The Transactinides by Linley Erin Hall

Author:Linley Erin Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

In a fusion reaction, two atoms collide and combine to create a single new atom with a higher atomic number. The transactinides are made using fusion.

Because of these difficulties, researchers often need to run experiments for a very long time. For example, the original experiment to create bohrium-262 ran twentyfour hours a day for six days. During this entire time, the researchers detected only six atoms of the new element (meaning there were only six successful fusions). These atoms were produced and detected one at a time.

Detecting Atoms

After an atom of a transactinide is produced, it must be detected and identified. After fusion occurs, the new superheavy element moves in the direction of the projectile beam. The transactinide must be separated from the atoms of the beam in order to be identified. This is particularly true if the target or projectile is radioactive. Aerosol gas jets are often used to separate the various atoms based on weight.

Ernest Rutherford

Element 104, rutherfordium, is named after Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937), a physicist from New Zealand. Two of Rutherford’s discoveries are important to the synthesis of superheavy elements. First, he identified two types of radioactive decay, which he named alpha and beta. Rutherford won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work in 1908. Second, Rutherford discovered that an atom’s positive charge and most of its mass are concentrated in a tiny nucleus.

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