Ununhexium
. Element 116, also called ununhexium (Uuh), chemical element with atomic number 116. Each ununhexium atom has a nucleus, or inner core, containing particles called neutrons and protons (see Atom ). The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom determines the element’s atomic number. The nucleus of an atom of ununhexium, therefore, contains 116 protons. Ununhexium has never been found in nature but can be produced in the laboratory by nuclear fusion (a process in which a chemical element with larger atoms is produced by fusing together two smaller atoms of other elements). Scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, created the first atom of ununhexium in mid-2001. They produced ununhexium by using a machine called a particle accelerator to accelerate calcium atoms to a very high velocity and then smashing them into atoms of the element curium. In a very small percentage of these collisions, an atom of calcium combines with an atom of curium to form a