Copernicium


 * **Name:** Copernicium
 * **Symbol:** Cp
 * **Atomic number:** 112
 * **Atomic Weight:** 285
 * **Standard State:** presumably a liquid at 298 K
 * **Group:** 12
 * **Group name**: (none)
 * **Period:** 7
 * **Color:** unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance
 * **Classification:** Metallic

Element 112 was discovered on February 9th, 1996 at 22:37 at the GSI in Darmstadt, Germany.

In honor of scientist and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the discovering team around Professor Sigurd Hofmann suggested the name copernicium with the element symbol Cn (the original proposal was Cp) for the new element 112, discovered at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Center for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt. It was Copernicus who discovered that the Earth orbits the Sun, thus paving the way for our modern view of the world. Thirteen years ago, element 112 was discovered by an international team of scientists at the GSI accelerator facility. A few weeks ago, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC, officially confirmed their discovery. In around six months, IUPAC will officially endorse the new element's name. This period is set to allow the scientific community to discuss the suggested name copernicium before the IUPAC naming. Copernicium has no stable or naturally-occurring isotopes.

Sigurd Hofmann

Discovery of Copernicium
Copernicium was first made by research scientists led by Sigurd Hofmann at the Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany in 1996. Scientists bombarded lead-208 nuclei with zinc-70 nuclei in a heavy ion accelerator. A single atom of copernicium-277 resulted from the bombardment. Atoms of copernicium-281, copernicium-281 and copernicium-284 have been recorded more recently as decay products of flerovium. The element is named after astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus.


 * Harmful effects: ** Copernicium is harmful due to its radioactivity.


 * Characteristics: ** Copernicium is a synthetic radioactive metal and has only been produced in minute amounts.


 * Uses of Copernicium:** Copernicium is of research interest only.

First experiments on the synthesis of 283Cn produced a SF activity with half-life ~5 min.[33home] This activity was also observed from the alpha decay of ununquadium-287. The decay mode and half-life were also confirmed in a repetition of the first experiment. Later, copernicium-283 was observed to undergo 9.52 MeV alpha decay and SF with a half-life of 3.9 s. It has also been found that alpha decay of copernicium-283 leads to different excited states of darmstadtium-279.[25home] These results suggest the assignment of the two activities to two different isomeric levels in copernicium-283, creating copernicium-283a and copernicium-283b. Copernicium-285 has only been observed as a decay product of ununquadium-289 and ununhexium-293; during the first recorded synthesis of ununquadium, one ununquadium-289 was created, which alpha decayed to copernicium-285, which itself emitted an alpha particle in 29 seconds, releasing 9.15 or 9.03 MeV.[25home] However, in the first experiment to successfully synthesize ununhexium, when ununhexium-293 was created, it was shown that the created nuclide alpha decayed to ununquadium-289, decay data for which differed from the known values significantly. Although unconfirmed, it is highly possible that this is associated with an isomer. The resulting nuclide decayed to copernicium-285, which emitted an alpha article with a half-life of around 10 minutes, releasing 8.586 MeV. Similar to its parent, it is believed to be a nuclear isomer, copernicium-285b.[38home]