--- title: New Element Created. Now, What to Call It? description: It isn't carbon, it isn't nickel, it sure as heck ain't gold — it doesn't even have a formal name. But never mind that. The... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7218953/new-element-115-takes-a-seat-at-the-periodic-table/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-08-28T16:01:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T05:44:38.991Z article:section: Science og:title: New Element Created. Now, What to Call It? og:description: It isn't carbon, it isn't nickel, it sure as heck ain't gold — it doesn't even have a formal name. But never mind that. The... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7218953/new-element-115-takes-a-seat-at-the-periodic-table/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4e662e88ef01631/6998b5ad7323af62232baa1f/172763570-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4368 og:image:height: 2457 og:image:alt: 172763570 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Element Created. Now, What to Call It? twitter:description: It isn't carbon, it isn't nickel, it sure as heck ain't gold — it doesn't even have a formal name. But never mind that. The... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4e662e88ef01631/6998b5ad7323af62232baa1f/172763570-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # New Element 115 Takes a Seat at the Periodic Table > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc07780b-2dba-44be-9e7a-357747303dc5&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Aug 28, 2013 4:01 PM UTC  Zinc and Gallium Elements Zinc and Gallium Elements Getty Images—(c) David Freund by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Aug 28, 2013 4:01 PM UTC It isn’t carbon, it isn’t nickel, it sure as heck ain’t gold — it doesn’t even have a formal name. But never mind that. The newly created superheavy element, announced today in a paper published in the journal _Physical Review Letters_ and known so far simply as element 115 — for the number of protons in its nucleus — is a very real thing. So real that it’s been officially welcomed into the periodic table of elements, the atom’s equivalent of winning a seat on the [Supreme Court](http://topics.time.com/supreme-court/). Element 115, officially labeled ununpentium as dictated by international chemistry naming rules, is neither a natural nor practical thing. Unlike the first 92 elements on the table, it was created artificially, just as all of the others from 93 to 118 were. Like those other made-to-order elements too, this one was created in a particle accelerator, and no sooner had it flashed into existence than it flashed out — in less than a second. But that was more than enough time for physicists at Lund University in [Sweden](http://topics.time.com/sweden/) to detect the scattering of smaller particles it left behind. Reverse engineering that debris, they could confirm that the new element had indeed been present. The same kind of atomic forensics is behind nearly all of the great findings made possible by particle accelerators — including last year’s confirmation of the existence of the [Higgs Boson](http://topics.time.com/higgs-boson/). For this very tiny sample of the very heavy element, the Lund scientists fired atoms of calcium (with its proton count of 20) into atoms of americium (95 protons) and got element 115\. Even particle physics is sometimes as simple as basic addition. The new element is a lot heavier than iron (77) or even lead (82). The heaviest, naturally occurring element, holding the No. 92 spot, is uranium. Nobody pretends that the as-yet unnamed big boy will have much real-world use. As Dirk Rudolph, the physicist who led the work at Lund University, dryly told the _Telegraph_, “Given the production rate — let’s say, two atoms per day — practical implications are far-fetched.” But as with all pure physics, what’s practical to you and me is not necessarily what’s powerful and game changing to scientists, and in this case, element 115 can provide a lot of insight into how elements are created in nature and how the universe itself came into being. It may also help scientists creater even heavier — but far stabler — elements down the line, ones that really could have everyday applications. And about that name? The Swedish research team was not the first to create element 115\. As long ago as 2004, a team of American and Russian scientists led by S.N. Dmitriev at Russia’s Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions produced the same atom. New elements aren’t considered confirmed, however, until the work can be repeated, which is why it took the latest announcement to earn the new element its formal seat at the periodic table. But the original discoverer still reserves the right to pick the name. For now, it’s stuck with its clunky ununpentium moniker, the two _un_’s coming from the Latin _unum_, for the number one, and the _pent_ coming from the Greek word for five. That name had already been in pop-cultural use as a mysterious element in both the _Tomb Raider_ and _Call of Duty_ video games. But most folks are betting that Dmitriev — who, after all, hails from the land of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Dostoyevsky — will come up with something a little more lyrical. _An earlier version of this story included a typographical error. In the first paragraph,_ periodic table _appeared as_ period table_. The term was typed correctly elsewhere in the story._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7218953/new-element-115-takes-a-seat-at-the-periodic-table/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7218953/new-element-115-takes-a-seat-at-the-periodic-table/"},"headline":"New Element 115 Takes a Seat at the Periodic Table","datePublished":"2013-08-28T16:01:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T05:44:38.991Z","description":"It isn't carbon, it isn't nickel, it sure as heck ain't gold — it doesn't even have a formal name. But never mind that. 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