Element 118 Created, This Time for Real, Scientists Say

DrPizza

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By working backward through a decay sequence, the scientists are reasonably certain they created element 118, even though the highly unstable new atoms survived only a millisecond apiece.

Wow, that's a long time, considering... I wouldn't have thought it would last that long.
 

Vegitto

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May 3, 2005
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Originally posted by: DrPizza
By working backward through a decay sequence, the scientists are reasonably certain they created element 118, even though the highly unstable new atoms survived only a millisecond apiece.

Wow, that's a long time, considering... I wouldn't have thought it would last that long.

That IS quite long.
 

yhelothar

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Dec 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: Vegitto
Originally posted by: DrPizza
By working backward through a decay sequence, the scientists are reasonably certain they created element 118, even though the highly unstable new atoms survived only a millisecond apiece.

Wow, that's a long time, considering... I wouldn't have thought it would last that long.

That IS quite long.

As the head of the nuclear physics department at CERN.. I must concur! That is quite long!
 

Vegitto

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May 3, 2005
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Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Originally posted by: Vegitto
Originally posted by: DrPizza
By working backward through a decay sequence, the scientists are reasonably certain they created element 118, even though the highly unstable new atoms survived only a millisecond apiece.

Wow, that's a long time, considering... I wouldn't have thought it would last that long.

That IS quite long.

As the head of the nuclear physics department at CERN.. I must concur! That is quite long!

Soo...
 

BrownTown

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Dec 1, 2005
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I question the usefullness of creating worthless elements that decay in fractions of a second.
 

dxkj

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Feb 17, 2001
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I dont know anything about this stuff, but can't they simulate this stuff on a computer yet? Or do new laws of physics come up when you add more protons/neutrons?

Shouldn't they be able to figure out where the island of stability is? It seems like if they are off on protons or something they may pass by and never find it.
 

Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: BrownTown
I question the usefullness of creating worthless elements that decay in fractions of a second.


what is useful ?

 

Tiamat

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Nov 25, 2003
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Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
Um, why is this useful to us?

if you read the 2nd page of the article, scientist are trying to find the right combination of protons and neutrons in order to find "an island of stability" so that they can study the properties of ultra heavy elements.
 

Jeff7

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Jan 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: dxkj
I dont know anything about this stuff, but can't they simulate this stuff on a computer yet? Or do new laws of physics come up when you add more protons/neutrons?

Shouldn't they be able to figure out where the island of stability is? It seems like if they are off on protons or something they may pass by and never find it.

They can't always tell what the weather is really going to be a week from now in a given area. And current models of the galaxy show that there's a lot of matter missing or unaccounted for.
Predicting what's going to happen at the subatomic might also be a bit difficult.


Originally posted by: Tiamat
Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
Um, why is this useful to us?

if you read the 2nd page of the article, scientist are trying to find the right combination of protons and neutrons in order to find "an island of stability" so that they can study the properties of ultra heavy elements.
Pure science can be quite useful. Without it, I figure that we'd still be living in trees or caves, without even the aid of fire.
 

Fritzo

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Jan 3, 2001
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Originally posted by: Vegitto
Originally posted by: DrPizza
By working backward through a decay sequence, the scientists are reasonably certain they created element 118, even though the highly unstable new atoms survived only a millisecond apiece.

Wow, that's a long time, considering... I wouldn't have thought it would last that long.

That IS quite long.

Obligitory: "That's what SHE said!"
 

compuwiz1

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Oct 9, 1999
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I didn't read it, but does this mean we are getting longer lasting light bulbs?
 

DrPizza

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Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
I read the entire artical. So, what could we gain that would prove useful with regards to heavy elements?

What we gain is experimental evidence to support current theories, or to show problems with current theories. Increased knowledge of nuclear reactions could, for example, lead to refined understanding of the processes of nuclear fusion. Suppose these reactions led to some new insight which would allow us a greater abilility to harness nuclear fusion (i.e. nuclear fusion reactors to produce energy.) The world will be a completely different place once/if we ever achieve the ability to harness fusion reactions to produce energy.