Copernicium

Copernicium (formerly Ununbium) is a chemical element in the Periodic Table. It is also named eka-mercury. It has the symbol Cn. It has the atomic number 112. It is a transuranium element.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Copernicium, ₀₀Cn

Copernicium
Pronunciation	/ˌkoʊpərˈnɪsiəm/ ​(KOH-pər-NISS-ee-əm)
Mass number	[285]
Copernicium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson Hg ↑ Cn ↓ (Uhh) roentgenium ← copernicium → nihonium
Group	group 12
Period	period 7
Block	d-block
Electron configuration	[Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 (predicted)[1] (predicted)
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 2 (predicted)
Physical properties
Phase at STP	gas (predicted)
Boiling point	357+112 −108 K ​(84+112 −108 °C, ​183+202 −194 °F)[2]
Density when liquid (at m.p.)	23.7 g/cm3 (predicted)[1]
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	0, (+1), +2, (+4), (+6) (parenthesized: prediction)[1][3][4][5]
Ionization energies	1st: 1155 kJ/mol 2nd: 2170 kJ/mol 3rd: 3160 kJ/mol (more) (all estimated)[1]
Atomic radius	calculated: 147 pm[1][6] (predicted)
Covalent radius	122 pm (predicted)[7]
Other properties
Natural occurrence	synthetic
Crystal structure	​body-centered cubic (bcc) (predicted)[8]
CAS Number	54084-26-3
History
Naming	after Nicolaus Copernicus
Discovery	Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (1996)
Isotopes of copernicium v e
Main isotopes[9] Decay abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct 283Cn synth 3.81 s[10] α96% 279Ds SF4% – ε? 283Rg 285Cn synth 30 s α 281Ds 286Cn synth 8.4 s? SF –
Category: Copernicium view talk edit | references

The element is named in honor of Nicolaus Copernicus.

Using periodic trends, people think that it will be a liquid metal like mercury. It is likely to be more volatile than mercury however.

History

Copernicium was first made on February 9, 1996 at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. Copernicium was made by nuclear fusion of a zinc atom with a lead atom. The zinc nuclei was bombarded on to a lead target in a machine named a heavy ion accelerator.

The element was made in 2000 and 2004 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia.

In May 2006 in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research checked that it had been made using a different method. They identified the last atoms that were made from radioactive decay of copernicium.

In February 2010 IUPAC officially approved the name copernicium and symbol Cn.^[11]

Due to its short half-life it has no use but is being studied