It's been five years since the last element was added to the
periodic table, but that's changing with element 112.
A yet-to-be-named "super-heavy" element will be joining the
117 other elements on the periodic table. The newest addition was first fused in
1996 by a team at the GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany.
The researchers were able to create the atom again in 2000.
While both feats were impressive, the International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) requires the experiment to be successfully performed
by another group, preferably an independent team. In 2004, researchers at RIKEN
in Japan
were successful in recreating the atom.
About Element 112
Element 112 has an atomic mass of 277 and is the sixth
super-heavy element discovered at GSI since 1981. To create 112, German
scientists used a 120-metre long particle accelerator to fire "5 billion billion (5 x
1018)" zinc ions at 30,000 kilometers per second at a target made of
lead for a three-week period.
The first glimpse at 112 lasted for only a third of a
millisecond, until it decayed first into element 110 (darmstaditium) and then
into four different short-lived elements until researchers lost its trail at
element 110 (fermium).
After its initial discovery, other scientists had a hard
time recreating element 112 and prove its existence. Since then, only four
atoms of element 112 have been observed – enough to gain acceptance into the
periodic table.
Naming 112
Since GSI created element 112 first, they get to choose the
name, which then has to go through the IUPAC for approval. Although they'll be
deliberating about the name for the next few weeks, Sigurd Hoffman, leader of
the GSI team, has given a clue about the group's possible direction. "I think
we will try to find somebody who makes big contribution to the thinking of
mankind and who has had cultural influence," he said.
"A Friendly
Competition"
Element 112 is one of 22 man-made elements. Since the
discovery of the last naturally-occurring atom in 1925, scientists in Germany, the United
States, Japan,
and Russia
have competed to discover more. Today, a friendly competition continues.
Although 112 will be known as the heaviest element for now,
researchers worldwide are striving for even heavier elements. ""The aim is
to find the end of the periodic table…you can't say where it is until you have
tried," says Hoffman.
Resources:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/06/12/zinc-lead-new-superheavy-addition-to-the-periodic-table/
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17297-first-new-element-for-five-years-makes-periodic-table.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14920190.700-the-short-exciting-life-of-element-112.html
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