2 'superheavy' elements hint at unknown frontiers (periodic table 113&115)

[Wonk]

A team of Russian and American scientists is reporting today that it has created two new chemical elements, called superheavies because of their enormous atomic mass. The discoveries fill a gap at the farthest edge of the periodic table and hint strongly at a weird landscape of undiscovered elements beyond.

The team, made up of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, is disclosing its findings in a paper being published in Physical Review C, a leading chemistry journal. The paper was reviewed by scientific peers outside the research group before publication.

"Two new elements have been produced," said Walt Loveland, an Oregon State University nuclear chemist familiar with the research. "It's just incredibly exciting. It seems to open up the possibility of synthesizing more elements beyond this."

(snip)

Scientists generally do not give permanent names to elements until the discoveries have been confirmed by another laboratory. By an international convention based on the numbers, element 113 will be given the temporary name Ununtrium (abbreviated Uut for the periodic table) and element 115 will be designated Ununpentium (Uup).

more...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001848536_chemical01.html

http://news.google.com/news?q=superheavy

[mike1963]

1. Interesting, but weird that they would assign 3-letter symbols for them.

All other elements are either 1 or 2.
Hmm.
Edit: but I guess it wouldn't be much stranger than
K Potassium
AG Silver
W Tungsten
Au Gold
Sn Tin
and so on...
;-)

[aquart]

4. UUP and UUT? And I'm supposed to know which is which?

I hope these awful nonentity names are merely temporary.

[Endangered Specie]

14. They usually are, The last few elements used to be UU(something).

[Must_B_Free]

15. Somehow Microsoft must have bribed their Brand onto this

Ununpentium???

Whyt not just say Pentium?

[northzax]

37. well since it's actually an INTEL trademark

I think we can somehow absolve the Evil Empire for this.

it's worth noting that new elements are assigned a numerical name until they can be confirmed, this leads from a scandal a couple of years ago where a researcher claimed to discover 116, but was found to have falsified data.

After it is confirmed, a committee names them. The old Unlihexium (106) is now Seaborgium. This naming system was set up to stop US and Soviet scientists from naming things like Stalinium and Reaganium for political reasons. Of course, the new system isn't great either, the Brits insist on Rutherfordium...but what can you do about the provinces?

[MadAsHell]

33. Un Un Trium -> 1 1 3 Un Un Pentium -> 1 1 5

That is also why the three letter symbols are required...

[aneerkoinos]

36. what about 116 and 117?

How will they differentiate between Uus (ununsextium) and Uus (ununseptium)?

[demdave]

8. Just for info's sake a brief explanation....

Sn....From the Latin word stannum (tin)
K.....From the Latin word kalium
AG....From the Latin word argentum (silver)
W.....From wolfram (its German name)
Au....From the Latin word aurum (gold)

Also..


Uun.... Ununnilium ..discovered 1987...atomic number 110..Un (one) un (one) nil (zero) ium
Uuu.... Unununium....discovered 1994...atomic number 111..Un (one) un (one) un (one) ium
Uub.... Ununbium ....discovered 1996...atomic number 112..Un (one) un (one) bi (two) um

So it becomes clear why the new elements, with atomic numbers of 113 and 114, are named Ununtrium (Uut)and Ununpentium (Uup), respectively.

I guess their is a method to their madness, but a distinct lack of originality and inspiration.

[mike1963]

10. Good summary. I think I have evidence of an even more interesting one:

Oklahomium. Atomic number 170. The nucleons are not all protons, some of them are contons and others are neocons. It's the densest element possible without causing a 'big bang'. Inside the nucleons are some quarks and a lot of quirks and squawks. There seem to be a few goofyons floating around in there too.

And the oddest part is that they emit anti-photons which, as everyone knows are what power the 'light' bulbs of right-wingers who switch them on when they want to darken a room.

:eyes:

[reprobate]

21. Thanks for finally explaining the quarky behavior of oklahomans

I would assume the goofyons all have a right hand spin?

[Beetwasher]

12. Thanks!

That's great info...

[The Sushi Bandit]

30. Nissan just announced their new cars for 2005, the Unununium, Ununbium..

& Ununnilium!

They be Radioactive!!

[Ediacara]

9. There is a code for temporary elemental names

All of the superheavies past Lawrencium (103) had these names for a while, and then shed them once they were formally enshrined. There was actually some competing nomenclature for 104-107 for a few years before it was settled by IUPAC. When independant research confirms the properties of these elements, the Ununtrium and Ununpentium names will be shed for some real names.

[Dimsdale]

2. Exploring innerspace in a way.

Interesting science. These elements are mostly likely unstable, but it's an achievment to know we can go there. Hubble can show galaxies a billion light years distant. No way will ever go there.

[mike1963]

3. All elements are unstable, some moreso than others.

:D

[Heyo]

5. I also read recently..

They have created a new state of matter, as well have been able to create a quark-gluon plasma .. neat...

I am also very impressed that any-hydrogen has been made in recent years...

Neat stuff coming out of those supercoliders.. awesome science!

That's another thing I am big into... prospects of advancing humanity are pretty significant there.

-Heyo

[aneerkoinos]

16. The stuff and the ways of stuff

"...They have created a new state of matter..."

Scientists, the Creators? Interesting... ;)

Anyway, I presume you mean the Bose-Einstein Condensate? Yep, they got stuff in that phase of matter in 1995. The name BEC is not as catchy as gas, liquid or solid, but same category. Fascinating stuff, one of the most fascinating properties is that in that phase it's one big quantum thingie...

[Sparky McGruff]

17. The newest state of matter...

A fermion condensate.

See here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040129073547.htm
or here: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/01/28/matter.new.reut/

To recap:

Solid
Liquid
Gas
Plasma
Bose-Einstein Condensate
Fermion condensate

(or so I understand...)

[Beetwasher]

19. Yes, Very Exciting!

Great Links! This is the best of humanity...

[aneerkoinos]

26. from cold to hot

something like this(?):

"supra-atomic"
Bose-Einstein Condensate (bosons)
Fermion condensate (fermions)

"atomic"
Solid
Liquid
Gas

"subatomic"
Plasma

[jmowreader]

38. Two more states of matter for you

I learned that the states of matter are...

Solid
Sol
Gel
Liquid
Gas
Plasma

They didn't have the condensates in the 1970s.

According to this states of matter sequence...

A solid is just that--solid.
Sols are the denser of the two semisolid states. A good hard ice cream is a sol.
Gels are less dense than sols, but not quite liquid. Toothpastes are invariably gels, even the ones that aren't transparent.
Then come liquid, gas and plasma.

[jokerman93]

18. Fermionic Condensate

Source: National Institute Of Standards And Technology
Date: 2004-01-29

NIST/University Of Colorado Scientists Create New Form Of Matter: A Fermionic Condensate

Scientists at JILA, a joint laboratory of the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) report the first observation of a "fermionic condensate" formed from pairs of atoms in a gas, a long-sought, novel form of matter. Physicists hope that further research with such condensates eventually will help unlock the mysteries of high-temperature superconductivity, a phenomenon with the potential to improve energy efficiency dramatically across a broad range of applications.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040129073547.htm

[Heyo]

28. Yup..

I was talking about the fermionic condensate, as the next poster has stated..

that makes six states of mater...

Heyo

[bemildred]

7. Yeah, I think the idea is they are sorta quasi-stable.

And the exciting part is that there might be "islands of stability"
out there at higher atomic weights with who know what properties,
time travel, faster than light express trains, death star rays,
things like that. :-)

[reprobate]

22. No way will ever go there

Well, we could try to go there, but the problem is that by the time we got there there would be no there there.

I've been waiting years for the chance to say that.

[PeakOil2008]

25. Never say never when it comes to space travel

Though it almost certainly will not take place within the scope of our lifetimes, intergalactic travel for humans could someday be a reality for mankind.

If only we can finally evolve past the lock-step Republican mentality...

[stevedeshazer]

6. Fascinating stuff

Thanks for the post and the links.

[Beetwasher]

11. I Live For This Shit

Damn I can't wait, I hope, for verification and duplication. I guess I'm a toal nerd, but this excites the shit out of me...

[9215]

39. Time travel

I love to hear about these discoveries. I heard once about a theory of time travel via micro-physics and how some people believe that alternate universes could be created with the manipulation of sub-atomic particles.

There was an experiment involving these sub-atomic particles where they were left unaccounted for at the end of the experiment. They simply disappeared. Leaving the possibility that the particles entered another space-time continuum.

I thought that possibly, if the measurments were correct, that the effect of the experiment may have reduced these particles to yet smaller particles that the instrumentation was unable to pick up.


IMO at anytime we could make a scientific discovery that would render all known theories of physics dead in the water. Of course this applies to many other fields too.

We could find a way of harnessing power to travel at light speed at any time.

[daleo]

13. How about Lazarium?

Just kidding.

[Sparky McGruff]

20. Roswellium? ArtBellium?

For those not in on the "joke"...

Element 115 is reported to be the magic component of the antigravity devices used in the alien spacecraft that was recovered in Roswell, New Mexico.

Or, so says Bob Lazar, a frequent guest on the Art Bell show. Bob claims to have been involved in the "reverse engineering" of the UFO, and has all the technical details for those who are interested.

I used to listen to said show on AM radio when making long drives in the middle of the night. UFOs and ghosts and aliens and grand conspiracy theories, OH MY! Quite enjoyable, in a wingnut sort of way.

[reprobate]

23. Saw him on tv. It was either U of Washington or Uof Cali TV

I was impressed with his ability to make one believe the unbelievable

[daleo]

24. Listening to these fellows is a sort of "guilty pleasure" thing.

You might as well throw in the Jeff Rense website, as well.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

27. what is 114?...or where is 114?

[diamond14]

29. Official names for Elements #104 - 110 (IUPAC)......links to all elements

short reason for the UU names...the chemists must decide the final names of elements, specifically, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)....as a long time member of IUPAC, I can tell you that there is LOTS of bickering and fighting for elemental names...countries, laboratories, scientists all demand the honor...as you may note from the more recent series of names....once upon a time, elements were named after planets like Neptunium, and Plutonium and Uranium....

according the most recent Periodic Chart of the Elements:

Element 111 has not yet been named, but the IUPAC provisional name is 'Uuu'

Elements with atomic numbers 112, 114, and 116 have been reported, but not yet fully authenticated.

http://www.iupac.org/general/FAQs/elements.html


here's the official IUPAC names for #104 - 110

104 Rutherfordium
105 Dubnium
106 Seaborgium
107 Bohrium
108 Hassium
109 Meitnerium
110 Darmstadtium

[diamond14]

31. links to times of discovery for all Elements....

http://www.iupac.org/reports/periodic_table/index.html

[diamond14]

32. and ANSWERS to all your ELEMENT questions, including uun uup

http://www.iupac.org/general/FAQs/elements.html

[BiggJawn]

34. I'm waiting for Unobtainium

My IT people have been telling me for years somne of the stuff I need is made from Unobtainium...:evilgrin:

[Iverson]

35. The academy has been theorizing Deconstructium.

It's practically required to have that element in your syllabus, your bookshelves, files, articles, everything!

[glitch]

40. icenineium nt