Chemistry Nexus
by WebElements: the periodic table on the web
Element 112 (Uub) to become Copernicium, Cp
In honour of scientist and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the discovering team around Professor Sigurd Hofmann suggested the name copernicium with the element symbol Cp (eventually the symbol Cn was accepted) for the new element 112, discovered at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Center for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt. It was Copernicus who discovered that the Earth orbits the Sun, thus paving the way for our modern view of the world.
WebElements December 15th, 2009
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry
Independent Verification of Element 114 (ununquadium)
Workers in the USA verify the production of element 114 in the reaction of 244-MeV 48Ca with 242Pu. Two chains of time- and position-correlated decays were assigned to 286114 and 287114. The observed decay modes, half-lives, and decay energies agree with the original claims of researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna in Russia.
WebElements December 15th, 2009
Posted In: Chemistry, Group 14 elements, Nuclear chemistry, p-Block, Radioactive elements
Element 118 discovery retracted
The team of Berkeley Lab scientists that announced two years ago (1999) the observation of what appeared to be Element 118 (heaviest undiscovered transuranic element at the time) has retracted its original paper after several confirmation experiments failed to reproduce the results. This meant that the pages for element 118 and parts of the data for element 116 required updating. Further details.
WebElements December 14th, 2009
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry
IAEA Analysis of Uranium Supply to 2050
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the world’s centre of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.
The IAEA has published its Analysis of Uranium Supply to 2050.
WebElements December 14th, 2009
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry
Element 122?
Hard to know what to make of this as it is not my field. But here is a claim for element 122, or maybe 124, detection in thorium by a mass spectrometric method.1 The authors have claimed previously the observation of very heavy isotopes, for instance Rg isotopes in the mass spectra of natural gold.
Abstract:1 Evidence for the existence of a superheavy nucleus with atomic mass number A=292 and abundance (1-10) x 10-12 relative to 232Th has been found in a study of natural Th using inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry.
WebElements September 1st, 2008
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry
Tags: element 122, Gold, unbibium
Welcome back element 118 (ununoctium)
Experiments conducted at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) at Dubna in Russia indicate that element 118 (ununoctium, Uuo) was produced. Not too much though, one atom in the spring of 2002 and two more in 2005.1, 2
The 2002 experiment involved firing a beam of 4820Ca at 24998Cf. The experiment took 4 months and involved a beam of 2.5 x 1019 calcium ions to produce the single event believed to be the synthesis of 294118Uuo.
WebElements December 12th, 2007
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry
Tags: Element 116, Element 118, Livermorium
Polonium: did it kill Alexander Litvinenko?
It is suggested that poisoning by polonium-210 may have caused the death of Alexander Litvinenko, said to be a former Russian spy, in November 2006. Following his death at the end of November 2006, traces of polonium were found at several places he had visited before becoming ill. Before his death it was thought that thallium, or even radiothallium, might have been the cause of his illness.
WebElements November 25th, 2006
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry
Tags: Polonium
China aims to extend the periodic table
China is expecting to complete work on the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) – Cooler Storage Ring (CSR) soon. Its director, Zhan Wenlong, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said “our target is to form new heavy elements and expand the Periodic Table” and “the building of large science facilities demonstrates not only our specific technological know-how, but also the prowess of our basic research”.
WebElements June 7th, 2006
Posted In: Chemistry, Nuclear chemistry