Nihonium is element number 113, with the symbol Nh. It was made by the Morita group at RIKEN, and its name was decided in 2016. It is the first element name from Japan, and the first from Asia.
Atomic number 113(278)
NhNihoniumニホニウム (nihoniumu)
Symbol
Nh
Atomic weight
(278)
Place in the table
Period 7 · Group 13
The number in parentheses is not an atomic weight. It is the mass number of one radioactive isotope of the element.
Atomic weight from the Chemical Society of Japan, “Table of Standard Atomic Weights with Four Significant Figures (2026)”.
From the first atom to an official name
The RIKEN team began trying to make a new element in September 2003. In July 2004 they succeeded in making element 113 for the first time, and they succeeded again in April 2005 and August 2012.
On 31 December 2015, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) recognized the discovery. On 30 November 2016, the name “nihonium” and the symbol “Nh” became official.
Firing zinc at bismuth
The team sped up zinc (atomic number 30) to one-tenth of the speed of light and fired it at bismuth (atomic number 83). 30 + 83 = 113: when the two nuclei fuse, they make element 113.
Think about it
Q1Why do you think it took years to make a new element?
Q2If you could name a new element, what would you name it after?
Q3Do you think an element after number 118 will be found?
There is no single right answer. Talking it over with someone at home is a good way to learn.
Did you know? — In 1906, the chemist Ogawa Masataka announced that he had found a new element number 43 and called it “nipponium.” Today element 43 is named technetium. A little over a hundred years later, nihonium became the first element with a name from Japan.