Unbiunium

Unbiunium (pronounced /ˌʌnbiˈjuːniəm/) is the temporary name of an undiscovered chemical element in the periodic table that has the temporary symbol Ubu and has the atomic number 121.

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Unbiunium is the first element whose ground state electron configuration contains an electron in a g subshell, making it the first element in the g-block. Other elements have access to their g subshells, though not in their ground states.

History

The name unbiunium is used as a placeholder, as in scientific articles about the search for element 121. Transuranic elements (those beyond uranium) are, except for microscopic quantities and except for plutonium, always artificially produced, and usually end up being named for a scientist or the location of a laboratory that does work in atomic physics (see systematic element name for more information).

See also