Philosophy
Physicists have reported synthesizing element number 117, the latest in the quest to create artificial “superheavy” elements in the laboratory. A paper describing the discovery has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters.
A team led by Yuri Oganessian of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, reports smashing together calcium-48 — an isotope with 20 protons and 28 neutrons — with berkelium-249, which has 97 protons and 152 neutrons. The collision spit out neutrons to create two isotopes of an element with 117 protons, one with 176 neutrons and the other with 177.
“These are very, very interesting results,” says Witold Nazarewicz, a theorist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. “This was carefully planned, and it would have been very difficult to synthesize this element without the berkelium target.”
The new element, which has yet to be named, slips into a place on the periodic table between elements 116 and 118, both of which have already been discovered. Such superheavy elements are usually very radioactive and decay away almost instantly. But many researchers think it is possible that even heavier elements may occupy an “island of stability” in which superheavy atoms stick around for a while.
The new work supports that view. Analyses of the radioactive decay of the new element, Oganessian’s team writes in the new paper, “represent an experimental verification for the existence of the predicted ‘Island of Stability’ for super-heavy elements.”
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Philosophy
Synthesis of element #117 achieved
"Russian Physicists Synthesize New Superheavy Element 117"
by
Alexandra Witze
April 6th, 2010
Wired
by
Alexandra Witze
April 6th, 2010
Wired
Physicists have reported synthesizing element number 117, the latest in the quest to create artificial “superheavy” elements in the laboratory. A paper describing the discovery has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters.
A team led by Yuri Oganessian of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, reports smashing together calcium-48 — an isotope with 20 protons and 28 neutrons — with berkelium-249, which has 97 protons and 152 neutrons. The collision spit out neutrons to create two isotopes of an element with 117 protons, one with 176 neutrons and the other with 177.
“These are very, very interesting results,” says Witold Nazarewicz, a theorist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. “This was carefully planned, and it would have been very difficult to synthesize this element without the berkelium target.”
The new element, which has yet to be named, slips into a place on the periodic table between elements 116 and 118, both of which have already been discovered. Such superheavy elements are usually very radioactive and decay away almost instantly. But many researchers think it is possible that even heavier elements may occupy an “island of stability” in which superheavy atoms stick around for a while.
The new work supports that view. Analyses of the radioactive decay of the new element, Oganessian’s team writes in the new paper, “represent an experimental verification for the existence of the predicted ‘Island of Stability’ for super-heavy elements.”
- The Elusive Element 115?
"Have scientists discovered a new element?" The periodic table might get a new addition. Scientists in Germany say they have replicated a decade-old Russian experiment that created dozens of short-lived atoms with 115 protons. by Megan Gannon August...
- Superheavy Element 113?
"Japanese Physicists Claim Clinching Observation of New Superheavy Element" by Daniel Clery September 26th, 2012 Science The claim sounds simple enough: Physicists in Japan say they have made a new superheavy atom, element 113, which lies at the...
- New Elements For The Periodic Table
"Scientists Welcome Two New Elements to the Periodic Table" by Katy Steinmetz June 2011 Time You may have grown up thinking you knew what was what in science, back when Pluto was a planet, the opposite sex had cooties, and the last 10% of every beverage...
- It's Official...element #112 Is Copernicium
"Chemical element 112 named 'Copernicium'" February 24th, 2010 PHYSORG.com IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) accepted the name proposed by the international discovering team around Sigurd Hofmann at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum....
- Periodic Table...#112 Is Official
Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany is the hot bed for discovering and confirming new elements. On November 9th, 1994 the first atom with atomic number 110 was discovered...later confirmed and named in 2003 as Darmstatdium;...