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Japan Claims Heaviest-Ever Element
mOoZik writes "According to People's Daily Online, Japanese scientists claim to have created a new element, whose atomic number is 113, by bombarding a Bismuth atom target with 2.5 trillion zinc atoms per second for 80 days. The claim, as that of Russian and American scientists that claimed to have created elements 113 and 115 in February, remains to be officially confirmed."
What will the ultimate goal of this research be? Aside from the proverbial, we've got the heaviest element bragging rights? This would be in comparision to IBM's Blue Gene vs. the Earth Sim results which seem more significant...
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I hope they call 155 Elerium. That would make my day in ways that are both profound and creepily geeky.
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I'm serious. We should petition whoever it is we petition for things like that.
(I'll also note at this time that, if they actually do name it Elerium, I will make it my life's mission to start a corporation called X-Com and laugh maniacally as my alien-possessed squaddies panic and throw fusion bombs into the transport just as it lands...)
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The ultimate goal is reaching a theoretical Island of Stability.
This is a hypothesized region farther down on the peiodic table where extremely heavy elements become stable and long-lasting, albeit with interesting properties due to the large number of sub-elements of which they're comprised.
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The element's atomic mass number is 278, meaning its nucleus has 113 protons and 165 neutrons, he added.
For the lazy ppl who wouldn't have time to go through the article.
Quite surprising to see a mentioning of the atomic mass number only as the last sentence of the article, as this, and not the atomic number, actually decides whether this new element is the heaviest or not.
I meant 115! 115! Curse you, afternoon lull! CURSE YOU!
The heaviest element I've ever encountered would be my dad's synthesis of potroastium.
www.kitchengeek.com -- Nosh for
They already beat the US in building a ladder to heaven, now they're trying to beat the US in building a heavier element!
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
That's 80*24*60*60 * 2.5 * 10^10 (bc says 1.728 * 10^17, which isn't quite comparable to the avogadro or whatever number, but is still quite impressive) atoms to get this new element that disintegrated in 0.0003 seconds
and here I am, cursing myself and the world if I have to rewrite a stupid, tiny class.
Dendrobium?
Oh man, seeing those two words together brings back a bad memory. I had been drinking really heavily one night, see? (Well, heavily for a nerd). And I was feeling pretty drunk and I thought I was going to toss my cookies bad. But there were some really sexy girls at this party and I didn't want to leave. So in my drunken state I drank some of this cheap Pepto-Bismol knockoff called Pink Bismuth, thinking it would settle my tummy. So I go back out to the main room and party like nothing happened and I'm this cool guy who can hold his liquor. Anyhow, pow! the dancing and all just was too much and I started puking all over the place. I dropped to my knees and started puking my guts out all over the coffee table. And since I had drank the Pink Bismuth not too long ago, my puke was coming out pink. I was "bombarding" the coffee table with "Bismuth atoms" -- get it?
Needless to say, none of this impressed those babes (in a positive way, at least) and I went home alone once again...
...stupid stuff we did as kids?
"bombarding a Bismuth atom target with 2.5 trillion zinc atoms per second for 80 days"
ants and magnifying glass, M&M's shaken-up in a bottle of soda, etc.
You'd think they'd pick a different name like nipponium or japanium. Mark this flamebait if you must, but in my opinion, this would be like Nigerian scientists naming it nigonium.
What happens if you put M&M's in a bottle of soda and shake it?
For more information on pepto bismol, look it up on E2. I did a cool wwriteup over there :) I'm not going to link it though, in the hopes that they won't get slashdotted or anything.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Its mass not weight. Its the most massive atom not the heaviest. The heaviest is near some black hole in the highest gravitational field currently unknown to man. Not quite sure how Einstein would state it. Something about its acceleration in the bending of the spacetime in that location....
Looking over at my periodic table on the wall and low i see more than 112, my table goes to 118 but misses the odd #'s over 112. I thought that 116 (ununhexium) was the most massive element and then they missed 114 (ununquadium) as well.
e xt/Uuh/key.html
h exium.html
I am not sure if 116 or 114 are "confirmed" but 116 is fairly reproducible and the article states that japans 113 is not yet "confirmed" so that would but it on par with these others. As a note 118 was reported by a Russian but was later retracted due to reproducibility problems.
Here is some info sites:
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/t
http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/U/unun
** Although lead is rather non-toxic in metal form, when properly accelerated things change slightly **
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I was "bombarding" the coffee table with "Bismuth atoms" -- get it?
Umm, no. Can you please elaborate?
Sincerely
Mr. Dimwit
"The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered at Turgid University. Tentatively named administratium, element has no protons or electrons. It has one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons. These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves exchange of strong-interacting particles, so-called morons.
Administratium has half-life of approximately three years but it does not decay. Instead it undergoes a reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. (Some studies suggest that the total mass actually increases after each reorganization.)
Administratium is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with. A minute amount of administratium causes reactions to take over four days to complete when it would have normally occurred in less than a second.
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
I was going to suggest they name the new element Nipponium but the chemical symbols Ni (Nickel) and Np (Neptunium) are already taken, so perhaps Sakium (Sa), their national drink.
I am disappointed that the Japanese scientists stooped to the stereotypical and politically incorrect "Japonium."
...
I think that the culturally reflective and historically pensive "Godzilium" or "Rodanium" would be more chic, 'moderne,' and appropriate. (Although I do like the previously mentioned "Pokemonium.")
Perhaps they would also consider "Karaokenium" or "Mystiethreekaynium"
2.5 x 10^12 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 80 = 1.728 x 10^19 atoms. A mole of zinc masses in at 65.409g, and we have 28.7 micromols of zinc.
All of the zinc used massed in at a whopping 2 mg!!!
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
And with the obligatory uber-nerd Coast to Coast AM/Carl Sagan connection: one of the things that would provide persuasive evidence of a UFO crash would be debris composed in whole or in part of element(s) from the Island of Stability
Our man Carl Sagan strikes again!
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
Thank you, I'm here all week.