The things one doesn't notice

[kerravonsen]

Right there on the periodic table, in between Uranium and Plutonium is Neptunium. I'd never noticed that before, even though I have a periodic table stuck to my wardrobe. I think I was distracted by the much more entertaining Berkelium and Californium just a few slots further on -- not to mention the Einsteinium, Mendelevium, Nobelium and Lawrencium at the end...

Comments

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

Uranium was named shortly after its discovery in 1789 after the then newly-discovered planet. When the first of the new elements was created in 1940, they named it after the next planet, Neptune. Unfortunately, at Plutonium the chemists and physicists caught up with the astronomers. Neptunium was once thought to be an artificial element but, like Plutonium, has since been found in nature.

Despite evidence of relatively stable heavy elements in the 114-116 range, interest in creating new elements seems to have completely died out.