Moscovium

[[File:Electron shell 115 Moscovium.svg|thumb|right|165px|Electron shell diagram for Moscovium]]
{{Chemistry}}
'''Moscovium''', element 115,<ref group=note>The atomic number is the number of protons in the element's nucleus. The larger the number (after a certain point), the more likely it is that [[radioactivity|you wouldn't want to hold a sample with bare hands]].</ref> (historic names: '''ununpentium''', equivalent in fiction: {{wpl|X-COM|Elerium-115}}) is a heavy radioactive element that doesn't exist in nature, although several isotopes of it have been artificially synthesized with over 100 [[atoms]] produced or suspected to have been produced since around 2003.  In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. On 28 November 2016, it was officially named, based after Moscow, [[Russia]], due to the collaborative efforts from Russian and American scientists and the historical significance of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.<ref>[https://iupac.org/iupac-announces-the-names-of-the-elements-113-115-117-and-118/ IUPAC Announces the Names of the Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118], IUPAC website, 30 November 2016</ref>

==Properties==
Because moscovium is a very heavy and unstable element, it's very unlikely to ever exist in sufficient quantities and with sufficient stability to participate in [[chemistry|chemical]] reactions. However, it's possible to predict its properties based on the other trends shown in the periodic table. It is part of Group 15 of the periodic table, primarily known for containing nitrogen and phosphorus. However, it's most likely to have properties resembling bismuth, as they have similar electron structure. Also [[relativity|relativistic]] effects alter the relative energies of electrons in very heavy elements. Hence, while nitrogen, phosphorus and arsenic exhibit a range of oxidation states up to V (5 lost electrons), it's likely that moscovium will only go up to oxidation state III. While oxidation state I is rare in the elements between nitrogen and bismuth, moscovium is predicted to have a relatively stable I oxidation state. Upon ionization to this +1 charge, the radius of moscovium would be expected to shrink around five times more than with the analogous ionization of bismuth and it is expected to have properties closer to thallium(I) than the known but rare bismuth(I).<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225672062_Superheavy_elements_a_prediction_of_their_chemical_and_physical_properties Superheavy elements a prediction of their chemical and physical properties]</ref>

== List of isotopes ==
The synthesized isotopes undergo {{wpl|alpha decay}} into the corresponding {{wpl|isotopes of nihonium||,}} with half-lives increasing as neutron numbers increase.
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:center" |Mc 
Moscovium 
![https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_number Z]
![https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_number N] 
!Isotopic mass 
(u)
!Half-life
!Decay
mode
!Daughter
isotope
!Spin and
parity
|-
| <sup>287</sup>Mc
| style="text-align:right" | 115
| style="text-align:right" | 172
| 287.19070(52)#
| 37(+44−13)&nbsp;ms
| α
| <sup>283</sup>Nh
|
|-
| <sup>288</sup>Mc
| style="text-align:right" | 115
| style="text-align:right" | 173
| 288.19274(62)#
| 164(+30−21)&nbsp;ms
| α
| <sup>284</sup>Nh
|
|-
| <sup>289</sup>Mc<ref group=note>Not directly synthesized, created as {{wpl|decay product}} of <sup>293</sup>Ts</ref>
| style="text-align:right" | 115
| style="text-align:right" | 174
| 289.19363(89)#
| 330(+120-80)&nbsp;ms
| α
| <sup>285</sup>Nh
|
|-
| <sup>290</sup>Mc<ref group=note>Not directly synthesized, created as decay product of <sup>294</sup>Ts</ref>
| style="text-align:right" | 115
| style="text-align:right" | 175
| 290.19598(73)#
| 650(+490-200)&nbsp;ms
| α
| <sup>286</sup>Nh
|
|-
| <sup>291</sup>Mc<ref group=note>Not directly synthesized, created as decay product of <sup>295</sup>Ts</ref>
| style="text-align:right" | 115
| style="text-align:right" | 176
| 291.19438(88)#
| 1 min#
| α
| <sup>287</sup>Nh
| -->
|-
| 
| style="text-align:right" | 
| style="text-align:right" |  
| 
| 
| 
| 
|
|- style="background-color:gold" |
|  <sup>299</sup>Mc<ref group=note>Claimed to be a stable isotope by ufologists</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 115
| style="text-align:right;" | 184
| ≈299
| claimed stable by ufologists
| 
| 
| 

|}
<references group="n"/>

==In ufology==
{{main|Ufology}}
All of this would excite only [[physics]] and [[chemistry]] geeks if not for [[Bob Lazar]] (1959- ), who introduced it to [[ufology|UFO lore]] jumping from there to the {{wpl|X-COM}} [[video game]] franchise. According to him, [[UFO]] engines use element 115 to generate [[anti-gravity machine|anti-gravity]]. Bob claims that the copper-orange colored fuel pellet aliens use is about the size of a fifty-cent piece, and weighs about 223 grams.<ref>[http://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/Government_Scientist.htm#Copper-Orange%20Fuel%20Pellet GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST GOES PUBLIC], ''Gravity Warp Drive''</ref> Various UFO nuts and [[cranks| wannabe scientists]] have taken the idea and run with it, claiming that magic numbers of neutrons and protons and their configuration provide stability. There is hypothesizing that there should be a stable isotope of element 115, isotope 299. This isotope would contain the magic number of 184 neutrons.<ref>
[http://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/Element_115.htm Gravity Warp Drive].
</ref>
This would provide an interesting way of verifying the UFO stories told by Lazar. Should the right isotope of element 115 be synthesized and shown to be stable and capable of powering anti-gravity engines, Lazar's claim would have some serious support. Obviously, given that Lazar runs a website dealing in chemicals and sales of elements, he was smart enough to pick a number higher than any element discovered at the height of his fame in order to hide it from any scrutiny; no use saying [[carbon]] or phosphorus has magical powers, as we have more than enough of that to test it.

Lazar's claims state that bismuth has "unusual gravitational properties" (this is flatly false, though it may be a misinterpretation of the [[relativity|relativistic effects]] that control the chemical properties of heavier elements) and known chemical and nuclear characteristics of Element 115 are expected to be similar. Not that this matters, as the longest reported half-life of Moscovium isotope 290 is 650(+490-200) ms. This also let to some [[cranks|wannabe scientists]] to patent a Bismuth variation of the claimed Element 115 powered [[Science woo|anti-gravity]] engine.<ref>
[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&s1=3626605.PN. US3626605 Method and apparatus for generating a secondary gravitational force field ].
</ref> The claims further state that the element was pressed into discs, then stacked and fused into a cylinder, then milled down to form a cone, and finally sliced to form the key piece of anti-gravity fuel. Again, this is physically impossible given that the element doesn't exist in nature and has been confirmed to be as highly unstable as all the other artificially-generated elements in that region of the periodic table. A few proponents of the claim still rave that there may be a magic "island of stability" (a particular combination of protons and neutrons) that would render this element stable,{{efn|Though "stable" may very well be relative to its neighbors in the periodic table, and such elements may just be less radioactive than other superheavy elements, perhaps lasting only as long as a day.<ref>[https://www.sciencenews.org/article/physics-periodic-table-future-superheavy-elements Extreme elements push the boundaries of the periodic table: For superheavy atoms, chemistry gets weird] by Emily Conover (6:00am, February 27, 2019) ''Science News''.</ref>}} but no signs of such a region of the periodic table have emerged. Some of the elements heavier than uranium possess relatively stable isotopes (on the order of thousands of years) but by the time you get to 100, fermium, even the most stable isotopes last on the order of days and it only goes rapidly down from there. Still, the island of stability is a theoretical entity that is good, real physics — but even this wouldn't help the claims made about element 115, as expected half-lives in this island are on the order of minutes and seconds, which is indeed ''relatively'' stable in a region of the periodic table where the atoms last for milliseconds or less. Although for element 115 the half-lives are rising with rising neutron numbers. The current synthesized isotopes are a few neutrons short of the claimed magic 184 neutrons isotope ufologists claim is stable. 

If one could synthesise the claimed stable element 115 isotope 299 with the magic number of 184 neutrons, this would prove Bob Lazar's claims more conclusively. This would shut down any critique of it to have an incredibly short half-life and radioactive unstability (which is pretty much conclusive right now), it would show that powering ''any'' device through the use of this element would be impossible, and certainly the 500 pounds that he claimed the US government had in their possession would also be an ''impossible'' claim. Literally. As that would consist of around 4.72 × 10<sup>23</sup> atoms, and with only about 100 atoms ever made from all the collision experiments made on this subject since 2003, this would take some time for the government to procure — many times the age of the [[Universe]], or so.

==External links==
*{{see-wp|Moscovium}}
*{{see-wp|Isotopes of moscovium}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Elements]]
[[Category:Ufology]]

Categories: Elements, Ufology