Physics Buzz

If you caught our TETRIS! post a couple of weeks ago, you’ll know that the seventh row of the periodic table is officially complete and that earlier this month the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry disclosed recommended names for the four elements discovered most recently. Identified by atomic number, which gives the number of protons in an atom, the new elements are 113, 115, 117, and 118.

An international collaboration of scientists has  created element 117 in a laboratory at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany. Element 117—temporarily referred to as ununseptium—was first created in 2010. The new work confirms that those earlier results are repeatable using a different instrument. Element 117 is the second heaviest element ever created, landing just behind 118. It offers nuclear physicists an extreme example of how atomic nuclei behave, and thus a way to put their theories for lighter nuclei to the test. In addition, scientists are interested in seeing just how many protons and neutrons can be packed into an atomic nucleus. Is there an end to the periodic table ? But perhaps the most exciting prospect is how this research brings scientists closer to finding "the island of stability."  While most super heavy nuclei are large and unwieldy, and tend to break apart in less than a second. But theory suggests there may be comb