A joint team of Russian and American scientists in Dubna, Russia created two new elements last week. The new elements, temporarily named ununtrium and ununpentium, were formed from the collision of calcium and americium, two elements found in nearly everyone’s household kitchen.
The discovery of ununtrium, element number 113 and ununpentium, element number 115, was made by a team of researchers from the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute and the Chemical Biology and Nuclear Science Division at the Lawrence Livermore Nationals Laboratory, along with colleagues from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia.
This is the first time these elements have been synthetically created, but scientists are still debating if they can exist in supernovas or during a process such as the Big-Bang.
“This could be the first time in the history of the universe these elements existed; nobody is quite sure yet,” said Richard Furnstahl, professor of physics at Ohio State.
Although the idea of elements may conjure up thoughts of chemistry class, these new super heavy atoms are the work of nuclear physicists.
“They are high-energy and short-lived with life spans of nanoseconds,” said Prabir Dutta, chair of the chemistry department at OSU. “You cannot make compounds out of them.”
The more scientists have found out about these super heavy atoms, the more they need to rewrite some chemistry principles. This new chemistry is greatly affected by relativity, Furnstahl said.
These new elements are referred to as super heavy because of their atomic make-up. Their numbering of 113 and 115 refers to the number of protons inside the nucleus. The greatest number of naturally occurring protons inside the nuclei is 92, which exist within the uranium nucleus.
“What makes this a difficult problem is protons have a positive charge. And that nuclear charge is what makes them want to repel, and that is why they don’t last long at all,” Furnstahl said.
The researchers were able to cram all the protons in with a procedure using a high-energy calicum-48 beam aimed at an americium – 243 target, according to a statement from LLNL. Calcium, which is classically found in dairy products, typically has 20 neutrons in its nucleus. In this experiment the calcium nucleus is packed with 28 neutrons. Americium is a synthetically made element, which can be found in most smoke detectors.
The discovery of the two elements is still unofficial. The work needs to be reproduced, before the elements can be renamed. New elements are often named after where they are found or who found it.
As excited as the physicists are, they will admit the new discovery will have little to no implication in everyday life for most people.
“It’s not going to change the world,” Furnstahl said. “But this does help to start putting together the puzzle of the universe. This work gives us incremental understanding.”
