Moscovium is a synthetic element that was discovered in 2003. It is a highly radioactive and unstable element.
History and Discovery
According to the Mendeleev’s nomenclature of undiscovered elements, moscovium was named as eka-bismuth or element-115. Moscovium was synthesized by the collaboration of an American-Russian team led by Yuri Oganessia working in Dubna, Russia in 2003 [1]. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) worked with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and successfully created the element 115. They bombarded americium-243 with calcium-48 nuclei and produced four atoms of moscovium-287. In 2010, two heavier isotopes of moscovium, moscovium-289 and moscovium-290 were discovered. The name moscovium was given in honour of Moscow Oblast where JINR is located. And in 2016, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry confirmed the name moscovium for the newly discovered element 115 [2]. The symbol of moscovium is Mc.
Moscovium
| Periodic Table Classification | Group 15 Period 7 |
|---|---|
| State at 20C | Solid (predicted) |
| Color | Unknown |
| Electron Configuration | [Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 7p3 (predicted) |
| Electron Number | 115 |
| Proton Number | 115 |
| Electron Shell | 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 5 (predicted) |
| Density | 13.50 g.cm-3 at 20°C (predicted) |
| Atomic number | 115 |
| Atomic Mass | 290.00 g.mol -1 |
| Electronegativity according to Pauling | n/a |
Occurrence
Moscovium is an artificial element and does not exist in nature. About hundreds of atoms of moscovium have been produced till now.
Physical Characteristics
Moscovium is predicted to be a solid under normal conditions. The unstable nature of moscovium makes it difficult to carry out a statistically significant analysis of its physical and chemical characteristics. However, the expected density of moscovium is around 13.5 g/cm3. Similarly, the melting and boiling points of moscovium have been predicted to be 400°C and 1100°C.
Chemical Characteristics
The chemical characteristics of moscovium have not been well studied yet. Moscovium is a transactinide that belongs to the p-block and 7th period of the periodic table. It is expected to have similar properties like arsenic, phosphorus, bismuth, nitrogen and antimony. Moscovium is predicted to have similarity with thallium due to the presence of loosely bound electron. The most common oxidation states of moscovium that have been predicted are +1 and +3.
Significance and Uses
- Moscovium is used for research purposes.
Health Hazards
Moscovium is a radioactive element and requires special precautions with handling and storage.
Isotopes of Moscovium
There are four main isotopes of moscovium, with mass number ranging from 287 to 290. They are unstable and unnatural. Moscovium-290 has a half-life of 0.8 seconds. Moscovium-289 and 290 are produced as daughter isotopes of tennessine isotopes (tennessine-293 and tennessine-294). The atoms of moscovium decay through emission of alpha particles into nihonium in about less than 100 milliseconds [3].
REFERENCES
[1]. Yu. Ts. Oganessian et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 2010, 104, 142502, 4 pages.
[2]. Staff (30 November 2016). “IUPAC Announces the Names of the Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118”. IUPAC. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
[3]. Oganessian; et al. (2003). “Experiments on the synthesis of element 115 in the reaction 243Am(48Ca,xn)291−x115″ (PDF). JINR preprints.