Ununhexium is a transactinide element with an extremely high atomic number, synthesized in a laboratory with a linear accelerator. It is unstable and radioactive, making it challenging to study. It has no official name and is known as “Uuh” on the periodic table. It was first produced in 2000 by Russian researchers and is of interest to scientists despite the difficulties in studying it.
Ununhexium is a chemical element assumed to be metallic in nature, as it appears to share some traits with elements in the poor metal group of the periodic table. It is also classified as a transactinide element, meaning it has an extremely high atomic number, placing it among the heaviest elements known to man. This element cannot be observed in nature; scientists wishing to study it must synthesize it in the laboratory with the aid of a linear accelerator. This costly process makes developing commercial uses for ununhexium unlikely.
Like other transactinides, ununhexium is extremely unstable, existing for only a few seconds at a time before decaying into the form of a more stable element. It is also radioactive. These two traits make this element very challenging to study; very precise and sophisticated scientific equipment is required when studying transactinide elements. Because many of the elements used to synthesize transactinide elements are also radioactive, access to facilities where that synthesis takes place tends to be tightly controlled.
This element is sometimes known as “eka-polonium”. It has no official name as of 2008; “ununhexium” is a systematic element name which has been applied by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. These names are used to ensure that scientists refer to elements systematically before they are formally named; an element’s name is typically suggested by the laboratory that discovers it, and it can take several decades to confirm discoveries and determine who gets the honor of the name. Systematic element names refer to the atomic numbers of the elements they describe; ununhexium is element 116 and ununhex means “one one six” in Latin. For now, ununhexium is known as “Uuh” on the periodic table of elements.
The first known appearance of ununhexium in the laboratory occurred in 2000, when Russian researchers managed to produce a small amount by bombarding calcium with curium. Originally, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory claimed to have identified ununhexium, along with ununoctium, but this claim was later retracted. Researchers in Dubna, Russia have managed to repeat their original experiment and also identify some new isotopes of ununhexium since their initial publication in 2000.
The so-called “super heavy elements” at the end of the periodic table are quite interesting to some researchers. The frustration involved in studying them only adds to the appeal for some, as many scientists enjoy nothing quite as much as a good challenge.
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