Moscovium

Moscovium is a superheavy synthetic radioactive chemical element also known as eka-bismuth. It has the symbol Mc and the atomic number 115. Moscovium does not exist in nature. It is made from a fusion reaction between americium and calcium.

Moscovium,  115Mc
General properties
Pronunciation/mɒsˈkviəm/ (mos-KOH-vee-əm)
Mass number290 (most stable isotope)
Moscovium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium
Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson
Bi

Mc

(Uhe)
fleroviummoscoviumlivermorium
Atomic number (Z)115
Groupgroup 15 (pnictogens)
Periodperiod 7
Blockp-block
Element category  unknown chemical properties, but probably a post-transition metal
Electron configuration[Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 7p3 (predicted)[1]
Electrons per shell
2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 5 (predicted)
Physical properties
Phase at STPMc: Unknown phase (predicted)[1]
Melting point670 K ​(400 °C, ​750 °F) (predicted)[1][2]
Boiling point~1400 K ​(~1100 °C, ​~2000 °F) (predicted)[1]
Density (near r.t.)13.5 g/cm3 (predicted)[2]
Heat of fusion5.90–5.98 kJ/mol (extrapolated)[3]
Heat of vaporization138 kJ/mol (predicted)[2]
Atomic properties
Oxidation states(+1), (+3) (predicted)[1][2]
Ionization energies
  • 1st: 538.3 kJ/mol (predicted)[4]
  • 2nd: 1760 kJ/mol (predicted)[2]
  • 3rd: 2650 kJ/mol (predicted)[2]
  • (more)
Atomic radiusempirical: 187 pm (predicted)[1][2]
Covalent radius156–158 pm (extrapolated)[3]
Other properties
Natural occurrenceMc: Synthetic
CAS Number54085-64-2
History
NamingAfter Moscow region
DiscoveryJoint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2003)
Main isotopes of moscovium
Iso­tope Abun­dance Half-life (t1/2) Decay mode Pro­duct
287Mc syn 37 ms α 283Nh
288Mc syn 164 ms α 284Nh
289Mc syn 330 ms[5] α 285Nh
290Mc syn 650 ms[5] α 286Nh
| references

The element is named in honor of the Russian city of Moscow.

Moscovium is in or near the center of the theoretical island of stability. No stable isotopes of moscovium have yet been found. The most stable isotope with 184 neutrons is 299Mc. The isotope that has been made has only 175 neutrons (290Mc).

Uses

There is no use of Moscovium at the moment because of its radioactivity and the fact that it decays pretty quickly.

History

On February 2, 2004 a report that moscovium and nihonium were made was written in a journal named Physical Review C. The report was written by a team of Russian scientists at Dubna University's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and American scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.[6],[7]

These people reported that they bombarded americium with calcium to make four atoms of moscovium.

Scientists of Japan also report that they have made moscovium.

In May 2006 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research this element was made by another method and what the final products from radioactive decay were was found by chemical analysis.

Name

 
Moscow, the city in whose honor the element Moscovium is named.

The name was changed to Moscovium. It used to be named ununpentium.[8]

Chemical properties

Not enough moscovium has been made to measure its physical or chemical properties. It is thought that it would be a hard metal. It may be slightly colored.

Moscovium is in the same group as bismuth but its chemical properties will be different. The chemistry of ununpentium will be very influenced by special relativity. It will make its properties different to the other elements in the periodic table that have a smaller atomic number.[9] One important difference from bismuth is the presence of a stable oxidation state of +I (Mc+). The (Mc+) ion is thought to have chemical properties like Tl+.

In popular culture

Moscovium is inside or near the island of stability. This is probably why it is found in popular culture. It is more likely to be talked about in UFO conspiracy theories.[source?]

The most popular story about moscovium is from Bob Lazar. It is not pseudoscience because it is a refutable theory, however Lazar's claims are not backed by any direct experimental evidence at this time.[10]

Moscovium Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Hoffman, Darleane C.; Lee, Diana M.; Pershina, Valeria (2006). "Transactinides and the future elements". In Morss; Edelstein, Norman M.; Fuger, Jean (eds.). The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 1-4020-3555-1.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Fricke, Burkhard (1975). "Superheavy elements: a prediction of their chemical and physical properties". Recent Impact of Physics on Inorganic Chemistry. 21: 89–144. doi:10.1007/BFb0116498. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bonchev, Danail; Kamenska, Verginia (1981). "Predicting the Properties of the 113–120 Transactinide Elements". Journal of Physical Chemistry. American Chemical Society. 85 (9): 1177–1186. doi:10.1021/j150609a021.
  4. Pershina, Valeria. "Theoretical Chemistry of the Heaviest Elements". In Schädel, Matthias; Shaughnessy, Dawn (eds.). The Chemistry of Superheavy Elements (2nd ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. p. 154. ISBN 9783642374661.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Oganessian, Yuri Ts.; Abdullin, F. Sh.; Bailey, P. D.; Benker, D. E.; Bennett, M. E.; Dmitriev, S. N.; Ezold, J. G.; Hamilton, J. H.; Henderson, R. A. (2010-04-09). "Synthesis of a New Element with Atomic Number Z=117". Physical Review Letters. American Physical Society. 104 (142502). Bibcode:2010PhRvL.104n2502O. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.142502. PMID 20481935. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |displayauthors= ignored (|display-authors= suggested) (help)
  6. Oganessian, Yu. Ts; Utyonkoy, V. K.; Lobanov, Yu. V.; Abdullin, F. Sh.; Polyakov, A. N.; Shirokovsky, I. V.; Tsyganov, Yu. S.; Gulbekian, G. G.; Bogomolov, S. L.; Mezentsev, A. N.; Iliev, S.; Subbotin, V. G.; Sukhov, A. M.; Voinov, A. A.; Buklanov, G. V.; Subotic, K.; Zagrebaev, V. I.; Itkis, M. G.; Patin, J. B.; Moody, K. J.; Wild, J. F.; Stoyer, M. A.; Stoyer, N. J.; Shaughnessy, D. A.; Kenneally, J. M.; Lougheed, R. W. (2004). "Experiments on the synthesis of element 115 in the reaction 243Am(48Ca,xn)291−x115". Physical Review C. 69 (2): 021601. Bibcode:2004PhRvC..69b1601O. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.69.021601.
  7. Oganessian, Yu. Ts; et al. (2005). "Synthesis of elements 115 and 113 in the reaction 243Am + 48Ca". Physical Review C. 72 (3): 034611. Bibcode:2005PhRvC..72c4611O. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.72.034611.
  8. "IUPAC Announces the Names of the Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118". IUPAC | International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  9. Keller, O. L.; Nestor, C. W.; Fricke, Burkhard (1974). "Predicted properties of the superheavy elements. III. Element 115, Eka-bismuth". Journal of Physical Chemistry. 78 (19): 1945–1949. doi:10.1021/j100612a015.
  10. Lazar Critique Archived 2006-12-20 at the Wayback Machine, D. L. Morgan.

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