Element 118 Created

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Posted by ryuzaki0 on Saturday October 14, 2006 @05:28PM from the this-time-for-sure dept.

BuzzSkyline writes, "The heaviest element yet, Element 118, has been created in Dubna, Russia by a collaboration of researchers from Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US. They created the new element by fusing together Californium (element 98) and Calcium atoms. The achievement comes five years after the scandal-plagued retraction of an earlier claim, which was based on fabricated data, that three atoms of element 118 had been produced at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. The achievement was reported on October 9 in the journal Physical Review C (subscription needed to read more than the abstract)."

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Um... so? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-10-14 17:33 · Score: 1, Insightful

What's the significance of this? Is there any reason other than "cuz we could"?
do limitations on electrons count? by Xtifr · 2006-10-14 21:16 · Score: 3, Insightful

I'm not a particle physicist, but from what I can see, it's saying that the problem is that some of the electrons would have to be moving faster than the speed of light. But is that really an issue? Maybe you can only have positive ions of elements above that, but they'd still be atoms of those elements. Heck, even with no electrons at all, it would still just be an extremely positive ion! At least as I understand matters. Basically, unless I'm misunderstanding or misinterpreting, 137 or 138 is the heaviest element for which a neutral atom can exist, but there should be no limit to elements for which positive ions can exist up till you reach the point where gravity starts to become a larger factor than the strong nuclear force.
1. Re:do limitations on electrons count? by Gilmoure · 2006-10-15 02:07 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yes, I do want to get off this planet as soon as possible.
  
  Have you tried jumping UP?
  
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  I drank what? -- Socrates
futurama by eneville · 2006-10-14 23:38 · Score: 3, Insightful

"so dense that 1 ton weighs exactly 1000 tons"

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Re:It is a BIG DEAL! by Nanpa · 2006-10-14 23:40 · Score: 2, Insightful

Captain Picard was the best IMHO
Re:It is a BIG DEAL! by gkhan1 · 2006-10-15 01:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

If you really want to go by the movie, it's technically love. I guess most slashdoters, being linux-using, slightly unattractive über-geeks with little education in literature might have missed that because the mindnuming hotness of Ms. Jovovich's body was standing in the way.
Re:Created or Discovered ? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-10-15 02:48 · Score: 1, Insightful

"since it already exist."
Whoops.
It's time to start talking about subjects you actually HAVE a clue about.
Re:It is a BIG DEAL! by hador_nyc · 2006-10-15 03:29 · Score: 2, Insightful

If you really want to go by the movie, it's technically love. I guess most slashdoters, being linux-using, slightly unattractive Ã¼ber-geeks with little education in literature might have missed that because the mindnuming hotness of Ms. Jovovich's body was standing in the way.
No, we all get the love point, but that is not nearly as funny as a low-brow sexual reference.

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Once you've lost your temper, you've lost the argument - Me