It's All About the Ununpentium

spitefulcrow writes "The New York Times is reporting that elements 113 and 115 have been created by a joint team of Russian and American scientists. The temporary names are ununtrium and ununpentium until the experiment has been duplicated and verified in another lab. According to the article, speculation has been made that 'Rather than being round, nuclei in that region and beyond could contain bubbles and have strange doughnut-like shapes'."

area 51 conspiracy link to ununpentium

[cr@ckwhore]

Interesting notion ... I happened to stumble across a reference to this "ununpentium" the other day while satisfying my science fiction curiosities on a site called "AboveTopSecret.com". Apparently, some of the Area 51 conspiracy theorists believe it's used in anti-gravity research... or something like that.

Document about ununpentium published in 1999:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/element 115.htm l

Re:area 51 conspiracy link to ununpentium

[Loadmaster]

Ununpentium was the supposed element that powered alien spaceships as stated by Bob Lazar. After many years and a website (boblazar.com) they admitted that this whole thing was an attempt to promote a movie idea. Too bad the main character, Lazar, looks like friggin' Keith Richards after a badger attack. Tom Cruise gets paid the big bucks for something guys, and it's sure not his acting.

The Answer is 126.

[leoaugust]

Rather than being round, nuclei in that region and beyond could contain bubbles and have strange doughnut-like shapes, Dr. Nazarewicz said.

One of the theories is that our universe is shaped like a doughnut. Universe as Doughnut: New Data, New Debate [utexas.edu] So, the highest and the deepest reaches are similar in our conception.

The discoveries fill a gap at the furthest edge of the periodic table and hint strongly at a weird landscape of undiscovered elements beyond.

I recollect that Star trek [xs4all.nl] starts off with "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Those numbers should help map out what Dr. Nazarewicz prefers to call generically a "region of stability" among the superheavies. (Because, he says, it could resemble a peninsula more than an island.) Various theories have suggested that the next magic proton number is 114, 120 or 126, he said. There is general agreement that the next magic neutron number is 184, he said.

According to Douglas Adam, the answer is 42. [ans42.com] I would say the other possible answers are 84, 126, 168, & 210. So, the correct answer is 126.

Q.E.D

Purpose

[PhotoGuy]

Other than bragging rights, does the discovery of these newer elements (most of which only exist for a tiny moment in time) serve any real purpose? Could someone explain how this type of research has produced real benefit for science?

The Big deal with Element 115...

[NuWinter]

Assuming it was found, is that based on our understanding of the Periodic Table of Elements, those elements in the same Group or column have similar properties.

So, based on that knowledge we can say that Element 115 should be very much like Element 83 (Bismuth), which is the most diamagnetic metal, giving it some very interesting properties.

Also, it should be noted that Element 115 should it possess diamagnetism, and all indications are that it should, it will be a much better diamagnetic material than Bismuth.

Re:What's the point ?

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

I heard element 126 is predicted to be stable.

If so, we are getting closer.

Re:Science Today

[cheesybagel]

For one, you don't know for sure if elements with higher atomic weight than we have found on Earth exist or not. They could be extremely rare or just not have been discovered yet, yet not be radioactive.

Regarding stability and element size... Technetium (element 43) is radioactive, yet Gold (element 79) is stable. It is even one of the less reactive materials we know...

Re:Not the first doughnut element

[MillionthMonkey]

How the hell was this determined? Particularly the wobbly Uranium nucleus. Is it just a theory based on mathematical predictions, or is it actually based on direct observations like X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction studies?

Yes.

A number of experimental tools are available for nuclear shape determination:
-The electric quadrupole moment [gsu.edu]
-Neutron scattering experiments [iucr.org]
-Giant dipole resonance [tifr.res.in]
-Momentum distributions of collision fragments [arxiv.org]

In principle the nucleons can be approximated as particles existing in a square potential well, defined by the positions of all the other particles. Solving for a wave function in a potential well like that reveals a set of solutions with associated quantum numbers, which turn out to be somewhate analogous to those calculated for the hydrogen atom with its inverse-square potential, and which we can identify in the energy levels and spectra of real, nonidealized nuclei.

Things are complicated by the fact that the potential within a nucleus is not strictly definable as a potential. It is created by the sum of the nuclear and electromagnetic forces and these fall off at different rates. The nuclear force is short range, but the electromagnetic force reaches all the way across the nucleus. So when they reach a certain size you see the effects of the charge buildup. Large scale movements of particles through the nucleus become evident, and sometimes pieces even break off if merely poked by a slow neutron. Your skepticism is not unreasonable. In fact researchers had a hard time believing their own experiments when they exposed uranium to neutrons and suddenly had to explain the appearance of barium.