To discover the elements, researchers at the three labs slammed lighter nuclei into one another and looked for signature radioactive decays that should come from the new elements. Ununtrium and ununpentium are thought to be metals, while ununseptium could be a metalloid – a material bearing some metallic properties. The fourth element, ununoctium, may be a noble gas, like other group-18 elements, helium, neon and argon. It is hard to know for sure because so few atoms of each element have ever been made. Paul Karol, chair of the IUPAC panel that verified the elements, said: “Practical applications of the new elements, if any, are a long way off because of the difficulty in synthesis.”
How did researchers discover the elements?
By creating collisions between less heavy nuclei By inducing radioactive decay of other elements By transforming metalloid elements into gasses By removing protons from previously discovered elements