Ununseptium

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ununseptium

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Ununseptium?August 2015 by IUPAC and IUPAP
2. What is the atomic number?117
3. What is the element symbol (provisional)?Uus
4. How do scientists make ununseptium?Scientists make ununseptium by shooting calcium‑48 ions at a target of berkelium‑249 with powerful particle accelerators. When the atoms collide, they sometimes fuse together to form a new atom of ununseptium.
5. Why is ununseptium so short‑lived?Ununseptium atoms are unstable because they have so many protons and neutrons. The strong forces that hold the nucleus together are overwhelmed, so the atom breaks apart in less than a second.

Synthetic Element: An element that does not occur naturally and is created artificially in a laboratory.
Alpha Decay: A type of radioactive decay where an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle.
Half-life: The time it takes for half of a radioactive substance to decay.
Island of Stability: A theoretical region where superheavy atomic nuclei are predicted to have longer half-lives.