“Unbinylium”, a new element could be added to the periodic table

The periodic table as we know it could be updated. Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, have just taken a big step toward success in a truly titanic task: synthesizing a superheavy element called “element 120,” which could even add a period, or row, to the table.

He study published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters It seeks for the elements to achieve greater stability and be much heavier than those to which we are accustomed, such as iron and oxygen.

The periodic table

In 1860, the first International Congress of Chemists was held in Karlsruhe, Germany. Until then, chemists did not agree on how to name the elements or in the order. The first step in its arrangement was to establish the atomic weight and atomic mass; The first concept refers to the average mass of the isotopes of an element, and the second, to the total mass of the protons and neutrons in a particular atom or isotope. Scientists William Odling, Julius Lothar Meyer and Dimitri Mendeleiv were inspired by these definitions to devise the first table.

Of all the proposals, the one presented in 1869 by Mendeleiv was the most successful: it contained 63 elements of the 118 known todayleaving gaps for elements that would be discovered in later years, such as gallium or technetium. Currently we look at hydrogen, which has a single potron in its nucleus; to the organesson, which received its official name in 2016 and has at least 294 subatomic particles locked in the center of its atoms. Theoretically, researchers know that there should be even heavier elements in the Universe, and can predict how they will appear and act. However, to find them we must discover new methods that allow us to synthesize them on Earth. The two most promising elements are 119, called ununenium, and 120, known as unbinilium.which are so heavy that they cannot fit into any of the seven periods of the periodic table.

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The synthesis of element 120

“Creating a new element is an extremely rare feat. This reaction has never been identified before, and it was essential to demonstrate that it was possible before embarking on our attempt to create 120,” suggests Jacklyn Gates, a nuclear scientist at Berkeley Laboratory. and lead author of the report. To achieve this, the chemists focused on the procedure of specialists from Lund University, in Sweden, who tested a new method of observing livermorium, an element with 116 protons in its atomic nucleus.

For 22 days and with the help of the 88-inch cyclotron, the laboratory’s heavy ion accelerator, they manufactured two atoms of livermorium from plutonium-244, an isotope of plutonium. Although creating such a heavy element took time, the speed with which they produced 116 gave scientists enough support to theorize that this same technique could be used to create unbinilium. However, in this case titanium ions would be fired against the californium isotope, which is heavier than plutonium.

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The mystery of what we still don’t know

Achieving the feat of synthesizing a new element could take a long time. “We think it will take about 10 times longer to produce element 120 than element 116. It won’t be easy, but it now seems feasible,” says Reiner Kruecken, co-author of the study. Adding to the complexity is the fact that superheavy elements, once formed, are usually very unstable. However, according to the researchers, once the elements reach a certain size, they can reach the so-called “island of stability”, the hope is that the unbinilium can reach it too. “When we try to create these incredibly rare elements, we are at the absolute limit of human knowledge and understanding, and there are no guarantees that the physics will work as we expect,” concludes Jennifer Pore, co-author of the study.

Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Alondra Flores.