
Element 118 has been created in experiments conducted at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia by a collaboration of researchers from Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Element 118, the heaviest element yet found, was produced through collisions that fused together Californium and Calcium atoms. Although element 118 is too unstable to detect directly, the presence of daughter elements resulting from the decay of element 118 gave clues to its fleeting existence.
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory previously reported the synthesis of element 118 in 1999, and later retracted their results when subsequent experiments failed to confirm their discovery. It was alleged that researcher Victor Ninov fabricated the experimental data that indicated the formation of element 118 atoms.
The (re)discovery was reported in the American Physical Society journal Physical Review C on October 9, 2006.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Controversy-Plagued Element 118, the Heaviest Atom Yet, Finally Discovered
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84 comments:
first comment!
and amazing!
Congratulations. I wonder who this one will be named after... The last few were Roentgenium and Darmstadtium, so I wonder if this will be named after the place WHERE they discovered it or WHO discovered it...
Or, if the IUPAC wants *direct* proof that it was synthesized. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I kind of like Dubnatonium
Flerovonium?
Notfakethistimeium?
unstableandpointelessium
What about Californication??
LOL
Sorry I meant "Californicatium"...
My wife suggests "Schwartzeneggium"
What about... "Element 118" ?
Nobody tought of that.. uh?
WhatsThePointnium
Take the example of Sweden's lovely village of Ytterby, which inspired the names Terbium, Yttrium, Ytterbium, Erbium.
Dubna doesn't give us much to work with - Dubnium, Ubnium, I guess.
But Livermore: Livermorium, Vermorium, Liverium (Livorium), Morium, Livium, Ermorium, Iverium, Ivermorium, ....
And that's not counting whatever names can be gleaned from the local wineries as well as the nicknames of obscure hardware, computer, and physics toys "out back in the shack i mean warehouse."
Calcifornium?
calcalcium ?
I'm going to go with "Ununoctium" for now...
yeah what's to gain by creating a fleeting atom?
Its wonderful to see the slashdot crowd spreading their charming wit to other sites on the web.
Unobtainium
Since it's so short lived, how about "Fleetium"?
DontBlinkium :)
ninefourfivefiveohium?
/livermore native
I honestly don't understand the use of creating heavier elements. Each and every element that is heavier than the next is also more unstable the next. Hydrogen is then obviously the most stable.
The reason is quite simple. As you pack on the protons and neutrons the nuclear forces begin to dwindle significantly. With elements such as 118, they last only a microsecond before gravity and the other forces tear the atom apart.
I honestly don't understand the use of creating heavier elements. Each and every element that is heavier than the next is also more unstable the next. Hydrogen is then obviously the most stable.
The reason is quite simple. As you pack on the protons and neutrons the nuclear forces begin to dwindle significantly. With elements such as 118, they last only a microsecond before gravity and the other forces tear the atom apart.
If you're thinking we can make use of this with new steel components that will resist thousands and thousands of degrees of heat or something, it isn't going to happen :(. The most useful elements, and they still are, are well under atomic weights of 100.
Actually, Hydrogen isn't the most stable. That honour belongs to iron (Fe-56).
Elements on either side tend towards iron; thus we can obtain energy from Hydrogen fusion, or Uranium fission. However, the heavier (>118) elements may have "islands of stability", so some of them may be unexpectedly long-lived.
Actually, the real race is on to create element 114. There is a theory that it has a balance of protons and neutrons needed to be within an 'island of stability' that will allow the created element to exist for quite some time.
As it turns out, the internal nuclear structure of an atom is an ordered collection of protons and neutrons, instead of a random jumble.
http://focus.aps.org/story/v4/st8 (Back in 1999)
I've always liked "unobtainium". This would be a good name.
Element 114? Stable?
Nope.
Check here for answers:
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Uuq/key.html
"The reason is quite simple. As you pack on the protons and neutrons the nuclear forces begin to dwindle significantly. With elements such as 118, they last only a microsecond before gravity and the other forces tear the atom apart."
Gravity hardly matters on that scale...the force that you're looking for is known as the 'coulombic force' (electromagnetic force). Also, forces don't 'dwindle' when more bodies are introduced...they tend to decrease with an increase in spacing between the bodies involved.
More 'nucleons' or nuclear particles (protons and neutrons) means greater spacing between the outer ones which in turn means less nuclear binding force between those particles to counteract the coulombic force.
Finally, your contention that things that exist ephemerally cannot possibly be of actual human use ignores key human technologies.
Like candles.
Thank goodness we haven't yet succumb to the wisdom that "photons only exist for a fraction of a second, so why make them?"
name it "ghbketamine"
getalifeium?
JUMBONIUM!!!
(cant believe someone else didnt think of that first)
Regarding element 114: Computations do suggest that 114 is a "magic" number of nuclear structure, and so elements with this number of protons should be more stable. The key word here is "more" - the half life will probably be much longer than nearby heavy elements, but still very short.
You might be able to make an isotope of element-114 with a very long half life, perhaps even a stable isotope, if the number of neutrons is also a magic number, say 184. The problem is that it's very hard to make a nucleus with a neutron/proton ratio that high. For example, you'd have to collide Californium-255 with something like Sulfur-43, which doesn't exit.
Hardly any information on this. What is the estimated half life? What a lame "article." Need more information.
Here is my article "ELEMENT 190 made today in my house."
Wait.. what about this episode of NOVA SCIENCE NOW, about the "Island of Stability"?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3313/02.html
One-eighteenium
Let's go Trekkie...
dilithium!
vorilium!
olivine!
triadium!
trillium!
topalime!
...
http://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/pdfs/STAR%20TREK%20Article.pdf
...Although element 118 is too unstable to detect directly, the presence of daughter elements resulting from the decay of element 118 gave clues to its fleeting existence.
I suggest georgebushium
WTFium
Dubyatonium, in honor or Our Fearless Leader
How about KillDieEatPuffManium?
I agree
How about Hellomitchellium
And Hello Danium
News just in we've discovered 114
I shall call it Itsamiracleium
you are all nerds
may the force be with u
cool...
i discovered 119 atom!
-Spartan117ium
-Halo2rocksium
-Spazbotium
-Iumium
-somethingweknownothingaboutium
My Friend discovered the base of all elements: it is named Ium
My gamertag is ghost3300 add me on xbox live!
Greetings earthlings
We have taken over your radioooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
A wise man once said:
"Element number 118 will bring great destruction to the Earth when it is discovered so do not eat it". He also said:
"Name the element ExplodetheEarthium, or you will suffer the wise man's wrath".
My favourite element is Titanium.
Everyone go to www.ngu.com.au because it is a good website
I like nerdaranium
i wonder who just said that!!!!
We can't make 114 stable, yet anyway, why the decision to have another? IMHO stable productive whateverisism clearly requires an ingredient you can buy in the grocery - SPAM!
SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM spam spam spam.....
I'd call it anything but late for dinner.
becausewecanium?
Photons do not exist for a fraction of a second. They exist for an instant. A literal instant - they are created, travel, and are destroyed simutainously, with no time at all passing between.
Hence the question used to annoy those who dont know the basics of relativity: How old is the light from a star x light years away?
Time dilation is fun.
I think the Russians should decide what to name it (and they will).
i suggest uselessium
Flavorflavium.
Obeseium
"...Although element 118 is too unstable to detect directly, the presence of daughter elements resulting from the decay of element 118 gave clues to its fleeting existence.
I suggest georgebushium"
And i agree
after the post at 5:36 AM I suggest
Ytzfereelium.
I agree
It's probably a conspiracy. Element 118 probably doesn't really exist. :P
Novotnium. From the name of my first calculus teacher who didn't understand that normally body language accounts for 85% of communications, except in calculus classes. Speaking English would have probably helped me pass.
sweet! another element...more joyous chemistry and physics to study eventually!
C'mon. We gotta call it Dilithium.
How about Hydrogen Jr. Yeah, I like Hydrogen Jr.
incredibly cool, an atom that exists for about0.00000000000000001 of a second and then disappears. i mean isnt it cool, although i think the time used to create these things could be used to make somthin better.
Yttanotherium?
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The half life as posted on various is 30 seconds for one of the isotopes. This is several orders of magnitude longer than many of the nearby elements.
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This is a new perspective on union-management relations.
dam it
when element 118 become stable?
good work mate....
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