Finally, the 7th row of the Periodic Table of the Elements is complete
By Laura McClure on January 4, 2016 in News + Updates
Science teachers, rejoice: Four new chemical elements have just been formally added to the Periodic Table of the Elements, completing the 7th row.
The elements were discovered by teams of scientists in Russia, America and Japan. Their permanent names will be chosen by their discoverers. New elements can be named “after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist,” notes the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). “Element 113 will be the first element to be named in Asia,” notes The Guardian.
For now, the four new elements carry these placeholder names: ununtrium, (Uut or element 113), ununpentium (Uup, element 115), ununseptium (Uus, element 117), and ununoctium (Uuo, element 118). For a short video and chemistry lesson about all of the elements (including these new ones!), explore TED-Ed’s interactive periodic table:
