This sounds like we will finally be able to declare element 113 as
discovered. This work has been inching along for decades and it is
always welcome to add another unique element to the periodic table.
It is even better to characterize it.
It would not surprise me to discover much higher zones of stability
as the years go by although our ability to work with the material
will also need to be revolutionized.
All good work and welcome to see as it has been a while.
Japanese Team
Claims Discovery Of Elusive Element 113, And May Get To Name It
The claim needs to be
verified by chemical authorities, but the team says it's the
strongest evidence yet for the highly unstable element.
By Rebecca
BoylePosted 09.26.2012 at 11:47 am
Decay Chain of Element
113 Superheavy element 113 decays to the following daughter
isotopes: Roentgenium-274; Meitnerium-270; Bohrium-266; Dubnium-262;
Lawrencium-258; and Mendelevium-254.RIKEN
Japanese researchers
claim they’ve seen conclusive evidence of the long-sought element
113, a super-heavy, super-unstable element near the bottom of the
periodic table. It’s not yet verified by the International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry, which regulates the table and the names
of the elements — but if the IUPAC grants its blessing, the
researchers could be the first team from Asia to name one of nature’s
fundamental atoms.
Super-heavy elements
do not occur in nature and have to be discovered in the lab,
using particle accelerators, nuclear reactors, ion separators
and other complex equipment. Scientists led by Kosuke Morita at the
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science have been hunting
for 113 for nine years, and have claimed to see it a few times
already — but the evidence has never been this clear, the team said
today.
In an experiment in
August, the team used a customized gas-filled recoil ion separator
paired with a semiconductor detector that can pick out atomic
reaction products. They created element 113 by speeding zinc ions
through a linear accelerator until they reached 10 percent of the
speed of light. The ions then smashed into a piece of bismuth. When
the zinc and bismuth atoms fused, they produced an atom with 113
protons. This atom decayed, incredibly rapidly, into a series of
daughter products, each an alpha particle (two protons and two
neutrons) lighter than the parent atom. The daughter nuclides are
the clear offspring of element 113, and only element 113,
whose presence can thus be determined.
Back in 2004 and 2005,
the same team noticed what looked like element 113 in four decay
events, which included the spontaneous fission of an isotope of
dubnium (element 105). But the final daughter products were not
established relatives of 113, so the IUPAC didn’t recognize the
discovery. This time, the alpha decay chain is clearer: From a heavy
isotope of element 113, to isotopes of relatives Roentgenium (111);
Meitnerium (109); Bohrium (107); Dubnium (105); Lawrencium (103); and
Mendelevium (101).
A new paper describing
this decay chain will be published in the Journal of the
Physical Society of Japan. Representatives of the IUPAC have not yet
responded to a request for comment on what’s next.
The periodic table
is almost full. During the past few years, teams in various
countries have reported finding the final remaining elements: 113,
115, 117 and 118. As of June, the IUPAC was still
evaluating claims for their discovery. No assignments have been made
yet, but are being considered by a IUPAC and IUPAP Joint Working
Party. If the IUPAC recognizes this discovery, the RIKEN team will
get to name element 113.
No comments:
Post a Comment