Home/ Elements/ Cn
Copernicium
Cn 112

Copernicium

Copernicium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Cn and atomic number 112. It is named after Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, whose 16th-century work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium changed humanity's view of the universe. Copernicium was first created in 1996 by a team at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. It is an extremely radioactive element; its most stable known isotope, copernicium-285, has a half-life of approximately 30 seconds. It has no known practical applications.

Transition Metal Unknown (synthetic)
Atomic number 112Z
Atomic mass 285u
Valence e⁻ 2
Electron config. 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d10 5p6 6s2 4f14 5d10 6p6 7s2 5f14 6d10
Density
14.0g/cm³
Melting point
—
Crustal abundance
—
Annual production
—
Recycling rate
0%(Synthetic element (Z=112); no recycling)

Why This Element

Copernicium is the heaviest group 12 element, beyond mercury. Relativistic effects predicted to compress Cn's 7s orbital, making it remarkably inert — possibly behaving like a noble gas or preferring monatomic Cn⁰ over Cn²⁺. Cn is predicted to be liquid at room temperature like mercury.

Applications

Research

Applications in DepthElement & compound uses

Main Uses of the Element

Copernicium is the superheavy element with atomic number 112, first synthesized in 1996 by a GSI team in Darmstadt, Germany, that bombarded a lead target with zinc ions; it is named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. All of its isotopes have half-lives on the millisecond scale, it does not occur in nature, and only a few atoms are obtained in each synthesis. It has no practical uses and serves only to test whether superheavy elements approach the region of chemically anomalous "noble liquid" behavior.

Key Compounds and Their Uses

The chemical behavior of copernicium has only been studied in single-atom gas-phase adsorption experiments, to judge whether it behaves as a metal or is closer to a noble gas. To date, no weighable copernicium compound has ever been isolated, and no practical application exists.

Element History

Discovered in 1996 at GSI Darmstadt by Armbruster and Münzenberg via bombardment of lead-208 with zinc-70 ions — copernicium-277 was identified. Named for Nicolaus Copernicus in 2009. Cn-283 (4 min) and Cn-285 (29 s) are studied at Dubna.

Related Elements

Sc · Scandium Ti · Titanium V · Vanadium Cr · Chromium Mn · Manganese Fe · Iron Co · Cobalt Ni · Nickel

Frequently Asked QuestionsLong-tail Q&A · data-driven

What is the melting point of Copernicium?
0 °C
What is the boiling point of Copernicium?
3297 °C
What is the density of Copernicium?
14.0 g/cm³
What are the atomic number and category of Copernicium?
112 · Transition Metal
Which ore is Copernicium mainly extracted from?
None (synthetic)
What are the main uses of Copernicium?
Copernicium is the heaviest group 12 element, beyond mercury. Relativistic effects predicted to compress Cn's 7s orbital, making it remarkably inert — possibly behaving like a noble gas or preferring monatomic Cn⁰ over C
Who discovered Copernicium and when?
Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung · 1996