Moscovium (Mc)
Moscovium (Mc) is a synthetic, superheavy, radioactive element with the atomic number 115. It is classified as a transuranium element, positioned in Group 15 of the periodic table, which includes elements like nitrogen and phosphorus. First synthesized in 2003 by a collaboration between Russian and US scientists, moscovium does not occur naturally and is produced through the bombardment of americium-243 with calcium-48 ions. Its most stable isotope, moscovium-289, has a very short half-life of about 220 milliseconds, decaying predominantly through alpha decay.
Due to the limited amount of moscovium that has been created, its physical and chemical properties remain largely theoretical. It is expected to be a solid at room temperature, with a predicted whitish-grey color and a density of approximately 13,000 kg/m³. The most common oxidation state for moscovium is anticipated to be +5. Currently, research on moscovium is primarily for scientific exploration, as it is handled cautiously by experts due to its extreme radioactivity.
Subject Terms
Moscovium (Mc)
- Element Symbol: Mc
- Atomic Number: 115
- Atomic Mass: [289]
- Group # in Periodic Table: 15
- Group Name: No information
- Period in Periodic Table: 7
- Block of Periodic Table: p-block
- Discovered by: Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2003)
Moscovium is an artificially created, superheavy radioactive element whose chemical symbol is Mc. Because it is highly radioactive, it is a highly unstable element, one that decays into other elements within a second. It has an atomic number of 115. Ununpentium, as it was unofficially known until 2016, means "115" in Latin (that is, "one-one-five"). It is also known as element 115.
Moscovium is a transuranium element. Transuranium elements are those whose atomic numbers are larger than that of uranium—its number is 92. In the periodic table, it is a member of Group 15, which comprises the pnictogen elements. Moscovium is located below bismuth (atomic number 83) and between flerovium (114) and livermorium (116) in row 7, the actinide-series row. Because it falls in this row, its period number is 7. It is also a p-block element.
Moscovium does not occur naturally in the environment. It was first produced by a team of Russian and US scientists in 2003. The effort was a collaboration conducted by scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, and at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. A few atoms of element 115 were formed when a few atoms of americium-243 were bombarded with ions of calcium-48 in the cyclotron at the JINR facility. Scientists announced the production of one atom with atomic weight 287 and three atoms with atomic weight 288. Italian physicists first attempted the synthesis of a transuranium element in 1934 in Rome, Italy. In 2011, after reviewing the claim, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) rejected the claim of ununpentium as a new element for lack of evidence. A couple years later, a team at Lund University in Sweden corroborated the JINR–Lawrence Livermore research results. Then, in December 2015, both the IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) recognized it as a new element. In June 2016, the IUPAC approved the permanent name of moscovium and its symbol, Mc, in honor of the area where the JINR facility is located.
Physical Properties
Since only small quantities of moscovium have been produced, not much is known about the element. Moscovium has an atomic mass of 289. The atomic weight for synthetic transuranium elements is based on the longest-lived isotope. The standard state of an element is defined as its state at 298 kelvins (K), or 25 degrees Celsius. It is theorized that moscovium is a solid at this temperature and that it has a density of 13,000 kg/m3. It is thus thought to have a molar volume of about 22 cubic centimeters. The color is predicted to be whitish-grey. Several other properties of moscovium still remain to be studied—for example, its melting point, boiling point, specific gravity, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity.
Chemical Properties
The most common oxidation state of moscovium is predicted to be +5, based on the properties of the other elements of this group. Each oxidation state has its characteristic spectrum. Moscovium’s electron configuration is [Rn]5f146d107s27p3. Moscovium has four isotopes with known half-lives. The most stable isotope is moscovium-289, with a half-life of about 220 milliseconds. It decays through alpha decay. Alpha decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an unstable atom becomes more stable by losing two protons and two neutrons. These two protons and two neutrons together are called an alpha particle. In this process, a bigger, more unstable nucleus becomes a smaller, more stable nucleus.
Applications
Because moscovium is not a naturally occurring element, it has to be synthesized. Only small quantities of this element have been synthesized. As a result, it is currently of interest for research purposes only. Since it is an extremely radioactive element, extreme care should be taken to ensure that it is handled only by experts who are taking the necessary precautions.
Bibliography
Brazier, Hugh, and Jan McCann. The Book of 365: All the Numbers, None of the Maths. London: Square Peg, 2015. Print.
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Knapp, Alex. "Scientists May Soon Add Element 115 to the Periodic Table." Forbes. Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 7 July 2016.
"Moscovium: The Essentials." WebElements. U of Sheffield and WebElements, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Stoye, Emma. "Confirmation of Four New Elements Completes Seventh Row of Periodic Table." ChemistryWorld. Royal Soc. of Chemistry, 7 Jan. 2016. Web. 7 July 2016.
"Ununpentium." Periodic Table. Royal Soc. of Chemistry, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"Ununpentium (Uup)." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.