unbiquadium

Also known as Ubq, element 124

Unbiquadium, also known as element 124 or eka-uranium, is a hypothetical chemical element; it has placeholder symbol Ubq and atomic number 124. Unbiquadium and Ubq are the temporary IUPAC name and symbol, respectively, until the element is discovered, confirmed, and a permanent name is decided upon. In the periodic table, unbiquadium is expected to be a g-block superactinide and the sixth element in the 8th period. Unbiquadium has attracted attention, as it may lie within the island of stability, leading to longer half-lives, especially for 308Ubq which is predicted to have a magic number of n

~16 min read

Encyclopedic overview

12 sections

Contents

Introduction
History
Synthesis attempts
Possible natural occurrence
Naming
Prospects for future synthesis
Predicted properties
Nuclear stability and isotopes
Chemical
Notes
References
Bibliography

Despite several searches, unbiquadium has not been synthesized, nor have any naturally occurring isotopes been found to exist. It is believed that the synthesis of unbiquadium will be far more challenging than that of lighter undiscovered elements, and nuclear instability may pose further difficulties in identifying unbiquadium, unless the island of stability has a stronger stabilizing effect than predicted in this region.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “unbiquadium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.