Ununbium

Ununbium is a synthetic radioactive chemical element with the temporary symbol Uub and atomic number 112. "Ununbium" (pronounced /uːnˈuːnbiəm/ ( listen) oon-OON-bee-əm) is a IUPAC systematic element name, used until the element receives an accepted name. Ununbium was first created by the GSI in 1996, who have now proposed the permanent name copernicium (/koʊpərˈniːsiəm/  ( listen) koe-pər-NEE-see-əm) and the symbol Cn. This name is expected to be... more

Ununbium is a synthetic radioactive chemical element with the temporary symbol Uub and atomic number 112. "Ununbium" (pronounced /uːnˈuːnbiəm/ ( listen) oon-OON-bee-əm) is a IUPAC systematic element name, used until the element receives an accepted name. Ununbium was first created by the GSI in 1996, who have now proposed the permanent name copernicium (/koʊpərˈniːsiəm/  ( listen) koe-pər-NEE-see-əm) and the symbol Cn. This name is expected to be officially endorsed by IUPAC in January 2010, after six months for discussion. Element 112 is currently the highest-numbered element to be officially recognised by IUPAC. The most stable isotope discovered to date is Uub with a half-life of ~30 s. In total, about 75 atoms of ununbium have been detected using various nuclear reactions. An unconfirmed isotope, Uub, has a possible half-life of ~9 minutes, and would be one of the longest-lived superheavy isotopes known to date. Recent experiments strongly suggest that ununbium behaves as a... less