Heaviest transition metal

All the elements in groups 3 to 12 of the periodic table are known as transition metals, with the exception of lutetium and lawrencium. Most of the commonly used metals are transition metals, which form coloured compounds and are good conductors of electricity and heat. They are less reactive than alkali metals such as sodium and potassium, and include gold, copper, iron, cobalt and zinc. With an atomic number of 112, copernicum is the heaviest of these. It is a man-made element that does not occur in nature and first created in 1996. Only a few atoms of copernicum have ever been created and studied and it is predicted that, if enough atoms were present, they would exist as a gas at room temperature and pressure.

Copernicum was named after the Renaissance Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.