September 2003 - Nr. 9
New element
named for German city
TWIG - The German city of Darmstadt expressed its delight after learning that the 110th element of the periodic table has been named "Darmstadtium."
Discovered by the Darmstadt Society for Heavy Ion Research in 1994, the element, to be known by the chemical symbol "Ds," existed for several seconds before decaying. Darmstadtium has no known practical uses and cannot be found in nature.
The announcement was made Monday (August 18) at the annual meeting of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in Ottawa, Canada.
The Darmstadt Society for Heavy Ion Research also discovered elements 107 (Bohrium), 108 (Hassium), and 109 (Meitnerium). Plans for an "appropriate celebration" are in the works but a final announcement has yet to be made
Links:
Darmstadt Society for Heavy Ion
Research
(http://www.gsi.de)
International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry
(http://www.iupac.org)
