What was the last element discovered? What are its characteristics?
In February of 2004, two new elements were fleetingly created in a Russian lab. Each has many more protons and neutrons in their nuclei than any naturally occurring elements found on Earth. The nuclei of the two new elements are crammed with 113 and 115 protons and reported in a paper in Physical Review C. The heaviest natural element, uranium, contains 92 protons, while the heaviest synthetic element officially confirmed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is Darmstadtium, with 110 protons. Claims for elements with 111, 112, 114 and 116 protons are also being investigated. The new elements were created at a particle accelerator in Dubna, Russia, by a team of researchers from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, US. Other laboratories will have to vet the findings before the elements can be officially added to the periodic table. Until then, they will go by names indicating their atomic numb
