New+element

= The Periodic Table Gets a New Addition = Just found, scientists are ready to add a new element to the Periodic Table. The new element is named for the time being (or numbered more meaningfully) 112—probably due to its new number in the table.

German scientist Sigurd Hofmann led the research team to discover the element, starting way back in 1976. The element is said to be 'super-heavy', because that is the label given to all elements with larger atomic numbers, and it is 277 times heavier than the element hydrogen.

When creating element 112, Hofmann fused two zinc atoms together using an accelerator-- which is practically what the element is made up of-- creating a new nuclei. Apparently the element's nuclei is very unstable and large meaning that it can only last for a few fractions of a second before it actually breaks up and decays.

Well now everyone will have to buy new textbooks and re-make tables to be able to include this new element into the periodic table and into our lives!

By Shivani Pandya and Caitrin Burke 8DE