Inorganic Chemistry Division
Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry
Names for Muonium Atoms and
Ions
Although chemical reactions of muonium atoms have been studied for
more than two decades, the nomenclature of muonium and related species
has not been addressed by IUPAC. The name 'muon' is used in physics
for the species that belong to the lepton family and that are designated
with the symbols m+ and m-,
each having a mass 207 times that of the electron. When a negative muon
replaces an electron in the 1s orbital of an atom, then this atom is
called a 'muonic' atom: H+m-
is 'muonic hydrogen'. Replacement of an electron by a muon in other
atoms is possible. Negative muons have been less well studied than positive
muons, which are formed as energetic, polarized beams at specialized
facilities. The positive muon can abstract an electron near the end
of the radiation track, and the combination of positive muon and electron
mimics the reactivity of the hydrogen atom. For this combination, the
name 'muonium' has been used. Were a negative muon to replace an electron
in muonium, the name would be 'muonic muonium' ( m+m-).
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Comments by 31 December 2000
To Prof. Dr. W. H. Koppenol
Laboratorium f�r Anorganische Chemie
Eidgen�ssische Technische Hochschule
Universit�tsstrasse 6
CH-8092 Z�rich, Switzerland
Tel.: +41-1-632-2875
Fax: +41-1-632-1090
E-mail: [email protected]
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