Transuranic Elements (1 Viewer)

[kimmeh]

is this possible? i found this article today in the SMH.
i know there are currently 118 elements that have been discovered. but according to this article, the only have just discovered elements 113 and 115. (this also relates to dot point 5.3.1 in Identification production of materials) so that means theyve left "blanks" for these elements and now have finally found them ? apparently 118 is ununoctium ..

 

[Ragerunner]

I'm pretty sure that is possible, if they managed to get element 118, they'd probably easily get 113/155, dunno why they didn't do it earlier?

Isn't it just simply bombarding elements with other elements?

 

[kimmeh]

yeah well.. thats what the transuranic elements are about. bombarding uranium with more stuff. then bombrading the bombarded elements for further elements i'm arguing, wouldnt they have 113/115 before they have 118 ? oh wait, they couldve bombarded it with different masses but still! i think its a bit werid.. or maybe SMH dug up a science story from 10years ago

 

[Xayma]

Actually they retracted the claim that they created an element with atomic mass of 118 Apparently the 115 atoms lasted about a second which is a huge time. And you also have to get the atoms to fuse which may cause some problems.

 

[iambored]

very interesting and relevant. you may be able to use the info

 

[kimmeh]

i got an explanation from teacher she said that it is easier to bombard a helium atom in terms of energy and since it is 4 He 2 , then the masses increase by 2s only. so it would be very hard to get an odd mass number.

 

[Xayma]

But most of the time they bombard it with Calcium ions and tend to get better results, since they can then dont have to try and bombard the newly form nucleus with another helium atom before it decays (within microseconds)

 

[kimmeh]

thus transuranic elements dont deserve to be on the periodic table they dont even last.. plus what would be their uses if they only lasted such a small faction of time?

 

[Xayma]

They wont have any practical use but they give an idea of the type of atoms formed in supernovas and at the beginning of the big bang.

 

[BlackJack]

Something to consider useful may be this:
In sub-atomic structures, the protons and the neutrons can act as a unit in reactions.
The 2 proton - 2 neutron arrangement is one stable subunit (see the stability of helium), and this is why alpha decays are ordinary helium nuclei and not some other atomic nuclei.

In trying to produce transuranic elements stability is the key attribute we need to keep. Hence adding Ca (40), etc. so that we are adding groups of stable nucleons.
Of course, they last for a fraction of a second anyway.... There are only too many protons lying around... The only reason we're trying is serendipity!
---
The transuranic elements wouldn't be there at the beginning though. The physics of the situation meant the nucleons had too much energy to fuse.
According to the theory we only start with H (and He).

 

[Xayma]

Well they form in supernovas etc. And the thing about the latest discovery is that when it decayed the super heavy atom lasted for about 1sec!

 

[Calculon]

Originally posted by kimmeh
thus transuranic elements dont deserve to be on the periodic table they dont even last.. plus what would be their uses if they only lasted such a small faction of time?

So that Seaborg and co over in USA can say "I discovered an element"

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

just a side point, the element 118 ununoctium is pretty dodgy as no1 was able 2 replicate the experiement....