Slashdot Mirror
Six Atoms of Element 117 Produced
mr crypto writes "A team of Russian and American scientists has produced six atoms of a new element, number 117, that has long stood as a missing link among the heaviest bits of atomic matter ever produced. The element, still nameless, appears to point the way toward a brew of still more massive elements with chemical properties no one can predict. The researchers say that the discovery bolsters the idea of an 'island of stability' among still heavier elements."
AIUI, once you know where an element fits into the Periodic Table, you have a good idea as to what its properties are based on the other elements in its group. In fact, that's one of the table's most valuable properties.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
You know Stephen's going to make a claim to it.
I am not a chemist, but I'd wager its because this constitutes extrapolation. The periodic tables I just looked up online only go up to 103. Extrapolating > 10% off the end of your data set is a risky proposition, likely to produce incorrect results.
And it shows us that the periodic table is without a doubt in need of a major revision from what we've always assumed to be correct.
What do you mean? The point of the story was that if you create exotic matter, you can't just plop it down on the periodic table; doesn't mean it's not correct for normal matter.
I didn't see a single version on that page that wasn't obnoxiously difficult to read.
sic transit gloria mundi
I was thinking of the "unobtanium" in Avatar.
I have never been more disappointed in a slashdot post.