Superheavy Element 114 Confirmed: A Stepping Stone To The 'Island Of Stability'Posted by DaveH at September 25, 2009 1:52 PM
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy�s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been able to confirm the production of the superheavy element 114, ten years after a group in Russia, at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, first claimed to have made it. The search for 114 has long been a key part of the quest for nuclear science�s hoped-for Island of Stability.
Heino Nitsche, head of the Heavy Element Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group in Berkeley Lab�s Nuclear Science Division (NSD) and a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, and Ken Gregorich, a senior staff scientist in NSD, led the team that independently confirmed the production of the new element, which was first published by the Dubna Gas Filled Recoil Separator group.
Using an instrument called the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator (BGS) at Berkeley Lab�s 88-Inch Cyclotron, the researchers were able to confirm the creation of two individual nuclei of element 114, each a separate isotope having 114 protons but different numbers of neutrons, and each decaying by a separate pathway.
�By verifying the production of element 114, we have removed any doubts about the validity of the Dubna group�s claims,� says Nitsche. �This proves that the most interesting superheavy elements can in fact be made in the laboratory.�