Heaviest element yet within reach after major breakthrough

Nature ^ | 23JUL2024 | Katherine Bourzac

[AdmSmith]

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, announced today that they have for the first time used a beam of titanium to make a known superheavy element, livermorium — element 116. After upgrading the lab’s equipment, the team plans to use similar techniques to try to produce element 120. The heaviest element that has been made so far is oganesson, element 118, which was first synthesized in 2002.

[AdmSmith]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbinilium

[AdmSmith]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbinilium

article
Towards the Discovery of New Elements: Production of Livermorium (Z=116) with 50Ti

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.16079

[The Westerner]

Rearden Metal?

[bigbob]

Next: Odonnellium (formed by bombarding fat cells with Oreo particles)

[DoodleBob]

[Red Badger]

Liverwurstium...............

[SunkenCiv]

---

---

· List topics · post a topic · subscribe · Google ·

---

[NorthMountain]

Mizz Rand was very far from being a physicist.

Superheavy elements are synthesized in nuclear accelerators one atom at a time, and have half-lives measured in milliseconds

[DoodleBob]

You do realize they hate smart-alecks like us?

[sasquatch]

The Ti beam is from a cyclotron, not mechanical.

[Red Badger]

They hate us cuz they ain’t us!.................

[Carry_Okie]

Unless there is a productive reason for funding this kind of research, I'm all for dumping Federal funding for what ends up as little more than scientific virtue signaling. These elements are too difficult to make for any substantial practical use.

[BuchananBrigadeTrumpFan]

That makes it all the more delectable!

[rightwingcrazy]

Americium/Californium/Livermorium. They’re working toward cooking Lawrence Lab’s mailing address into the periodic table. I suggest the street name for this one.

[M Kehoe]

Unobtainium.

5.56mm

[JimRed]

If you have to synthesize it, how is it an element? I always thought of elements as naturally occurring.

[monkeyshine]

Damn these people. Now I have to order a new periodic table!

[rdcbn1]

Superheavy elements are synthesized in nuclear accelerators one atom at a time, and have half-lives measured in milliseconds

---

Unless, of course, they reside in the Island of Stability.

[llevrok]

Upsidazium (Rocky and Bullwinkle reference)

[MortMan]

I thought stupidium was the densest element.