Seaborgium Atomic number 106 Unnilhexium Commentary

Berkeley—Albert Ghiorso, Joachim Michael Nitschke, José R. Alonso, Carol T. Alonso, Matti Nurmia, Glenn T. Seaborg, E. Kenneth Hulet, Ronald W. Lougheed elements

Seaborgium

• The Soviets synthesized element 106,
• by bombarding lead with chromium ions.
• The Americans synthesized it
• by bombarding californium with oxygen ions.
• Nobody synthesized more than a few atoms
• that lasted more than a second.
• But the Americans had better data and analyses,
• so they got to name it after Glenn T. Seaborg.

Atomic number 106

• Attempting to gather enough Seaborgium
• to measure its density
• would be impractical.
• Attempting to test its oxydation states,
• when producing one quickly-decaying atom at a time,
• would be difficult.
• Ionization energies, reduction potentials,
• atomic radius, covalent radius, and crystal structure
• are only predicted or estimated.

Unnilhexium

• We had a name for it before we saw its face.
• Not Baby number 106. Its mother was not present at the birth.
• Not John Doe 106. No need to protect its identity.
• It took twenty years for the official committee
• to let it be named after a person who was still living.
• Whatchamacallit? Element 106. Hey you!