Though the space for element 112 in the periodic table currently says 'Uub' this is just an abbreviation for ununbium, from the Latin roots for one ('un') and for two ('bi'). Ununbium was just a placeholder for the real element.
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This element is likely to be the first of many more to come in coming years.
"According to theory there should exist an island of superheavy nuclei from around element 114 to 126 and neutron number 184. We want to explore this island," said Hoffman. "[By doing so] we will understand better the nuclear matter from which all material around us is made."
Island of stability
Yuri Oganessian, a physicist with the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, is pleased that element 112 has finally been recognised. Though it is only around for a fleeting instant, that's still plenty of time to use it to study the chemical properties of superheavy elements, he said.
Oganessian pointed out, that a number of other new elements – with atomic numbers 113, 114, 115, 116, and 118 – have already been created in various labs, but are yet to be officially recognised.
"I hope that now [IUPAC] will start considering the evidence for the other heavy elements," he told Cosmos Online. The discovery of these elements has "confirmed the theoretical hypothesis of the existence of the 'island of stability'," he said.
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Excitement
This is very exciting, just opening up more opportunities for more fabulous discoveries!