I have just read an article featured on The New York Times website, "The Periodic Table Expands Once Again" written by the Associated Press. It is a very quick but interesting article that I enjoyed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/science/earth/09elements.html?_r=4&ref=chemistry
The periodic table, a diagram featuring all of the existing elements in the world, is always changing. Dr. Moody, 56, thought back to his high school days, when there were only 104 elements listed. Today, there are 118 elements. On average, a new element is added every 2.5 years. As two new elements, temporarily called Element 114 and 116 (made by smashing calcium ions into atoms of plutonium or curium), were officially recognized by the international science community, the issue of naming elements now comes into debate. Dr. Moody, a chemist with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that discovered these new elements, stated that he was yet to discuss any names for the elements with his colleagues. However, it is clear that regardless of the name, they will end in ium. In recent decades, elements have been named after famous scientists. Examples are nobelium and einsteinium (after Alfred Noble and Albert Einstein). Copernicum, added two years ago to the periodic table, was named in honor of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
It is quite possible that Elements 114 and 116 will be named in honor of scientists who contributed to their discoveries. However, there is a chance that Moody and his team might have a little fun with it. When asked about the process of making new elements, he responded with, "It's just basic science...And kind of fun." It is amusing to know that the complex and precise process of crushing atoms to create new ones that exist for only a blink of the eye, is fun.
