Nihonium

1 · Identity

Symbol, number

Nh, 113

Oxidation states in water

none listed (book entry)

Note

Identity from the book entry; nothing measured in water.

Sources

Identity

Name and symbol

Nihonium, Nh

Atomic number

113 protons

Position

group 13 · period 7 · p-block · unknown, probably transition metal

CAS number

54084-70-7

Atomic structure

Atomic mass

286 u

Electron configuration

1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s² 3d¹⁰ 4p⁶ 5s² 4d¹⁰ 5p⁶ 6s² 4f¹⁴ 5d¹⁰ 6p⁶ 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p¹
[Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7s² 7p¹(predicted)

Electrons per shell

2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 3

Valence electrons

3 outer shell

Physical properties

State at room temperature

Expected to be a Solid

Melting point

700 K (426.85 °C)

Boiling point

1,430 K (1,156.85 °C)

Density

not in sources

Appearance

not in sources

Thermal conductivity

not in sources

Electrical resistivity

not in sources

Electrical conductivity

not in sources

Crystal structure

hexagonal close-packed

Molar heat capacity

not in sources

Chemical properties

Oxidation states

not in sources

Electronegativity

not in sources

Ionisation energy

not in sources

Electron affinity

not in sources

Atomic radius

not in sources

Ionic radius

not in sources

Reactivity

A group 13 transactinide studied only by adsorption of single atoms: early JINR runs (2010 to 2017) found it unexpectedly retained on PTFE, and a 2024 GSI experiment measured its adsorption on silica, less reactive than thallium but more than copernicium and flerovium, owing to relativistic stabilization of the 7p1/2 shell.

with water

Not known; no experiment has been reported.

with oxygen, air

Not known; no experiment has been reported.

with acids

Not known; no experiment has been reported.

with halogens

Not known; no experiment has been reported.

Typical compounds

not in sources

Occurrence, production and use

Crustal abundance

Not Applicable

Oceanic abundance

Not Applicable

Occurrence and sources

• synthetic only zinc ions on a bismuth target at RIKEN; also reached via decay of moscovium made from americium-243 and calcium-48

Extraction, production

not in sources

Uses

Since only a few atoms of nihonium have ever been produced, it currently has no uses outside of basic scientific research.

Safety, toxicity

not in sources

Discovery and name

Discovered by

Riken (Japan, first undisputed claim 2004)JINR (Russia) and Livermore (US, first announcement 2003)

Discovered

2004

First isolated

not in sources

Named by

not in sources

Origin of the name

After Japan (Nihon in Japanese)

Nihonium does not occur naturally in the Earth’s crust. The name nihonium and the symbol Nh are the accepted ones for element 113. Nihon is one of the two ways to say “Japan” in Japanese and means “the land of the Rising Sun.” It is the first element to have been discovered in an Asian country [665], [666], [667].

The synthesis of nihonium was first announced in 2004. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were able to produce two super-heavy elements by bombarding a rotating 243Am disc with an ion beam of 48Ca in a U-400 cyclotron. During the reaction, isotopes of moscovium, previously known as ununpentium, were synthesized and decayed in a tenth of a second to nihonium, which then decayed to roentgenium. Because the atoms of moscovium only existed for a tenth of a second, radiochemical proof was needed to support its syntheses. A Swiss scientist at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) performed the radiochemical experiment by analyzing a copper plate that had been placed behind the 243Am disc in the cyclotron. This copper plate collected all moscovium atoms that were synthesized and was processed through liquid chromatography techniques that yielded five times more moscovium atoms than produced by fusion alone. The direct synthesis of nihonium was announced later that year by a team of Japanese scientists from the Cyclotron Center of the RIKEN Research Institute. These scientists bombarded atoms of 209Bi with a beam of 70Zn in a RIKEN heavy-ion linear accelerator (RILAC), shown in Fig. IUPAC.113.1, and gas-filled recoil ion separator (GARIS), shown in Fig. IUPAC.113.2. Nihonium has no known isotopic applications aside from scientific research.