The periodic table welcomes its new member: Copernicium
Copernicium is now officialy the newest and heaviest element in the periodic table, with an atomic number of 112 (which means that it has 112 protons in its nucleus); it’s also 277 times heavier than hydrogen.
Named after astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, it follows a long tradition of naming elements after famous scientists; some of the latest in this line include Einsteinium (for Albert Einstein), Fermium (for nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi), and Curium (after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre).
NOTE: Today we implement what we’ve called ‘shorties’ – just short news, without going into any details, but definitely interesting and worth noting. Any feedback is well appreciated
Andrei is no scientist, but from an early age, he has been fascinated by science; that's why he went to college, and signed up for Geophysics. Feeling that there's a huge gap between science and average people, he rallied TP, started ZME Science, and gave it a green twist too. 
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February 25th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
How is it that this new substance is 277 times heavier than Hydrogen if there are only 111 more protons in the nucleus? Is the effect of gravity exponential as the mass goes up?
February 26th, 2010 at 3:31 am
No; basically, when calculating atomic mass, unless you need something extremely precise, you neglect electrons (really small mass), and consider protons and neutrons to be the same mass. The difference from 112 protons to 277 times heavier comes from the difference of neutrons, of which Hydrogen has 0.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Ahhh…I neglected the neutrons. For some reason I didn’t think they had any mass…Confused that with electrons. Thanks!!
February 28th, 2010 at 12:35 am
At last Nicolaus Copernicus honored, who will be the next in the periodic table?….
April 29th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Really like your comment about furniture.