Ununoctium
| Atomic Number: | 118 | Atomic Radius: | — |
| Atomic Symbol: | Uuo (temporary) | Melting Point: | — |
| Atomic Weight: | — | Boiling Point: | — |
| Electron Configuration: | — | Oxidation States: | — |
History
Ununoctium is officially unnamed and has the temporary symbol Uuo and atomic number 118. It was first reported by Russian scientists from Dubna (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) in 2002.
In 1999, the team at Lawrence Berkeley Labs published a paper in the journal Physical Review Papers proclaiming their discovery of element 118. The scientific community exploded, hoping that the decay time of 118 (eka-radon) would longer than that of 114. Element 116 was also synthesized during this reaction, which used cold fusion to fuse 108Pb and 86Kr atoms together.
However, this experiment was NOT been repeated successfully at other laboratories. Lawrence Berkeley Labs officially retracted their paper in 2001, saying that they had actually misinterpreted their data.