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Four elements added to periodic table

Scientists have now officially added four new elements to the periodic table, completing the discovery of all elements through 118.

All of the elements were created in the lab, by smashing lighter atomic nuclei together. The unstable agglomerations of protons and neutrons last mere fractions of a second before they fall apart into smaller, more stable fragments.

The teams that have been given credit for the discoveries can now put forward proposals for the elements’ names and two-letter symbols. Elements can be named after one of their chemical or physical properties, a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, or a scientist. Priority for discovering element 113 went to researchers in Japan, who are particularly delighted because it will become the first artificial element to be named in East Asia. When the element was first sighted 12 years ago, ‘Japonium’ was suggested as a name.

While creating element 119 is believed possible, beyond that it is thought unlikely that anything heavier can be produced in the lab.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Ted

    Lifted a partial quote … ” beyond that it is thought unlikely that anything heavier can be produced ”

    Anything that comes out of Washington – ACA, budgets, etc etc. Remember if their lips are moving they are lying.

  • pzatchok

    I hope they find or make a stable unobtanium someday.
    At least in the Avatar movie sense.

  • When I was a child learning the periodic table, it seemed to me that an ‘element’ by definition should be stable. Of what use is a substance that can’t be used? These are interesting experiments, but perhaps not useful ones.

  • Steve

    Agreed, what use is an element that can’t exist in the “real world”? Is it really an element in the traditional sense?

    Maybe it’s time to have 2 periodic tables, one for natural elements that can exist outside of super-colliders and black holes and also persist long enough to do something useful with. And another for all elements possible under any circumstances or environment.

  • Edward

    Pzatchok wrote: “I hope they find or make a stable unobtanium someday.”

    Maybe they will name one of these new elements unobtanium. They don’t last long enough to be obtainable/usable by today’s engineers; creating them may only be useful to assist us in understanding and updating our Standard Model of particle physics.

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