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Un-Un-Pentium On Your Periodic Table of the Elements?

Posted by Unknown on from the waiting-for-unobtanium dept.

PolygamousRanchKid writes, quoting Forbes "Researchers at Sweden's Lund University have announced that they've been able to confirm the existence of element 115 on the periodic table. This research team isn't the first to create element 115, which is currently known as ununpentium. The first claim that ununpentium had been synthesized in a lab was by a joint group of Russian and American researchers, who believed that they created it in their lab in 2004."

36 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Jokes by suso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you want to make a lot of stupid jokes about the Pentium chip, don't worry, they were already made 10 years ago in the other Slashdot article

    1. Re:Jokes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Jokes about pentium are boron.

    2. Re:Jokes by lxs · · Score: 2

      I don't.

      I want to karma whore by linking to the Periodic Table of Videos 115 entry and wondering when there will be an update to linked video.

  2. so... by JustNiz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    what is it actually good for?

    1. Re:so... by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's good for getting closer to the predicted island of stability, where stable (and usable) elements may exists.

      It's also good for satisfying human curiosity (which in itself is a worthy goal) and being a catalyst for inventing new technology that may be of practical value already.

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    2. Re:so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      what is it actually good for?

      What's it good for? Selling large wall maps of Periodic Tables to sci-geeks who are now pissed that theirs is as accurate as a politicians expense report.

      Oh, I'm sorry, you were looking for a valid use for some of these new Elements? Yeah, me too...

    3. Re:so... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      what is it actually good for?

      Understanding the world around us? You know, sciency stuff.

      Nobody is going to make you a car out of this, but some of these 'exotic' materials they need to create in a lab can tell us some interesting things about the early universe.

      Since when do we need a specific reason to do science? You never know what you'll find out once you've done the research.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:so... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 2

      what is it actually good for?

      You can use it to build a boat.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    5. Re:so... by __aaeihw9960 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Since when do we need a specific reason to do science? You never know what you'll find out once you've done the research.

      Since we started implementing austerity measures.

    6. Re:so... by SMACX+guy · · Score: 2

      It's one of those rare ones in the Discovery tech tree, where you don't get a new weapon or base facility, but it's a prerequisite to some other, totally kickass tech. That next tech doesn't seem to be the docs, though. Actually, I can't even find out if this tech makes a Secret Project available. It's all undocumented. You just have to play to find out what happens, I guess.

    7. Re:so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      We can use it to generate gravity waves which will allow us to fly to Mars and destroy the alien outpost there, ending the invasion of Earth.

    8. Re:so... by RaceProUK · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Since when do we need a specific reason to do science? You never know what you'll find out once you've done the research.

      Since we started implementing austerity measures.

      Just because the banks lost all our money down the back of the sofa doesn't mean we shouldn't do science.

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
    9. Re:so... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      How does creating an element that lasts all of a few hundred milliseconds at most telling us interesting things from the early universe?

      Because, oddly enough, many of the things in the early universe are postulated to have been elements which last a few hundred milliseconds. :-P

      My understanding is these are the kinds of things which get created when you have a really high-energy event, and you can likely learn stuff about how matter and the universe works. Mostly we get to see what really happens instead of a theoretical guess.

      As far as what this teaches us directly, I'm afraid I'll have to defer to someone a little more qualified. Having said that, this might be a good starting point.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    10. Re:so... by Matt_Bennett · · Score: 2

      This brings to mind the quote (and variants) that have been variously attributed to Benjamin Franklin and Michael Faraday: "What is the use of an infant?" Science is about discovering these things.

    11. Re:so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      my matter transporter

      We call that a "truck". Or "lorry", if you're British.

      affordable flying cars

      We call that one a "helicopter".

      and free electricity

      We call that one "reflashing your 'smart' meter"

    12. Re:so... by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 3, Funny

      I've heard Element 123 possesses weapons of mass destruction. Is that enough for a reason?

      --
      My first program:

      Hell Segmentation fault

    13. Re:so... by Alioth · · Score: 2

      From what I understand, the "island of stability" in terms of super-heavy elements is a relative term - it just means the decay of elements in the island of stability is measured in maybe hundreds of milliseconds instead of a few microseconds.

      --
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    14. Re:so... by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From what I understand, the "island of stability" in terms of super-heavy elements is a relative term - it just means the decay of elements in the island of stability is measured in maybe hundreds of milliseconds instead of a few microseconds.

      they are expected to have radioactive decay half-lives of at least minutes or days as compared to seconds, with some optimists expecting half-lives of millions of years

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability

      The answer is, we don't know for sure. That's why we're trying to get there. If their half life is anything longer than a few minutes they would revolutionize chemistry.

    15. Re:so... by elistan · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here's a highly moderated comment on why, from 2004:

      http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=95064&cid=8153826

    16. Re:so... by Z00L00K · · Score: 2

      No - there wouldn't be anything to send to the landfill since it will blow up itself and the user at the same time preventing any lawsuits.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    17. Re:so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You may have noticed a general lack of gigantic world wars since 1945?

      Don't know about you, but I've noticed a gigantic world war since about the turn of the millennium...
      And the rich are winning.

    18. Re:so... by Zordak · · Score: 2

      Sorry, I don't see it in the official guide.

      --

      Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
    19. Re:so... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      At this point I'm actually surprised that there have been no accidental nuclear explosions.

      My understanding (very loose, very old, very incomplete) is that it's actually hard to make that kind of reaction happen ... and most devices designed by anybody not planning on blowing themselves to pieces would be designed to make that difficult by keeping some of the bits separated or requiring something else to kick it off.

      My vague understanding is that you usually use some conventional explosives to force the fissile material into a tighter ball to tip it over a threshold -- and since we'd be talking about military grade explosives, most of those are pretty inert except when you want them not to be (C4 is harmless, apparently, without the right stuff to kick it off, and I'm sure they use something else anyway for that application). And without that extra compression/energy (or whatever), the material isn't just going to go into an uncontrolled reaction -- otherwise it would have done so already.

      I *think* you're more likely to get a radiation leak out of one before you actually got an accidental detonation.

      Having said that, I'm sure numerous Slashdotters will happily tell me that I'm an idiot -- a few might even tell me I'm wrong. ;-) Someone might even offer a better explanation than I can.

      But, from what I remember in grade 8 and what I've seen on TV since ... you need the conventional explosion to (compress/energize/excite/something like that) to trigger the nuclear reaction.

      And I gather for power plants, it's a little different -- put a big pile of it in one place (the technical term ;-), and stop absorbing the neutrons, and it'll just happen on its own. The trick is then keeping it under control.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  3. THIS. IS. SLASHDOT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    So they've made the AMD K6?

  4. Hope they give it a better name by barlevg · · Score: 4, Informative
    Wikipedia was remarkably informative on the subject (even for them):

    Ununpentium is a temporary IUPAC systematic element name derived from the digits 115, where "un-" represents Latin unum. "Pent-" represents the Greek word for 5, and it was chosen because the Latin word for 5 ("quin") starts with 'q', which would have caused confusion with flerovium (previously known as ununquadium), element 114.

    From the sentence before the section I quoted, I think even "eka-bismuth" would be a better name.

  5. Also know as Elerium by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Elerium-115

  6. It's not element 115 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Un-un-pentium is element 114.999997

    1. Re:It's not element 115 by oodaloop · · Score: 2

      Thanks, dude. You must be great fun at parties.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  7. Re:Hmmmm .... by Exitar · · Score: 3, Informative

    un un pentium = 1 1 5

  8. Re:Element 115? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would say more like element 114.9998797414

  9. Leeloo Dallas Multipass by tepples · · Score: 3, Funny

    Jokes about pentium are boron.

    Is Milla Jovovich still boron to look at?

  10. In Other News by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Gillette Company today announced plans to create element 117. A Gillette spokesperson was quoted as saying "115 protons? Screw it boys, we'll go to 117 protons!"

    --
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  11. Good they didn't have this naming years ago ... by ggraham412 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... or else poor Sulphur would be "Unsexium".

  12. Re:Can somebody come up with a sensible name? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Might as well just call it Elerium and be done with it.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  13. Are Readers Seriously This Dumb? by barlevg · · Score: 2
    The Associated Press felt that they needed to include the following line in their coverage:

    Well-known chemical elements include carbon, silicon and iron.

    Sigh...

  14. Re:Can somebody come up with a sensible name? by Zordak · · Score: 2

    A trademark is not a copyright. Intel does not "own" the word Pentium. They own the exclusive right to use the name Pentium and confusingly-similar names in connection with microprocessors and confusingly-similar products. It's possible that Pentium could be a famous mark, which would give it even broader protection, but if you discover a planet, or new creature, or new element and want to name it a "pentium," it would be difficult for them to stop you. (I'm not saying they won't try, though.)

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