Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Still Seeking The Island Of Stability

Element 115 is one step closer to being added to the Periodic Table: Link

h/t Icepick

But the atomsmiths still have haven't found the legendary "Island Of Stability"


Professor Martyn Poliakoff explains:


20 comments:

ricpic said...

Phlogiston!

Icepick said...

Okay, dude, put the hair away! It's scaring people!

(I'll let someone else dig up the link for THAT, and then I'll know how geeky at least one other person here is.)

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"I know that dude" is a cool tag.

Icepick said...

His chart with the Island reminds me of Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure.

The Dude said...

He said "tit-tay-nium". He's not from around here...

Icepick said...

That was interesting, but I think I'm going to have to explore a little further to understand why they think this island may exist. "They've made a chart" kind of leaves me hanging!

But it was informative in other ways. I hadn't really thought about the internal structure of atomic nuclei (I was a math guy in my youth, but not really a physics guy or a chemistry guy), and so the bit about protons and neutrons forming "shells" was new to me. As was the bit about even numbered elements (that is, those with an even number of protons in the nucleus) being more intrinsically stable. It sounds like there's an interesting geometry problem there.

So, thanks for learnin' me somethin' new today, El Pollo!

edutcher said...

If it only lasts a few seconds, does it really exist or is it just an exercise in theory?

Sixty Grit said...

He said "tit-tay-nium". He's not from around here...

He spends too much time at Soylent Green.

chickelit said...

@Icepick: The Magic Number nuclei are:

2 = helium
8 = oxygen
20 = calcium
28 = nickel
50 = tin
82 = lead; and
126 = the island of stability.

They're shooting for 126

rhhardin said...

Protons themselves are unstable anyway.

The Dude said...

Does stable mean "lasts a long time" or "lasts long enough for us to prove we made it"?

Is there any chance that the heavier elements exist in nature?

And other than being an interesting diversion, is there any practical use for element 126 or beyond?

Icepick said...

And other than being an interesting diversion, is there any practical use for element 126 or beyond?

Probably no use for such elements, but there may be use for the additional knowledge gained, especially the technical knowledge needed to actually perform the experiments.

chickelit said...

...is there any practical use for element 126 or beyond?

Armor and armor-piercing projectiles? Maybe they'd go nuclear on impact. There's probably a peaceful payoff too -- there always is.

The Dude said...

A guy wanders by every so often and tells tales about how good it would be if we could mine asteroids. He envisions scissors with rhodium plated blades that would never need sharpening and other fanciful things.

He also says that if one could lay claim to a mineral rich asteroid one could become the first trillionaire in history. Works for me.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Heavy and unstable...hmmm...MichelMoorieum?

Revenant said...

Is there any chance that the heavier elements exist in nature?

Given the size of the universe it is almost certain. But the odds of us ever *finding* them in nature are pretty much zero.

Revenant said...

He also says that if one could lay claim to a mineral rich asteroid one could become the first trillionaire in history

I have to wonder what he thinks asteroids are made of.

bagoh20 said...

The dude is wearing a periodic table tie. That's the first time I ever saw a purpose for wearing a tie - reference material.

bagoh20 said...

"...is there any practical use for element 126 or beyond?"

Very tiny paperweights.

The Dude said...

My friend knows they are mostly nickel iron, but thinks that they might contain a large amount of precious metals.

I wondered what having tons of platinum, for instance, would do to the market price here on earth.

He had a retort, but I have forgotten what it was.

Not my concern, all I ever need to drag home is nice chunks of walnut or cherry and I am wealthy, relatively speaking.

Revenant said...

My friend knows they are mostly nickel iron, but thinks that they might contain a large amount of precious metals.

I suppose anything's possible, but none of the asteroids we've encountered so far (e.g., the ones knocked out of orbit by Jupiter that then impact here) seemed to be particularly chock-full of precious metals.

Even if he found a solid lump of [insert super-valuable mineral name here], though, he wouldn't get trillions of dollars out of it. The worldwide market for rare elements is in the range of tens of millions to single-digit billions of dollars per year. Even if he found a solid platinum asteroid he'd die of old age before he became a trillionaire from it -- and that's assuming the law of supply and demand was suspended for his benefit. :)