First Superheavy Element Found In Nature 296
KentuckyFC writes "The first naturally occurring superheavy element has been found. An international team of scientists found several nuclei of unbibium in a sample of the naturally occurring heavy metal thorium. Unbibium has an atomic number of 122 and an atomic weight of 292. In general, very heavy elements tend to be unstable but scientists have long predicted that even heavier nuclei would be stable. The group that found unbibium in thorium say it has a half life in excess of 100 million years and an abundance of about 10^(-12) relative to thorium, which itself is about as abundant as lead." I'd also like it known that my spell checker did not know 'unbibium' before today, but it is now one word closer to encompassing all human knowledge.
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(Actual radiochemisty tends to be rather more complex than this simplistic description. I only had to write an expert system and inference engine for isotope identification, I didn't need to know all of the nuances of the field, such as anti-aliasing AMS data or worrying about characteristic distributions of gamma ray energies. They told me the peak energies and the known isotopes present for a given sample, the software then tried different scenarios and listed those which fit the available data along with the corresponding probability.)
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These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction normally taking less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years. It does not decay, but undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes, not to mention multiple oxymorons.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. That hypothetical quantity might normally be called 'critical mass' but, in this unique case it is known as 'critical mess'.
When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (Am), another just-discovered element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
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A fart is nothing more than a turd in particulate form.
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Over time, Capitalium produces emissions of money, some of which is absorbed by nearby Governmentium. Capitaliums will thus try to move as far away from Governmentium as possible. But most of this money is transmitted between other Capitaliums in what is know as the venture band. These oscillations of money produces economyetic radiation, which attracts more entreprenions, and stimulates peons, but also attracts greedions and slackhyons which have the temporary effect of increasing the flow of money in the venture band, while increasing their own energy.
However, as the flow in the venture band increases, the greedions and slachyons reach critical mass, and the flow of money becomes unstable and suddenly reduces dramatically. Capitaliums spontaneously split from their now depleted opportunium and evolve into Spend 0 particles, refusing to bond to any more opportunium. Any peons in the region become inert and may decay, or be absorbed by greedions and slackhyons, forming anti-entreprenions, which have the effect of destroying any opportunium they contact with.
The state will remain unstable for a time until the depleted Capitaliums begin to move closer to Governmentium. When this happens Governmentium undergoes a shift and emits bailout radiation, which has the effect of releasing vast amounts of stored money into the venture band and into Capitaliums. This restimulates the Capitaliums and they once again begin to emit economyetic radiation, and also move away from Governmentium.
Interestingly, Governmentium can be formed by either the fusion of peons, or the fusion of Capitaliums. However these two types of Governmentium have different spins, which manifests itself through their interactions with Medium, a type of Capitalium, which has the ability to pick up Governmentium and Capitalium spin, and then broadcast it to nearby peons.
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Otherwise known as Immense Isotope...
Just Unbibium? (Score:2, Interesting)
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From the article...
"What they did was fire one thorium nucleus after another through a mass spectrometer to see how heavy each was. Thorium has an atomic number of 90 and occurs mainly in two isotopes with atomic weights of 230 and 232. All these showed up in the measurements along with a various molecular oxides and hydrides that form for technical reasons."
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Re:Just Unbibium? (Score:4, Informative)
Single molecules. and nuclei, as conditions allow are detected all the time in mass spectrometers - thats what they do.(actually quantum efficiency of commonly used detectors are not that sensitive and will detect maybe 1 out of every 10 or 100 particle that comes its way - but it takes one lucky particle to make the signal.)
In mass spec, 292 is a common 'background" signal when analyzing organics- most likely from plasticizer - but could be something else. There was no description of the equipment that they used or whether they were detecting singly charged (or - unlikely - the nuclei fully stripped of electrons)
Great discovery if it is what it is.
Are we closer to the flying saucer? (Score:5, Funny)
I am so excited!
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In a nod to this discovery, in Excel 2003, if you place the cursor on cell z-199 and press ctrl-alt-right_shift-ins while typing XFILES a little flying saucer icon will appear from the left side of the screen and then travel around the screen in the exact flight path that the first manned Mars missio
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But I'm excited about 115 as well...
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here is the wiki entry (Score:2, Interesting)
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Valence electrons (Score:5, Interesting)
Extra steps. [wikipedia.org]
Taco uses a spell checker! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Taco uses a spell checker! (Score:5, Funny)
Have they discovered "bolonium" in nature yet ? (Score:5, Funny)
Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)
So how soon can we expect it to turn up in pet food and children's toys?
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So how soon can we expect it to turn up in pet food and children's toys?
Might be already. Thorium where it is found is a good and efficient nuclear fuel source. Relatively untapped as there are already stock piles of the stuff. Wiki has a little info on it as thorium [wikipedia.org]and in a reactor. [wikipedia.org] It actually amazes me we don't use Thorium more. But research would indicate the government chose Uranium because it is better to make bombs with.
Re:Awesome! (Score:5, Informative)
Firstly thorium itself is not fissile, but Uranium-233 which can be created from it is. Using thorium for nuclear fuel therefore requires a breeder reactor and associated reprocessing. At the moment this is more expensive than using enriched uranium in light water reactors, but it may change if the costs of reprocessing decrease.
The second problem is the reprocessing itself. The Uranium made from thorium will contain traces of highly radioactive gamma emitters, and current reprocessing techniques are unable to adequately shield the workers from this radiation. There is also very little experience with thorium based reprocessing.
When it comes from nuclear proliferation thorium reactors would need safeguarding just as a conventional reactor would. The main reason is that while thorium itself is not usable in nuclear weapons, the Uranium-233 which is breed from it would be quite suitable. If that were to prove unfeasible it would also be possible to use a highly-enriched U-233 core surrounded by a U-238 breeder blanket to produce Pu-239, used in plutonium based weapons.
Basically if you are going to run a nuclear reactor you will need safeguards to prevent proliferation. This need not be a reason why we can't use nuclear power, it just means we shouldn't give the technology to every dictatorship on the planet that is willing to sign a piece of paper.
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You can not use Thorium as a fuel. You can use it to breed fuel. The actual fuel in the Thorium fuel cycle is Uranium 233.
BTW Uranium 233 is also pretty good at making bombs.
Re:Awesome! (Score:5, Informative)
Thorium isn't fissile, so it's not just a matter of swapping U for Th.
Current fission reactors are based on same chain reaction that makes nuclear weapons work. Some people want to breed Th into U to keep using these reactor designs, but the cool thing about Th is that you can use it in a subcritical accelerator-driven system [wikipedia.org]. This is a truly safe form of nuclear reactor - pull the plug and the reaction stops, no way that it can melt down. It can actually "burn off" nuclear waste. And because no plutonium is created and the mix of uranium isotopes it produces is hard to weaponize, it's proliferation resistant and not a terrorist target the way a conventional plant is. Thorium is much more abundant than uranium, and easier to mine and process.
If fission has a future, it's accelerator-driven systems. We ought to be putting our reasources toward funding the R&D needed to deploy them instead of building dirty and dangerous uranium or plutonium fission plants.
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Most people don't even know that the lakes and oceans poisoned with mercury and those tuna advisories are all thanks to coal power plants. But then we better have coal or even the so called "clean coal" instead of nuclear power.
Unbibium, hmm? (Score:5, Funny)
All I ever find in thorium are star rubies, blue sapphires, huge emeralds, and Azerothian diamonds.
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Also found in naturally ocurring alien ships. (Score:2)
"See? See? if 122 is stable, 348 can be stable too. And for all we know, it may absorb magic power."
Island of Stability (Score:5, Informative)
Neat stuff: apparently they've theorized a bunch of these super-heavy elements, they just haven't been observed yet (until now)!
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2:14 AM Eastern time, August 29th (Score:5, Funny)
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The founder of ICHC [icanhascheezburger.com] is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom [medaloffreedom.com].
Normality restored. Whatever constitutes "normal", anyway.
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Is there an atomic physicist in the house? (Score:2, Interesting)
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It's just that the electrons are of little interest to the people doing the experiments. It's the nucleus that is of interest.
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Atomic mass really isn't affected much by electron mass, since electrons are so tiny. The nucleus of an atom pretty much defines all its relevant properties. The mass spectrometer really just gives a reading on the mass of the nucleus, as I understand it.
Re:Is there an atomic physicist in the house? (Score:4, Informative)
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How to predict the stability? (Score:2)
How do you do that?
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It involves throwing of bones and spherical crystals.
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Complex explaination: Lots and lots of really ugly math about the fundamental forces at
stargate ref (Score:2)
Re:stargate ref (Score:5, Insightful)
It's important, but I'd hardly call it one of the greatest discoveries made. It just confirms what we've suspected all along--There are stable elements past Uranium. There's a very narrow set of conditions that can synthesize them, and we haven't had alot of luck in the labs, but now that we know nature's managed it, we can possibly devise new experiments better aimed at sucessfuly generating these heavier elements.
As far as how it got there naturally--presumably the same way all the naturally occuring heavy elements came to be--Supernovae billions of years ago.
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Naqada (Score:2)
Naqadaium would be an excellent name for Unbibium 292.
What kind of a bomb could you make with this stuff (Score:2)
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Maybe I'm wrong, but I would think that, if the element has a half-life, by definition, it is not stable.
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Very doubtful (Score:5, Interesting)
After reading their paper, it's clear they haven't proven their case. There are *so* many possible explanations for the handful of counts they observed that this result should be ignored. Let me give a few:
- Molecular ions. They say there are no known molecular ions at this mass, I say BS. There are lots of observed molecular ions out there whose exact atomic makeup we haven't figured out. The worst is the interference on 87Sr that screws up lots of icpms age dating work and is not 87Kr (or we could correct for it). But there are others.
- Hydrocarbons: They say there are no hydrocarbons in the blank -- have they ever thought of hydrocarbons that are only ionized when lots of other things (ie a sample) is being ionized? No. They exist though, and are difficult to rule out. They didn't try very hard on this one. Try aspirating a solution of something else (U maybe, or Pb) and see what they get on 292. I'll bet there are counts, and they're not superheavies.
Another reason to be skeptical is that their Th solution is chemically purified. How are they going to do that without getting rid of the superheavy, which is after all not Th, and will be removed by any chemical process.
This is highly dubious work.
Mod parent up! (Score:2)
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How are these elements formed? (Score:4, Interesting)
So how are minerals with a "short" half-life formed on Earth? Wouldn't it require a quite immense energy to fuse these atoms? I suppose the Earth has to have the energies necessary, but... What's this talk about supernovae being required to fuse atoms heavier than iron (unlike typical star fusion that I believe can go as far as this) all about in that case?
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Re:How are these elements formed? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or at least, that's my best guess.
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[*] Assuming my math is right. If not, someone will correct it, as this is /. .0000005459
292 (atomic weight) * 2^50 / (6.02214*10^23) =
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So infinitesimally small numbers of nuclei can survive a huge number of half lives from their origin in a supernova long before the Earth was formed.
This story also says a lot about the state of modern detection that it can find these nuclei.
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Probably not. (Score:2)
Since other elements are more common, couldnt certain types of the less heavy radioactive elements just be decay remnants of unbibium?
Not if those other elements are both more common and less stable than the new guy. Though since thorium is extremely stable, I suppose that couldn't be ruled out. Unlikely though, since the energy required to form this stuff would be monstrous.
Presumably this guy was formed as a very rare event in a supernova, with a (relatively) substantial portion of the original materia
Where they found it? (Score:2)
Re:Where they found it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, how I remember passing the days on the bountiful thorium fields of my youth, before they paved them over with asphalt. How will the youth of today grow up to be responsible adults without the healthy, life-giving exposure to thorium [wikipedia.org] we all used to get? Good times, good times.
(It never ceases to amaze me how rationality just goes flying out the window, even here, when any subject even remotely related to radiation comes up. I understand why, but it still amazes me.)
Bah (Score:2)
ununbium or unbibium (Score:2)
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Super-heavy? (Score:2)
United Nuclear (Score:3, Funny)
Island of stability (Score:2)
So the "island of stability" [wikipedia.org] beyond the transuranics does exist. And it's bigger than expected. Interesting.
Yes, but what does Bob Lazar think? (Score:2)
what do you think?
Neither new nor certain (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: one technique for finding them. (Score:3, Interesting)
btw we can be assured that it is VERY unlikely that 126 is stable since we can't find any of it. We can be quite sure that anything with a half-life of >1Byr would be findable in some amount in all the searching that has been done.
Also, although 126 is 'perfect' in terms of protons, it is far from perfect in nue
Thorium? (Score:2, Funny)
I'd like to find more Khorium and Eternium, and my bank is overflowing with Adamantium.
Although it'd be hilarious to see someone get 1 'unbibium' for every 10^12 units of thorium prospected. They'd be like "WTF?"
126 is supposed to be the stable superheavy (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's some links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbihexium [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability [wikipedia.org]
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i10/8410notw9.html [acs.org]
half-life (Score:3, Funny)
Why isn't there more of it? (Score:5, Interesting)
They claim it's half-life is about 10e8 years. Since our solar system is very roughly 1e10 years old, that's about 100 half-lives, or a decrease by a factor of 2^100 or about 1e30. Since its atomic weight is 292, that suggests that an original sample of about 292e7 grams should have decayed to 1e7 moles * 6e23 at/mol / 1e30 = 6 atoms left. In other words, an original chunk of this stuff of mass 2,920,000 kilos would have decayed to 6 atoms. But when you condsider how much mass of all sorts of elements exist on the earth, and take into account chemical concentration, one would think more of this stuff would be around.... maybe. Does anyone know about the frequency of discovery of naturally radioactive isotopes with a similar half-life that are not part of the decay path of other longer lived radioactive isotopes? In other words, is it reasonable to expect to find significant quantities of something with a half-life of around 1e8 years that isn't being formed from other decay products any more?
Also, if the reason it is so rare is because so little was formed, perhaps that indicates it is extremely hard, even in a supernova, to create this element? What does that suggest about our ability to artificially synthesise this element?
Very interestng....
This Is Nuclear Physics (Score:3, Funny)
Scientist points at periodic table. "See it goes up to 292. [wikipedia.org]"
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Re:super nova (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, you know what, go ask your mother.
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Mod parent down (Score: -1, Misremembering Fictional Elements from a Sci-Fi Cartoon Series).