Ununoctium

Ununoctium is the temporary systematic IUPAC name for the element with atomic number 118. As of now, it is the last element on the periodic table, though further discoveries may extend it. This superheavy element is extremely radioactive and has not been produced in macroscopic quantities. It was first synthesized in 2002 by a joint team of Russian and American scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. The synthesis involved bombarding a target of Californium-249 with ions of Calcium-48. Only a few atoms of ununoctium have ever been created, and their isotopes have very short half-lives, decaying within milliseconds. Due to its extreme instability and the minuscule quantities produced, its chemical properties are largely theoretical and extrapolated from periodic trends. It is predicted to be a noble gas, belonging to Group 18 of the periodic table, below Oganesson (element 118), which has now been officially named. However, due to relativistic effects, its chemical behavior might deviate from lighter noble gases. The element has no known uses and is purely of scientific interest for understanding nuclear physics and the limits of atomic existence. Its temporary name, ununoctium, is derived from the Latin words for one, one, and eight, reflecting its atomic number.