Synthetic Elements

Synthetic elements are unstable chemical elements and they are not naturally found on the Earth. These elements are made artificially in laboratory. All the synthetic elements are radioactive in nature. Radioactive elements are those elements which emit radiations and decay into another element, by the process of radioactivity. Synthetic elements get decayed into other elements within a short span of time, hence are unstable. Initially, they were produced to fill the empty gaps in the periodic table. Synthetic elements were later produced for research purposes.

There are 118 elements in the periodic table, out of which 92 are natural elements and remaining are synthetic elements. Technetium (atomic number 43) was the first synthetic element, that filled the mysterious gap between the elements, Molybdenum (atomic weight 42) and Ruthenium (atomic weight 44) in the periodic table. All the transuranium elements and Promethium (atomic number 61), Astatine (atomic number 85), Francium (atomic number 87) are remaining synthetic elements. Transuranium elements are those elements whose atomic number is greater than Uranium (atomic weight 92). The table given below gives the list of all the synthetic elements,

Name	Symbol	Atomic Number
Technetium	Tc	43
Promethium	Pm	61
Astatine	At	85
Francium	Fr	87
Neptunium	Np	93
Plutonium	Pu	94
Americium	Am	95
Curium	Cm	96
Berkelium	Bk	97
Californium	Cf	98
Einsteinium	Es	99
Fermium	Fm	100
Mendelevium	Md	101
Nobelium	No	102
Lawrencium	Lr	103
Rutherfordium	Rf	104
Dubnium	Db	105
Seaborgium	Sg	106
Bohrium	Bh	107
Hassium	Hs	108
Meitnerium	Mt	109
Darmstadtium	Ds	110
Roentgenium	Rg	111
Ununbium	Uut	113
Ununtrium	Uuq	114
Ununpentium	Uup	115
Ununhexium	Uuh	116
Ununoctium	Uuo	118

Production of Synthetic Elements

Synthetic elements are being discovered since 1937, Technetium being the first one. They are produced by the process of nuclear fusion. Nuclear reactors or particle accelerators are used to produce synthetic elements. In particle accelerators, two elements are made to collide with each other at high speed. A larger element is formed, as the nuclei of the two elements merge into each other. Neutrons, alpha particles, deuteron are called projectiles. When they are pelted on a heavy element, a new element is formed. Technetium was produced by bombarding deuteron on molybdenum. After the formation of technetium, it was known that uranium could be pelted by neutrons to form new elements. The first transuranium, neptunium was formed by this process. It took just 20 years for scientists to produce the elements from plutonium to lawrencium.

Naming of Synthetic Elements

IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), has named almost all the synthetic elements. They are named after either the place where they are discovered (americium, californium ) or any scientist (einsteinium, curium, mendelevium). For naming any element, its existence must be proved by its discoverer. Elements are given provisional names, until they are given official names. Synthetic elements from ununbium to ununoctium, are yet to get their official names and those are their provisional names. Curium is named after famous scientist Pierre Curie and his wife Marie Curie. Similarly, mendelevium is named after Dmitri Mendeleev, the scientist who framed the periodic table.

Use of Synthetic Elements

Very few synthetic elements have any useful characteristic, most of them are produced just to study their properties. Technetium, is used as nuclear medicine, wherein it plays important role in medical tests that use radioactive elements. It is also used as a catalyst in some chemical reactions. Plutonium is used as fuel in many nuclear reactors. The atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, in 1945, had plutonium. Americium is used in smoke detectors. There are very few applications of synthetic elements and they are generally used to produce new elements.

The discovery of synthetic elements is a turning point in the history of chemical elements. Dr. Glenn Seaborg and Dr. Edwin McMillan got Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery of transuranium elements.