Element 118 Created

BuzzSkyline writes, "The heaviest element yet, Element 118, has been created in Dubna, Russia by a collaboration of researchers from Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US. They created the new element by fusing together Californium (element 98) and Calcium atoms. The achievement comes five years after the scandal-plagued retraction of an earlier claim, which was based on fabricated data, that three atoms of element 118 had been produced at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. The achievement was reported on October 9 in the journal Physical Review C (subscription needed to read more than the abstract)."

Big deal

[Anonymous Coward]

I have ten pounds of Element 119 right here...

Re:Big deal

[TobyRush]

I have ten pounds of Element 119 right here...

Dude, for the last time, that's not Element 119. They're called "CornNuts." And they don't give you, or anyone else, "special powers."

Re:Big deal

[OrangeTide]

I think having 10 pounds of cornnuts is a special power in itself.

Right you are.

[hullabalucination]

Dude, for the last time, that's not Element 119.

That's right. Everybody knows that Element 119 is Oatmealium, which is now the heaviest element. Especially if you let it dry out and harden in the bowl for a couple of days.

Little-known factoid: CornNuts is the Official Disease of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

* * * * *

Wanted: Used sig. Must be low mileage, in good condition. Will be used by my mother as an everyday "go to work" sig. Will pay top dollar for the right one.

patented process

[walt-sjc]

Unfortunatly, the process for combining Californium and Calcium (which is called "Californication") has already been patented by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Re:

[davidsyes]

Calinobyllium?

Chernofornium?

Ahnobyllium (therminator-grade)?

Collyfohnium?

Must be early. I need to start my day with a breakfast of cinnamony, toasty ATOM jacks... wait... is that "Apple Jacks"...

Re:

[Peet42]

Earth, Air, Fire, Water... What's the fifth one?

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[Bertie]

Milla Jovovich.

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[gkhan1]

If you really want to go by the movie, it's technically love. I guess most slashdoters, being linux-using, slightly unattractive über-geeks with little education in literature might have missed that because the mindnuming hotness of Ms. Jovovich's body was standing in the way.

Re:

[fritsd]

I think you're quintessentially right, but the film was really not THAT good.

Re:

[gkhan1]

Amen, brother! :)

Re:

[niktemadur]

I think you're quintessentially right, but the film was really not THAT good.

Consider the fact that the fifth element is actually Boron.

Re:

[smithmc]

  I think you're quintessentially right, but the film was really not THAT good.

But Ms. Jovovich really is THAT hot.

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[Anonymous Coward]

The point you're probably missing is that Ms. Jovovich's body is love.

Re:

[hador_nyc]

If you really want to go by the movie, it's technically love. I guess most slashdoters, being linux-using, slightly unattractive über-geeks with little education in literature might have missed that because the mindnuming hotness of Ms. Jovovich's body was standing in the way.

No, we all get the love point, but that is not nearly as funny as a low-brow sexual reference.

Re:

[Bertie]

Ah, but you see, that wouldn't have got a laugh.

Re:No Laugh

[gkhan1]

Yeah, slashdot is so geeky we actually quantify humor.

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[OrangeTide]

cornnuts.

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[Xyrus]

Mila Jovavich covered in hot cornuts.

~X~

Re:

[From A Far Away Land]

Is someone about to stuff Element 118 down their pants?

Re:

[Cylix]

I do hope the trolls pick up on this one.

We need a relevant up to date troll topic.

Trolls are so behind the times with their Natalie Portman fixation.

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[Silver Sloth]

Surprise (c.f. Terry Pratchett - Theif of Time)

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[am 2k]

AFAIK in Asia, they have a 5th one: metal.

Re:

[KDR_11k]

Gold, actually. And they have wood instead of air.

Re:It is a BIG DEAL!

[jhjmonnee]

Heart. Then Captain Planet shows up to take care of the bad guys...duh.

Re:

[Nanpa]

Captain Picard was the best IMHO

Re:

[TheSpoom]

Oh God, don't get me started on fucking heart. I mean, what kind of shit power is that? Exactly what can that dude do, love his enemies to death?

If I got heart as a power, I'd say fuck it, I'm moving to Mars.

Re:

[lseltzer]

snot

Re:

[aplusjimages]

According to Battle Beast [wikipedia.org], there is only Fire! Wood! or Water! I think 118 was codenamed Sunburst.

Re:

[SamSim]

Surprise, according to Terry Pratchett.

Re:

[smithmc]

  Earth, Air, Fire, Water... What's the fifth one?

Caffeine.

Re:

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Earth, Air, Fire, Water... What's the fifth one?"

Isn't that the one that forms Captain Planet's torso?

Not Politically Correct

[civman2]

Guys, you can't just tell an element as young as element 118 it's heavy. You'll crush its self esteem. I think the proper term these days is "in danger of becoming overweight".

Re:

[Rahga]

I don't think self esteem is in danger here... the Californium will just inject a more Calcium atoms here and there, and BAM [typepad.com]! Instant confidence.

Re:

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

The poor thing might come to pieces.

Self-esteem problem?

[cold fjord]

Self-esteem problem? Maybe it's time you try Nu-kleeas(R), the all new "proton enhancement" solution.

Just take it 30 femtoseconds before any quantum coupling and you will see an all new you.

Ask your PhD about it today to see if the little "quantum packet" is right for you.

Warning: Side effects may include uncertainty, fission, fusion, photon emission, prolonged electron excitation, ionization, or other side effects. Tell your PhD if you are engaged in any antimatter collisions. Nu-kleeas(R) is not right for everybody.

Re:Self-esteem problem?

[elmCitySlim]

Wheres the diarrhea warning? Any self-respecting perscription has that side effect.

No no: "Husky"

[BeeBeard]

As some Slashdot posters may already know, there's a whole section in Sears where element 118 can shop.

A ways to go before element 137

[NoInfo]

Element 137 should be the max element: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untriseptium [wikipedia.org]

Re:A ways to go before element 137

[Wilson_6500]

Keep reading. The article says that a relativistic solution to that estimation indicates 138 is the heaviest.

Beyond that, it's just an estimate. The universe is full of surprises.

do limitations on electrons count?

[Xtifr]

I'm not a particle physicist, but from what I can see, it's saying that the problem is that some of the electrons would have to be moving faster than the speed of light. But is that really an issue? Maybe you can only have positive ions of elements above that, but they'd still be atoms of those elements. Heck, even with no electrons at all, it would still just be an extremely positive ion! At least as I understand matters. Basically, unless I'm misunderstanding or misinterpreting, 137 or 138 is the heaviest element for which a neutral atom can exist, but there should be no limit to elements for which positive ions can exist up till you reach the point where gravity starts to become a larger factor than the strong nuclear force.

Re:

[drewzhrodague]

I'm not a particle physicist, but from what I can see, it's saying that the problem is that some of the electrons would have to be moving faster than the speed of light.

I also understand that if you take a specified ammount of one of those desnse artificial elements, you can exert a force upon it, and it is part of the aparatus that helps us travel (in a vehicle) faster than light.

Not that I have any proof or anything, but this is what some of those alien conspiracy-thoerists believe. Here's a link to

Re:do limitations on electrons count?

[Gilmoure]

Yes, I do want to get off this planet as soon as possible.

Have you tried jumping UP?

Re:

[lawpoop]

In this [wikipedia.org] wikipedia article, it gives a reference to this snippet of Feynman's text [fotuva.org] which "Describes why element 137 is the last classically stable element."

So I guess the answer is that an ion is not a 'classically stable element'.

It's the innermost electrons that have the problem

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

Electrons fill out from the inside outward. If you try to take an electron out of an inner, lower energy orbital, then an outer electron will jump down into it. So in the long run you can't have any electrons at all.

The secondary problem is that superheavy elements already have a decay mode in which a proton captures an all-too-close inner electron and becomes a neutron, at which point it's no longer the same element.

Re:It's the innermost electrons that have the prob

[Xtifr]

It's the innermost electrons that have the problem? Are you sure about that? I would expect that the outermost electrons would have the farthest to travel, and would therefore need the greatest speed, so removing electrons from the outer shells would solve the problem. The outer electrons are higher energy, and I would assume that this is partly related to them having higher velocity. But I can see arguments for the other way around too, and I don't know which is correct.

I agree that electron capture is

Re:

[jheath314]

You're thinking of electrons as little planet-like objects orbiting the nucleus. Our current best understanding is that they don't follow orbits exactly, so much as they occupy orbitals (volumes of space where you have 90%+ confidence that the electron can be found inside.) The problem with the superlarge nucleii is that for electrons in the innermost shell to avoid absorption, they need to be moving quickly... in the case of elements higher than atomic number 137, faster than the speed of light.)

Re:A ways to go before element 137

[coaxial]

So would that make the atomic number of Unobtainium 139?

Re:

[smithmc]

  Keep reading. The article says that a relativistic solution to that estimation indicates 138 is the heaviest.

It doesn't say that, either. It says that 138 would be the heaviest element that could have 1s electrons. So maybe all elements higher than 138 can exist only as positive ions...?

Re:A ways to go before element 137

[CUatTHEFINISH]

No, no... That entry is wrong. There's always ludicrous speed. "Oh no, the electron has just gone... plaid!"

Re:

[MadUndergrad]

No. He didn't.

Re:A ways to go before element 137

[QuantumPion]

Neutron stars are just big nuclei, and they contain billions of billions of moles of nucleons.

But neutron stars are held together by gravity, not the strong nuclear force (as far as we know).

Re:

[abbamouse]

I thought neutron stars were composed of neutrons because gravity forced energy from protons, transforming them into neutrons. Am I wrong about this? No matter how many neutrons you have, you need protons to make a nucleus.

Re:

[phoenix.bam!]

The gravitational collapse forces the electrons and protons together forming neutral neutrons. The process actually adds to the proton; it doesn't remove energy.

Just in time

[Anonymous Coward]

Quick, gate it through K'Tau's sun before it's too late!

118, eh?

[vic.tz]

I'll believe it when I see it!

Truthiness.

[fahrbot-bot]

The achievement comes five years after the scandal-plagued retraction of an earlier claim, which was based on fabricated data, that three atoms of element 118 had been produced at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

So I guess this announcement has an element of truth about it...

[OK, shoot me now.]

And now the fun begins

[The Bungi]

Any ideas as to what this one will be called? Probably something with pop culture appeal? My votes:

• Googlium (now with proton-sized ads!)
• Podcastium
• Blogium
• Britneyspearsium
• Vistanium
• Thisisthelastoneweswearium
• Kimilsungium (dammit, is that radioactive!?)

I sure hope they name it something nice though. "Ununoctium", "Kurchatovium" and "Hassium" don't exactly roll off the tongue. No pun intended...

Okay... back to work.

Re:

[bcjanes]

The name has been around for a couple of years now... Unobtainium!! Haven't you seen The Core [imdb.com]? In fact, we already know it's properties - Gets stronger when under pressure, and converts heat to electricity!

Re:

[ceoyoyo]

You mean carbon? Under pressure it changes from things like graphite to diamond. It can't pull the heat to electricity trick though. For that you need a couple of different metals.

If that's the coolest unobtanium they could find I'm glad I didn't see the movie.

Re:And now the fun begins

[brian.glanz]

Ha, ha <g> ... There was that long controversy with naming before, so the last time someone thought they'd created 118, they intended to name it Ghiorsium after Albert Ghiorso [wikipedia.org] who "helped discover numerous chemical elements." I'd expect something similarly NOT controversial, while IUPAC will likely settle any disputes like they did for the long-disputed transfermiums [iupac.org] in 1997. These are some of the same guys right? so maybe still "Ghiorsium," and maybe we'll find out tomorrow at the press conference [llnl.gov]. BG

Re:And now the fun begins

[RealGrouchy]

If the name will be auctioned off, it will be named GoldenPalace.comium [youtube.com].

If the name will be put to a vote [youtube.com], it will be named Stevium Colbertium [youtube.com].

and finally, if it's left up to the Republicans, it will be named Reaganium [wikipedia.org]

(well, actually, it would be called Reaganium-VI, because by the time element 118 is named, five other elements will have already been renamed after Reagan. Including Oxygen.).

- RG>

Re:And now the fun begins

[Anonymous Coward]

If they put a vote on Slashdot, it will be 'Cowboyneelium'.
The FSF would name it 'GENOHE' (GNU Element Number One Hundred and Eighteen).
Microsoft would call it 'Microsoft® Viewium®'.
Apple would call it 'iElement'.
If they ask Nintendo, they'll call it 'Waangiiuum'.

Re:

[Rick Genter]

Hey, there we go.

Let's have a Slashdot poll:

What should Element 118 be called?

* Ununoctium
* Bob
* Element 118
* Unobtainium
* Tiberium
* Cowboynealium

Re:

[SloWave]

Dubnatonium

Re:

[hotdiggitydawg]

Well if it ever becomes a Slashdot poll, my vote's going to "CowboyNealium"...

Re:

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

It should be called DukeNukemForeverium. You hear about it every once in a while but you never get to see any of those 2.

International Element Registry

[Vreejack]

The perfect gift for any occasion!

Get our custom element naming kit and you will receive:

• A beautiful 16" X 12" full color parchment certificate personalized with the element name, date and atomic number.
• A Personalized 16" X 12" periodic table containing the element name, atomic number, atomic weight and hypothetical chemical properties with the location circled in red where the element is on the chart.
• Choose a round or heart-shaped pendant that contains a real metal sample!(##)
• "Your Place in the Periodic Ta

Re:

[niktemadur]

Googleplexium.

Instantiated?

[paulthomas]

Would it be more appropriate to say that element 118 has been successfully instantiated in a laboratory for the first time?

This is not a rhetorical question.

Wait. I thought...

[elgee]

I thought the heaviest element was Spamium which is destroying Internetium.

Re:

[LiquidCoooled]

You are correct, spamium and videoium are blocking the test tubes.

Re:

[Amazing Quantum Man]

How about Administratium?

In a lab in New Jersey..

[Channard]

'Gentlemen! I have created element 118, the heaviest element on earth and' *crash* 'Doc? Where are you? Doc? Dammit, that's one big hole, we really need to get those floorboards fixed.'

Why 118? Well...

[piphil]

A lot of people seem to be dismissing this as without a practical use. However there is method to the seemed madness of making ever-bigger nuclei. Elements tend to be either stable or unstable - carbon is stable, uranium is not. This stability is caused by the arangement of protons/neutrons in the atoms' nucleii. I'm not exactly sure why this occurs - I'm a biologist, I'm not really meant to know - but whether or not a nulceus is stable or not follows a pattern determined by "shell-model" calculations (see here [uni-heidelberg.de] for the science bit).

So although making 3 atoms of 118 doesn't seem to amount to much, especially as it instantly falls apart, it's another step on the way to making th first of the synthetic heavy elements in a "stability island". It's thought that such a material could have strange and useful properties. Or it could be a complete waste of money and be boring as hell. I don't know, but that's the point of research at the end of the day...

Re:

[niktemadur]

It's thought that such a material could have strange and useful properties.

Maybe a stable transuranic element will be one of the following examples, probably something more imaginative than what I could come up with:
1. A super-thin exoskeleton sheet for interstellar craft, protecting the travelers from cosmic rays and the like.
2. A superconducting medium at room temperature.
3. The key to develop and achieve full nanotechnology capabilities.

However, these elements are created through brute force (bombardment

And they shall call it...

[NeuroManson]

Nibblonium! And it shall double as spaceship fuel, as long as the Nibblonians continue to be prolific poopers.

futurama

[eneville]

"so dense that 1 ton weighs exactly 1000 tons"

Transparrrrrent Aluminium, out There Somewhere

[joe_n_bloe]

Somewhere in the 160s they tell me. Or maybe Scotty was referring to some clever ceramic. But it would be inifinitely cooler if the unobtanium in question were on a line of its own in a periodic table.

Now, apparently, and I have this on reliable inside information, stable transuranides are produced by "crossing the streams."

"That would be bad." Oh, yeah?

Unfortunately, once again

[Frumious Wombat]

it's not stable enough to detect except by its decay chain. It would be nice if they would work on getting over the hump to the next island of stability, so that we could bag these things in an ion trap, and measure their mass directly. OTOH, if this keeps physicists occupied and out of the bars, I'm all for it.

I'm surprised

[CrazyJim1]

I can't believe Honda sold 1 Element and now they're on their 118th sell. I guess people don't mind owning boxes as vehicles.

PBS Nova - Island of Stability

[copdk4]

this gives interesting insights - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3313/02.ht ml [pbs.org]

Re:Um... so?

[belg4mit]

118 Is supposed to be the first element of the Magic Island of Stability, doubly magic even.
Most man-made elements (Plutonium+) are incredibly short-lived and make poor paper weights.
Learn something http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3313/02.ht ml [pbs.org]

Re:Um... so?

[belg4mit]

Doh! Sorry, I mean 114. :-/

Island of stability

[Harmonious Botch]

Perhaps you meant 214? Or something in that range? Last I heard, the island was in the 200-300 range ( but my memeory is fuzzy )

138 seems to be the max

[XanC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untriseptium#Signific ance [wikipedia.org] via http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=200807 &cid=16441619 [slashdot.org]

Re:Island of stability

[emurphy42]

As usual, Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] is your friend. :) The island covers atomic masses in the high 200s, atomic numbers in the low 100s.

Re:

[Fred_A]

They have a big contract with an editor of periodic tables. Now that everybody has to update, they get 5% of the sales.

Re:

[SillySnake]

Hey! We love our inferiority complexes!

http://www.wartsworld.com/patch.html [wartsworld.com] My Diablo II Mod

Re:Is it the same fraudster?

[rtjohn]

My inferiority complex isn't as good as your's

Re:

[mako1138]

Table III in the paper quotes a half-life of 0.89 ms (+1.07, -0.31), based on observation of three decays.

Some other values (leaving off the uncertainty):

116 (A=291) 18 ms
    (A=290) 7.1 ms
114 (A=287) 0.48 s
    (A=286) 0.13 s
112 (A=283) 3.8 s
    (A=282) 0.82 ms
110 (A=279) 0.20 s
108 (A=275) 0.19 s
106 (A=271) 1.9 min
104 (A=267) 1.3 h

No clear trend, I'd say.

Re:

[Mahler]

From TFA

Element 118, the heaviest element yet found, was produced through collisions that fused together Californium and Calcium atoms. Although element 118 is too unstable to detect directly, the presence of daughter elements resulting from the decay of element 118 gave clues to its fleeting existence.

Re:

[Kuroji]

Yeah, but not whatever isotope they created - if I read properly, they discovered they'd made it due to the resultant decay it left.

That would be old news

[Noksagt]

In the game, it was called "Elerium 115" (after the 115th element). This has been synthesized [wikipedia.org].

Re:Created or Discovered ?

[Xiroth]

Actually, they created and discovered it, since they had to make it from smaller nuclei before it could be observed.

Re:Uuo 118

[Sique]

Don't confuse chemical stability and nuclear stability. Noble gases win the first game, iron and lead the second one (while for instance Francium sucks at both).

Re:Uuo 118

[Sique]

No, it was named after the most stable political entity of whole Europe, with a record setting 1500 years of continious history, founded by the Franconian Chlodwig in 507, an entity which also fought the most wars since the Middle Age (more than the two runners up United Kingdom and Austria combined) and has the oldest orthographic rules (not changed since about 400 years). You may have some issues with its existance, but most of them are caused by the fact, that this entity is so stable and seemingly undestroyable, even though it sometimes does the trick by weaseling out of consequences ;)

Re:

[davidsyes]

Maybe not only deeply troubled, but triply doubled...

Re:

[RubberDogBone]

His thing was element 115. So no. No cookie.

Re:

[niktemadur]

Transuranic element #1: "Hey! I just lost an electron!"
Transuranic element #2: "Are you sure?"
Transuranic element #1: "Yep, I'm positive"