KIT MILLER

Earlier this year, every single chemistry textbook in the world was immediately outdated after the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced the discovery of four new elements on the periodic table: elements 113, 115, 117 and 118. Now the seventh row of the periodic table has been completely filled out. Element 113 was discovered by research teams in Japan and elements 115, 117 and 118 were discovered by research teams in America and Russia. All four elements are synthetic, which means they are man-made. The research teams had to collide small nuclei together to create the elements, which only exist for a fraction of a second.

Element 118 is now the heaviest element known to man. The official names of these elements have not yet been decided. The temporary names are currently: ununtrium (element 113), ununpentium (element 115), ununseptium (element 117) and ununoctium (element 118). Element 113 will be the first element to be named in Asia.

A research team in Germany is currently working on discovering the next heaviest element: element 119.