New Element On Periodic Table

waltky · Aug 28, 2013

New periodic element discovered...

Evidence for new periodic table element boosted
27 August 2013 > Scientists have presented new evidence for the existence of an unconfirmed element with atomic number 115.

The element is highly radioactive and exists for less than a second before decaying into lighter atoms. First proposed by Russian scientists in 2004, the super-heavy element has yet to be verified by the governing body of chemistry and physics. The new evidence by a Swedish team is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. "This was a very successful experiment and is one of the most important in the field in recent years", said Dirk Rudolph, professor at the division of atomic physics at Lund University, who led the research.

The new element has not yet been confirmed by the official body for chemistry and physics

After the discovery of element 115, independent confirmation to measure the exact proton number was required, Prof Rudolph told BBC News. He said the finding "goes beyond the standard measurement" which had been observed previously. A new isotope of a potential new element was produced, which transformed into other particles via a radioactive process named alpha decay. The researchers also gained access to data that they say gives them a deeper insight into the structure and properties of super-heavy atomic nuclei. The team bombarded a thin film of the element americium with calcium ions, which allowed them to measure photons in connection with the new element's alpha decay.

Certain energies of the photons (light particles) agreed with the expected energies for X-ray radiation, which acts as a "fingerprint" of a given element. The experiment was conducted at the GSI research facility in Germany, where scientists have previously discovered six other new elements. The potential new element will now be reviewed by a committee which consists of members of the international unions of pure and applied physics and chemistry. They will decide whether to recommend further experiments before the discovery of the new element is acknowledged.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23849334
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New Super-Heavy Element 115 Confirmed
August 27, 2013 > Scientists say they've created a handful of atoms of the elusive element 115, which occupies a mysterious corner of the periodic table.

The super-heavy element has yet to be officially named, but it is temporarily called ununpentium, roughly based on the Latin and Greek words for the digits in its atomic number, 115. The atomic number is the number of protons an element contains. The heaviest element commonly found in nature is uranium, which has 92 protons, but scientists can load even more protons into an atomic nucleus and make heavier elements through nuclear fusion reactions. Scientists hope that by creating heavier and heavier elements, they will find a theoretical "island of stability," an undiscovered region in the periodic table where stable super-heavy elements with as yet unimagined practical uses might exist.

In experiments in Dubna, Russia about 10 years ago, researchers reported that they created atoms with 115 protons. Their measurements have now been confirmed in experiments at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany. To make ununpentium in the new study, a group of researchers shot a super-fast beam of calcium (which has 20 protons) at a thin film of americium, the element with 95 protons. When these atomic nuclei collided, some fused together to create short-lived atoms with 115 protons. "We observed 30 in our three-week-long experiment," study researcher Dirk Rudolph, a professor of atomic physics at Lund University in Sweden, said in an email. Rudolph added that the Russian team had detected 37 atoms of element 115 in their earlier experiments. "The results are by and large compatible," Rudolph said.

Super-heavy elements are generally unstable and most last only a fraction of a second before they start to decay. The scientists had to use special detectors to look for the energy signatures for the X-ray radiation predicted to be given off by element 115 as it quickly degrades. A committee from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), which governs chemical nomenclature, will review the new findings to decide whether more experiments are necessary before element 115 gets an official name. Some of element 115's neighbors have already been christened. Last year, the man-made elements 114 and 116 were named flerovium (Fl) and livermorium (Lv). The new experiments will be detailed in The Physical Review Letters.

http://www.livescience.com/39204-new-super-heavy-element-115-confirmed.html
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reallybigjohnson · Aug 28, 2013

Finally, they found Kryptonite. Now Superman doesn't stand a chance in hell against Batman.

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New Element On Periodic Table

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