Four new 'superheavy' elements fill up periodic table

MANILA, Philippines - Four new elements have been added to the periodic table.

The addition was approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the global organization that has the authority in chemistry.

Discovered by scientists in Japan, Russia, and the US, elements 113, 115, 117, 118 are added on the seventh row, meaning the periodic table is finally complete and the chemistry books can now be updated. It was in 2011 when the last addition was made to the table.

• 113- Riken research institute in Japan
• 115, 117, 118 - Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California

“The chemistry community is eager to see its most cherished table finally being completed down to the seventh row,” said Professor Jan Reedijk, president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC in an interview.

The temporary name of the four radioactive “super-heavy” elements will be changed in as IUPAC is now initiating the process of formalizing the names.

In another interview, Kosuke Morita, who led the research in Japan, said japonium might be proposed as a name for element 113.

As per IUPAC, new elements can be named after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist.

Discoveries of atomic elements have often involved competition among scientists.