Names proposed for new elements

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LIVERMORE, Calif., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- An international panel has proposed names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table.

The proposed names are Flerovium for element 114 and Livermorium for element 116, a release from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported Thursday.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially accepted elements 114 and 116 as the heaviest elements more than 10 years after scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna near Moscow and Lawrence Livermore chemists discovered them.

Flerovium, with atomic symbol Fl, was chosen to honor Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, where superheavy elements, including element 114, were synthesized.

The lab was named for Georgiy N. Flerov (1913-1990), a renowned physicist who discovered the spontaneous fission of uranium.

Livermorium, with atomic symbol Lv, was chosen to honor Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the city of Livermore, Calif.

Researchers from the laboratory, along with scientists at the Flerov Laboratory, participated in the work carried out in Dubna on the synthesis of superheavy elements, including element 116.

The proposed names were submitted to the IUPAC in late October and will not be official until about five months from now when a public comment period is over.