Moscovium

Moscovium is a superheavy synthetic radioactive chemical element also known as eka-bismuth. It has the symbol Mc and the atomic number 115. Moscovium does not exist in nature. It is made from a fusion reaction between americium and calcium.

Moscovium, ₀₀Mc

Moscovium
Pronunciation	/mɒˈskoʊviəm/ ​(mos-SKOH-vee-əm)
Mass number	[290]
Moscovium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson Bi ↑ Mc ↓ (Uhe) flerovium ← moscovium → livermorium
Group	group 15 (pnictogens)
Period	period 7
Block	p-block
Electron configuration	[Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 7p3 (predicted)[1] (predicted)
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 5 (predicted)
Physical properties
Phase at STP	solid (predicted)[1]
Melting point	670 K ​(400 °C, ​750 °F) (predicted)[1][2]
Boiling point	~1400 K ​(~1100 °C, ​~2000 °F) (predicted)[1]
Density (near r.t.)	13.5 g/cm3 (predicted)[2]
Heat of fusion	5.90–5.98 kJ/mol (extrapolated)[3]
Heat of vaporization	138 kJ/mol (predicted)[2]
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	(+1), (+3) (predicted)[1][4]
Ionization energies	1st: 538.3 kJ/mol (predicted)[5] 2nd: 1760 kJ/mol (predicted)[2] 3rd: 2650 kJ/mol (predicted)[2] (more)
Atomic radius	empirical: 187 pm (predicted)[1][2]
Covalent radius	156–158 pm (extrapolated)[3]
Other properties
Natural occurrence	synthetic
CAS Number	54085-64-2
History
Naming	After Moscow region
Discovery	Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2003)
Isotopes of moscovium v e
Main isotopes Decay abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct 286Mc synth 20 ms[6] α 282Nh 287Mc synth 38 ms α 283Nh 288Mc synth 193 ms α 284Nh 289Mc synth 250 ms[7][8] α 285Nh 290Mc synth 650 ms[7][8] α 286Nh
Category: Moscovium view talk edit | references

The element is named in honor of the Russian city of Moscow.

Moscovium is in or near the center of the theoretical island of stability. No stable isotopes of moscovium have yet been found. The most stable isotope with 184 neutrons is ²⁹⁹Mc. The isotope that has been made has only 175 neutrons (²⁹⁰Mc).

Uses

There is no use of Moscovium at the moment because of its radioactivity and short half-life.

History

On February 2, 2004 a report that moscovium and nihonium were made was written in a journal named Physical Review C. The report was written by a team of Russian scientists at Dubna University's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and American scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.^[9],[10]

These people reported that they bombarded americium with calcium to make four atoms of moscovium.

Scientists of Japan also report that they have made moscovium.

In May 2006 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research this element was made by another method and what the final products from radioactive decay were was found by chemical analysis.

Name

Moscow, the city in whose honor the element Moscovium is named.

The name was changed to Moscovium. It used to be named ununpentium.^[11]

Chemical properties

Not enough moscovium has been made to measure its physical or chemical properties. It is thought that it would be a hard metal. It may be slightly colored.

Moscovium is in the same group as bismuth but its chemical properties will be different. The chemistry of ununpentium will be very influenced by special relativity. It will make its properties different to the other elements in the periodic table that have a smaller atomic number.^[12] One important difference from bismuth is the presence of a stable oxidation state of +I (Mc⁺). The (Mc⁺) ion is thought to have chemical properties like Tl⁺.

In popular culture

Moscovium is inside or near the island of stability. This is probably why it is found in popular culture. It is more likely to be talked about in UFO conspiracy theories. ^[source?]

The most popular story about moscovium is from Bob Lazar. It is not pseudoscience because it is a refutable theory, however Lazar's claims are not backed by any direct experimental evidence at this time.^[13]