Average mass of an atom in unified atomic mass units (1 u is 1/12 of the mass of a carbon-12 atom). Accounts for the natural mix of the element’s isotopes.
Number of the vertical column, 1 to 18 in IUPAC numbering. Elements in a group share the same outer-shell layout, so their properties are alike.
Number of the horizontal row. Usually equal to the number of electron shells in the atom; palladium is the exception, with four shells in period 5.
The subshell (s, p, d or f) that receives the last electrons in the usual filling order; it divides the table into four blocks. Real atoms sometimes differ: lanthanum starts the f-block but has no f electrons.
[Rn] 7s² 7p⁶ 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ predicted
How electrons are arranged in subshells. The bracket stands for the previous noble gas; the superscript is the number of electrons in a subshell.
2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 8
Number of electrons in each shell, from the nucleus outwards.
no data
Temperature at which the solid turns liquid at standard pressure. Helium, carbon and arsenic do not melt at normal pressure: helium needs about 25 atm, carbon and arsenic turn straight into vapour.
no data
Temperature at which the liquid boils at standard pressure. For carbon and arsenic, the temperature at which the solid turns straight into vapour (sublimation).
no data
Mass of one cubic centimetre of the substance. For gases, at 0 °C and standard pressure.
no data
How strongly an atom pulls electrons towards itself in a chemical bond. On the Pauling scale it runs from 0.79 for caesium to 3.98 for fluorine.
no data
Energy needed to remove the most loosely bound electron from an atom. The lower it is, the more easily the element gives up an electron, which is typical of metals.
no data
Energy released when a neutral atom gains an electron. Highest for the halogens. Noble gases, nitrogen and some metals form no stable negative ion.
no data
Half the length of a single covalent bond between two atoms of the element. It shows the size of an atom inside a molecule or crystal: 76 pm for carbon, 132 pm for iron.
no data
Charges the atom would have in its compounds if all its bonds were ionic; the main ones are listed.
Discovered
2002
Discovered by
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Oganesson (Og) is a chemical element with atomic number 118. It sits in group 18 and period 7 of the periodic table, in the p-block. It is a noble gas. At room temperature it is predicted to be a solid. It has no standard atomic weight; the mass number of its most stable isotope is 294.
Origin of the name
Oganesson is named after Yuri Oganessian, the physicist who led the search for superheavy elements in Dubna. Scientists in Dubna and at the Livermore laboratory made it by bombarding californium with calcium nuclei; after weeks of bombardment they had three atoms, and they announced the result in 2006. The name was approved in 2016, while Oganessian was alive.
Where is oganesson found?
Oganesson does not exist in nature. Only a handful of atoms have ever been made, and each one decays in about a thousandth of a second.
What is oganesson used for?
Oganesson has no uses outside research.
Interesting facts
Oganesson is the heaviest element known. It stands in the column of the noble gases, but calculations predict that, unlike them, it would be a solid.