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Article: Detectors Capture Element 110, But It Accelerates and Slips Away; Atom May Leave Clues to Creation of the World
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 19, 1994
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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It took 10 years to make, and flickered into existence for less
than a thousandth of a second. As yet nameless, element 110 supplies
another clue to the world's creation.
An international team at the Heavy Ion Research Center at
Darmstadt in southern Germany said it created the first atom of the
new element by bombarding lead atoms with nickel atoms in the
center's accelerator.
Scientists once thought uranium - No. 92 - was the last of the
elements. But in the last half century, researchers equipped with
nuclear theories and technology have succeeded in detecting 18 more,
each heavier than the last.
What they now want to know is whether there's a limit and if
so, where. "It concerns ...