oganesson

American  

[oh-gan-uh-suhn] / oʊˈgæn ə sən /

noun

Chemistry, Physics.

1. a superheavy, synthetic, radioactive element with a short half-life. Og; 118.

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Etymology

Origin of oganesson

Named in 2016; after Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian (born 1933), Russian nuclear physicist of Armenian descent + -on ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

If so, it could form a periodic table, much like our own, that atlas of all known matter that includes everything from hydrogen to oganesson.

From Salon • Nov. 30, 2023

Scerri doesn’t believe the periodic table is seriously threatened by elements like oganesson; he points out that some of the electrons in gold atoms spin at velocities that approach light speed, too.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 27, 2019

But the periodic table contains still more; the heaviest so far is element 118, oganesson, a “super-heavy” element with 118 protons and a half-life of half a millisecond.

From New York Times • Aug. 27, 2019

Fittingly, no living person has shaped the architecture of the periodic table more than he has, which is why element 118 is called oganesson.

From Science Magazine • Jan. 30, 2019

The team found that in oganesson, the outermost electron orbits become indistinct, creating an outer layer that is almost an electron gas.

From Nature • Feb. 5, 2018