Ununoctium

Ununoctium is the 118th element in the periodic table. The word ununoctium means one one eight. There is a chance that it has at least one isotope. Its chemical properties are thought to be similar to other noble gasses. Most of its physical properties are unknown due to recent discovery. It was first made in Russia at the Flerov Labortory of Nuclear reactions. It is made by firing calcium at californium. When ununoctium decays it becomes livermorium-290. It takes about 11 hours to make.

It is a very radioactive substance. It is a solid in room temperature. There is no picture of it due to there being few atoms of it in the world. The few that exist are used only for research. To make it a beam of 2.5 x 1019 calcium ions was fired at californium. This produced ununtoctium. There were rumors that it was actually found in 1999 but this theory isn't proven because there isn't enough evidence and they were unable to repeat the process.

Properties
The word ununoctium literally means one one eight. Its atomic number is 118. Both melting and boiling points are unknown. It has one possible isotope. Its density and ionic radius is unknown. According to Pauling its electronegativity is also unknown. Its chemical properties are assumed to be similar to other gases in the noble gases group. The reason ununoctium has so many unknown properties is because it was discovered only recently and there are only a few atoms of it in the world.

Ununoctiums thermal conductivity is 0.0023 W m-1 K-1. The coefficient of linear thermal expansion is unknown. Its density of solid is presumed to be 5700kg m-3. Ununoctium's estimated molar volume (atomic weight divided by the density) is 52. The velocity of sound is unknown. Its electrical resistivity is unknown. Finally, Ununoctiums elastic, optical, and electrical properties are all unknown.

History


In Dubna, Russia at the Flerov Labratory of Nuclear Reactions, element 118 was discovered. It was named Ununoctium which means "one one eight." The first atom of it was make in spring of 2002. Later in 2005 two more atoms of it were made. The experiment in 2002 was, to put it simply, firing a focused beam of calcium from a machine at californium. The beam was 2.5 x 1019 calcium ions. This produced a synthesis of ununoctium. In the end three neutrons were released. The entire process took four months.

Ununoctium was rumored to have been discovered in 1999. However the data and subsequent re-analases of the origial data has been unable to repeat the process. It was said to have been formed from three decay chains, each one containing six high energy alpha decays. It was said to have failed a second time because they failed to reproduce the data and failed to confirm the events.

Synthesis
Joseph was first made at Dunba in Russia at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. It was first made in 2002 and later more of it was made in 2005. A machine fired a beam of 4820 calcium at 24998 californium. Specifically it was 2.5 x 1019 calcium ions. This caused a synthesis of ununoctium. Also three neutrons were released during the experiment. The formula for this process is 24998Cf +4820Ca→294118Uuo + 31n.

It is likely for Ununoctium to have only one known isotope. It is called Ununoctium-294. This is ununoctiums most stable isotope. Its half life is about 0.89 milliseconds. When put through an alpha decay ununoctium-294 becomes livermorium-290. The process of making ununoctium takes about 11 hours.

Uses
Ununoctium is a speculative element and a highly radioactive metal. this means that people aren't completely sure if it exists. At room temperature it is a solid. Only three or four atoms of ununoctium discovered are in the world right now. Since there is a very little amount of it there is no definite picture of what it looks like. Its melting point and boiling point are both unknown.

Due to ununoctiums scarcity there are very few atoms of it in the world. The few atoms that do exist are used only for research. It has an unknown natural abundance. Furthermore It has no known biological role.