, 115, 117, and 118, and will be invited to propose permanent names and symbols. They have been temporarily known as ununpentium (Uup), ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium (Uuo), respectively. 

"The chemistry community is eager to see its most cherished table finally being completed down to the seventh row," Jan Reedijk, president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC, said last week.

The four new elements will be officially named in the next few months but element 113 has been given a placeholder name of ununtrium under IUPAC's recoemmnendation.

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