MORE than a decade since it was first spotted, element 112, the newest element in the periodic table, has arrived at the finish line, winning its chemical symbol at last.
The name 鈥渃opernicium鈥� was suggested last year by the element鈥檚 discoverers, led by Sigurd Hofmann at the Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany. Now the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry has given its 鈥� and announced that its symbol will be Cn. 鈥淚t is good to have a final decision on it,鈥� says John Corish of IUPAC.
鈥淚UPAC has given copernicium its official approval and announced that its symbol will be Cn鈥�
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IUPAC rejected the initial suggestion of the symbol Cp, mainly to avoid confusion. Prior to 1949, Cp referred to cassiopeium, an element with the atomic number 71 that is now known as lutetium. Corish adds that Cp is also used to refer to the organic compound cyclopentadienyl, and as an abbreviation for 鈥渟pecific heat capacity at constant pressure鈥�.
Hofmann鈥檚 team discovered element 112 in 1996, after fusing atoms of zinc and lead. But it wasn鈥檛 until 2009 that IUPAC finally confirmed the element had been made 鈥� and that Hoffman鈥檚 team deserved the credit. 鈥淵ou have to be very careful,鈥� says Corish. 鈥淧eople say you are slow, but it鈥檚 very difficult science, so it has to be done extremely carefully.鈥�
