Scientists pave the way for the emergence of a new element in the periodic table | World and Science

New element may join the periodic tablePixabay

Posted on 07/08/2024 at 12:07

For the first time, a group of scientists has succeeded in producing a large-mass element using a beam of titanium (Ti). The Heavy Elements Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States used Ti to create livermorium (Lv), with atomic number 116.

Until then, only calcium (Ca) had been used in this process. This opened the way to the possibility of creating element 120, which would open the eighth row of the periodic table. Attempts to achieve this new achievement have not yet begun, and may take decades.

Until now, the heaviest element ever recorded was oganessonium (Og), with an atomic number of 118 (corresponding to the number of protons in an atom), and a mass of 294 (the sum of the number of protons and neutrons).

Og is the last element in the seventh row of the periodic table, and from it a new atom will belong to the next row.

“Most attempts to create superheavy elements use calcium, because it is one of the most stable nuclei that exist, and it does not disintegrate during these collisions. What this work offers is the success of using not calcium as a projectile, but titanium, which has two additional protons. Now, with two additional protons, we can reach elements in this new line, around element 120, using titanium,” explains Fabio Guzzo, professor of chemistry at Unicamp.

Island of stability theory

Although there are superheavy elements, from atomic number 92 onwards, corresponding to uranium (U), the atoms become extremely unstable, and have very fast half-lives – they even decay into other elements in milliseconds. As a result, they cannot be manipulated or used for technology.

However, the island of stability theory suggests that after a certain number of unstable atoms have passed through, there will be a new, heavier, but stable group. It is estimated that this group of elements starts at about an atomic number of 120, and a mass of 390. So being able to make element 120 would be a great achievement, and a step toward discovering whether or not there is an island of stability.

“The island of stability is a theoretical prediction that elements with atomic numbers around 110 and 120 protons will become stable again or will have very long half-lives, so that they can be controlled and could have technological use,” says Jozo.

How was the experiment done?

Superheavy elements do not exist in nature and can only be made in the laboratory. Over the course of 22 days, Berkeley Lab scientists were able to produce two atoms of livermorium using titanium.

To do this, it was necessary to bombard a very thin layer of plutonium (Pu) with a beam of titanium atoms, using an 88-inch cyclotron particle accelerator.

potential progress

Therefore, if this group belonging to the island of stability is reached, it will be possible to deal with superheavy elements, and use them in new experiments and developments.

With this new line in the periodic table, perhaps unprecedented new discoveries could be made, explains Jozo.

“If we can access elements from a new line, we have something that has never existed before in the periodic table, which are elements that have electrons in the G orbital, and we have no idea what kind of properties these elements could have,” the chemistry teacher explains.