Moscovium (Mc), artificially produced transuranium element of atomic number 115. In 2010 scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, U.S., announced the production of four atoms of moscovium when calcium-48 was fused with americium-243. Two isotopes of moscovium were produced with atomic weights of 287 and 288; these isotopes decayed in 46.6 and 19–280 milliseconds, respectively. Its chemical properties may be similar to those of bismuth. Continue reading from Encyclopedia Britannica
Element 115 was discovered in 2003 in Dubna, Russia at the Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions by a group of scientists led by nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian. The element was eventually named moscovium because Dubna is in Moscow. To make this element, the scientists accelerated ions of calcium-48 (48Ca) to around 10 percent of the speed of light and then bombarded americium-243 (243Am) with them. Through this bombardment, they were able to successfully fuse the nuclei of 243Am and 48Ca atoms, says Gates. "To create a super-heavy element, you need the complete fusion of two lighter elements," she notes. This process produced four atoms of moscovium. Continue reading from How Stuff Works
Moscovium is a radioactive, synthetic element about which little is known. It is classified as a metal and is expected to be solid at room temperature. It decays quickly into other elements, including nihonium. The element had previously been designated ununpentium, a placeholder name that means one-one-five in Latin. In November 2016, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) approved the name moscovium for element 115. Moscovium has four isotopes with known half-lives, the most stable of which is Mc, with a half-live of about 220 milliseconds. Continue reading from LiveScience
