Japan became the first Asian country to discover a chemical element. The name comes from 'Nihon' (日本) — the Japanese word for Japan. The RIKEN team needed 9 years and over 550 trillion particle collisions to produce just 3 atoms of nihonium. It was a true triumph of perseverance. In theory, nihonium is a post-transition metal related to thallium. But its real properties remain a mystery.
Nihonium was created at the RIKEN institute under Kosuke Morita's leadership. The team spent 9 years and performed billions of zinc-bismuth nuclear collisions before capturing three atoms of element 113. It was like searching for a single grain of sand in the desert.
The discovery became a point of national pride for Japan. For the first time, an Asian country earned the right to name a chemical element. The name 'nihonium' comes from 'Nihon,' the Japanese word for Japan.
Nihonium is extremely radioactive and exists only seconds. It's synthesized a few atoms at a time. It poses no practical threat.
Nihonium is the first element discovered in Asia. It became a source of national pride for Japan. The postal service even issued a commemorative stamp.
550 trillion particle collisions over 9 years — and only 3 atoms produced. The odds of success for each collision: less than one in a hundred trillion.
The most stable isotope Nh-286 lives about 10 seconds. For superheavy elements, that's not bad — some neighbors exist only milliseconds.
The RIKEN team worked from 2003 to 2012 — 9 years of continuous attempts. During that time, the accelerator fired 1.35×10¹⁷ zinc ions. Only three collisions produced a nihonium atom.
Nihonium is the first element discovered in Asia. Before this, all new elements were discovered in Europe, the US, or Russia. Japan joined the elite 'club' of element-discovering nations.
| Isotope | Mass (u) | Abundance | Half-life | Decay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
284Nh☢ | 284.178730 | synthetic | 0.48 seconds | α |
286Nh☢ | 286.182210 | synthetic | 9.5 seconds | α |
Linear accelerator bombardment of bismuth