Scientists Create Element 117, Which Is 40% Heavier Than Lead

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Undated picture released by GSI shows the particle accelerator SIS in Darmstadt, Germany.

Image: GSI, Achim Zschau/Associated Press

By Lance Ulanoff2014-05-02 17:20:30 UTC

Element 117, a super-heavy atom with a long half-life is, according to an international team of scientists, real and ready to take its place on the Periodic Table.

Scientists actually confirmed the existence and lifetime og the element in 2010 thanks to experiments conducted by teams in Russia and the U.S. However, now researchers in Germany and the U.S. have created the actual element, which is reportedly 40 times heavier than lead, according to a report in Phys.org.

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It wasn't easy to make element 117, whose temporary name refers to the 117 protons in its nucleus, according to LiveScience . Scientists took 18 months to create the material, berkelium, needed to synthesize it. U.S.-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) created the isotope and then a team at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, blasted it with its accelerator. They then pulled 117 atoms out of the nuclear reactions.

Of the 114 confirmed elements on the Periodic Table, 92 of them occur in nature, the rest have been guessed at, discovered and, in some cases, confirmed and synthesized.

The still-unnamed 117 isn't alone, though. All elements after 104 are considered "Super Heavy Elements" and reside in a portion of the Periodic Table known theoretically as the Island of Stability. Wikipedia describes these elements as a set of "undiscovered heavier isotopes of transuranium elements which are theorized to be much more stable than some of those closer in atomic number to uranium."

While super-heavy elements tend to decay in nanoseconds, those in the island of stability, like 117, have a much longer half-life, which "scientists could then develop for untold practical uses," LiveScience reports.

Periodic Table with six-new-isotopes. 117 and other super-heavies exist in the "Island of Stability."

Image: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

First theorized 25 years ago, scientists started synthesizing elements on the table's island of stability at the turn of the 21st century, mostly thanks to the powerful nuclei-colliding capabilities of particle accelerators.

According to the report, 117 still has one more hurdle to clear before full confirmation: the International Unions of Pure and Applied Physics and Chemistry (IUPAPC) has to review the findings and weigh in. No word on how long that will take.

Whatever the outcome, do not expect to buy an element 117 smartphone any time soon (though who wouldn't want one with such a cool name?). Scientists theorize, study and ultimately try to confirm and create these elements to learn more about the nucleus at the heart of every atom.

While we're waiting for the IUPAPC's results, let's see if we can give element 117 a shiny new name. We like "HeavyB" or "Weightonium." Drop your suggestions in the comments below.

Topics: particle physics, US & World, World