Moscovium (Mc)

Moscovium (symbol Mc) is the chemical element with atomic number 115: a superheavy element whose properties are still unknown, radioactive, made artificially, with an atomic mass of 290 u. Discovered in 2003 (Dubna and Livermore laboratories).

Moscovium is named after the Moscow region, where Dubna is located. It was created in 2003 by a Russian–American collaboration between Dubna and Livermore. About a hundred atoms have been produced, each living less than a second. Its most stable known isotope, moscovium-290, has a half-life of about 0.65 seconds.

Key facts

Atomic number: 115
Symbol: Mc
French name: Moscovium
Atomic mass: 290 u
Molar mass: [290] g/mol
Family: Unknown properties
Position: period 7, group 15, p-block
State at 0 °C: Unknown
First ionization energy: 538 kJ/mol
Electron configuration: [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7s² 7p³
Radioactive: yes
Discovery: 2003, Dubna and Livermore laboratories

Origin of the name

From the Moscow Oblast, where Dubna is located.

What does moscovium look like?

Never observed; predicted to be a heavy metal, perhaps similar to bismuth.

Where is moscovium found?

Absent from nature.

How is moscovium produced?

Dubna bombards an americium-243 target with calcium-48 ions. The moscovium atoms then decay into nihonium and on into lighter elements, which makes it possible to identify them.

Top producers

Russia (Dubna)
United States (Livermore, collaborator)

What is moscovium used for?

Basic research only

In everyday life

None — it exists only for moments in the lab

Role in living things

No biological role.

Hazards of moscovium

Radioactive, but produced atom by atom: no practical danger.

Cosmic origin

Human-made: Does not exist (or barely) in nature: synthesized in a reactor or accelerator.

History of moscovium

In 2003, Oganessian's team in Dubna, together with Livermore researchers, detected four atoms of element 115, announced in early 2004. A team from Lund University (Sweden) confirmed it at GSI in 2013. The name moscovium became official in 2016.

Did you know?

In 1989, American Bob Lazar claimed that UFOs were propelled by a stable “element 115.” The real moscovium doesn't last a second and is nothing like a fuel.
Its discovery also made it possible to observe atoms of nihonium, its decay product, for the first time.
It is one of the four elements named in 2016, which completed the seventh row of the periodic table.

Isotopes of moscovium

No stable isotopes; moscovium isotopes live less than a second.

moscovium-288: radioactive, half-life 190 ms. The element's first synthesized isotope, in 2003.
moscovium-290: radioactive, half-life 650 ms. The longest-lived known.

Related elements

Same family (unknown properties): Meitnerium (Mt), Darmstadtium (Ds), Roentgenium (Rg), Copernicium (Cn), Nihonium (Nh), Flerovium (Fl), Livermorium (Lv), Tennessine (Ts), Oganesson (Og).

Same column (group 15): Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Arsenic (As), Antimony (Sb), Bismuth (Bi).