Moscovium

In 2004, scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, together with scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, announced that they had successfully synthesized four atoms of element 115. The new element was originally named ununpentium based on the Latin root for its atomic number but was renamed moscovium in honor of the ancient land of Moscovia (present-day Russia), where the atom was first synthesized.

Although the atoms had decayed within milliseconds, the scientists were able to detect the predicted decay products that they had expected. As group leader Yuri Oganessian explained, the first five alpha decay reactions (where two protons and two neutrons [a helium nucleus] are spontaneously emitted from an unstable atom) occurred within 20 seconds...and then there was a pause. They didn’t see the next product until the following day! Because they were unsure of the exact pathway that had been followed, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists (IUPAC) decided that they didn’t have enough evidence to certify the existence of a new element.

The existence of moscovium was finally certified in 2016. JINR scientists determined that there had been a spontaneous fission decay event. Scientists independently observed the same thing in laboratories in Germany and California, supporting JINR's hypothesis.

Moscovium is one of the p-block transactinides. It is a member of group 15, the pnictogens, along with nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony and bismuth. Researchers predict that it should be a dense, reactive metal that is a solid at room temperature. It is thought to be most like bismuth.

So far, only about 100 atoms of moscovium have been produced, so no chemical properties have been confirmed. Scientists hope that moscovium is volatile enough, meaning it can easily become vapor, to study the element further. Many chemistry techniques use elements in their vaporized or gas state to analyze their properties.

Moscovium has no uses beyond scientific research.

Currently there are five known isotopes of moscovium (moscovium-286, -287, -288, -289, and -290). Their half-lives range from 20 milliseconds to 650 milliseconds, with moscovium-290 being the most stable.

Moscovium is not found naturally anywhere on Earth. It has only been made in minute quantities in the laboratory. It is produced by using a particle accelerator to shoot Ca-48 atoms, traveling at one tenth the speed of light, into americium–243 atoms. When these two atoms fuse, moscovium is created.