Slashdot Mirror
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."
I hope they call 155 Elerium. That would make my day in ways that are both profound and creepily geeky.
/best game evar
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...)
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
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
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...
Wow, that's a lot of zinc! I bet that galvanized their research!
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
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.
"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