Ununoctium is the temporary IUPAC name for the transactinide element
having the atomic number 118. On the periodic table of the elements, it
is a p-block element and the last one of the 7th period. Ununoctium is
currently the only synthetic member of group 18. It has the highest
atomic number and highest atomic mass of all discovered elements. The
radioactive ununoctium atom is very unstable, and since 2002, only
three atoms (possibly four) of the isotope <sup>294</sup>Uuo have been
detected. While this allowed for very little experimental
characterization of its properties and possible compounds, theoretical
calculations have allowed for many predictions, including some very
unexpected ones. For example, although ununoctium is a member of group
18, it is probably not a noble gas like all the other group 18
elements. It was formerly thought to be a gas but is now predicted to
be a solid under normal conditions.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ununoctium>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1831:
Ioannis Kapodistrias , the Greek head of state, was assassinated in
Nafplion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Kapodistrias>
1845:
Anglican priest John Henry Newman was formally received into the
Catholic Church.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Newman>
1919:
In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series, 5
games to 3, over the Chicago White Sox, whose players were later found
to have lost intentionally.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal>
1942:
World War II: American forces defeated the Japanese at the Third Battle
of the Matanikau in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, avenging the Japanese
victory at the Second Battle of the Matanikau a couple of weeks
earlier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_along_the_Matanikau>
1963:
A landslide displaced large amounts of water from the Vajont Dam in
northern Italy, causing waves and floods that quickly swept away
several villages and killed almost 2,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam>
2006:
North Korea conducted a nuclear test, reportedly near Kilchu, with an
explosive force of less than one kiloton, that was unanimously
condemned and denounced by many counties and the United Nations
Security Council.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_nuclear_test>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
beget (v):
1. To cause; to produce.
2. To procreate or to father; to get with child
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beget>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Builders and warriors, strengthen the steps.
Reader, if you have not grasped — read again,
after a while.
The
predestined is not accidental,
The leaves fall in their time.
And winter is but the harbinger of
spring.
All is revealed; all is attainable.
--Nicholas Roerich
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerich>
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