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Article: SAILING to THE MAGIC ISLAND -- The Search for the Superheavy Elements.(physics)
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- November 1, 2000
- Author:
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In the land of the chemical elements, somewhere across a sea of instability lies the magic island of the superheavies, stable elements with 114 protons or more in their nuclei. After searching for the island for 40 years, scientists may finally be approaching the shore. In January 1999, scientists in Dubna, Russia, reported finding evidence that they had produced element 114. Four months later, a team of scientists in Berkeley, California, reported evidence for elements 116 and 118, the two heaviest elements so far in the Periodic Table.
Uranium, element 92, is the heaviest element we know that occurs in sizeable amounts on Earth. Although it is radioactive, it ...