Dubnium
. Dubnium, symbol Db, chemical element with atomic number 105, produced artificially by nuclear fusion (in which an element with larger atoms is produced by fusing together two smaller atoms from other elements). Each dubnium atom has a very large nucleus, or central mass, containing positively charged particles called protons and neutral particles called neutrons . The large number of particles in the nucleus makes the atom unstable and causes the atom to split apart into smaller components soon after it is created. To honor the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (JINR) located in Dubna, Russia, where element 105 was first created in 1970, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially named this element dubnium. Element 105 was previously called hahnium, after German physical chemist Otto Hahn, a pioneer in the field of nuclear fission. Dubnium has the atomic number 105, which means that each Db atom contains 105 protons. Scientists have created several isotopes ...