New Element: Copernicium

A new element has been added to the Periodic Table!

That box that says Uub (ununbium) which has an atomic number of 112? It now has a proper name: Copernicium.

This element was first discovered in 1996 by a group of of German scientists. They made the element by combining zianc ions with lead . The element produced is radioactive, and is extremely short-lived. However, IUPAC took 13 years to recognise this claim and officially acknowledged the element and the German scientists who discovered the element.

Naming this element proved to be a hassle too. Trivia: it is a rule that elements in the Periodic Table cannot be named after a living person. So, the scientists decided to name it after Copernicus, the first astronomer to propose that the Earth is not in the centre of the universe, and it orbits around the sun. 

Upon naming the element, the scientists had to propose a symbol for this new element. They wanted to use the symbol Cp, but it was rejected because Cp was already used to represent cyclopentadiene. On top of that, Cp is commonly used to denote heat capacity. After all the trouble, it was finally decided on February 19, 2010 that this new element is named Copernicium, with the symbol Cn.