Names proposed for four new elements of periodic table

 Names for the four newly discovered elements - with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 - have been proposed as nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson respectively, IUPAC has announced.

In December last year, The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) had verified the discoveries of four new chemical elements, and assigned atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 to them.

The 7th period of the periodic table of elements was complete as a result of the discovery.

The discoverers had been invited to propose names which are now disclosed for public review. A five-month public review is now set, expiring on November 8, prior to the formal approval by the IUPAC Council.

Keeping with tradition, newly discovered elements can be named after a mythological concept or character (including an astronomical object), a mineral or similar substance, a place, a property of the element, or a scientist.

The names of all new elements in general should have an ending that reflects and maintains historical and chemical consistency.

This should be in general "-ium" for elements belonging to groups 1-16, "-ine" for elements of group 17 and "-on" for elements of group 18.

Finally, the names for new chemical elements in English should allow proper translation into other major languages.

For the element with atomic number 113, the scientists at the RIKEN Nishina Centre for Accelerator-Based Science in Japan proposed the name nihonium and the symbol Nh.

Nihon is one of the two ways to say "Japan" in Japanese, and literally means "the Land of Rising Sun".

The name is proposed to make a direct connection to the nation where the element was discovered. Element 113 is the first element to have been discovered in an Asian country.

For the element with atomic number 115 the name proposed is moscovium with the symbol Mc and for element with atomic number 117, the name is tennessine with the symbol Ts.

These are in line with tradition honouring a place or geographical region and are proposed jointly by the scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US.

Moscovium is in recognition of the Moscow region and honours the ancient Russian land that is the home of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, where the discovery experiments were conducted.

Tennessine is in recognition of the contribution of the Tennessee region, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee to super heavy element research.

For the element with atomic number 118 the collaborating teams of discoverers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory proposed the name oganesson and symbol Og.

The name honours Professor Yuri Oganessian (born 1933) for his pioneering contributions to transactinoid elements research.