The new element 118 travels through the accelerator to the detector (Image: Sabrina Fletcher and Thomas Tegge/LLNL)
Source of information: CSIRO Education
A new super-heavy element was officially added to the periodic table last week, after a decade of research. Element 112 is now the heaviest element in the periodic table and is about 277 times heavier than hydrogen, the lightest element.
Element 112 was first detected in 1996, by a team of scientists from the Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany. In order to have the element officially recognised by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, they were required to repeat experiments and perform new ones in order to provide more evidence for the element’s existence.
Element 112 is not found in nature – it is made in particle accelerators. To make the element, scientists fire accelerated zinc atoms with 30 protons towards lead atoms with 82 protons. The collision can result in this new element with 112 protons.
Now don’t throw out your chemistry textbook just yet! Element 112 has not yet received its final name, which will be revealed later in the year.
For more information on the making of super heavy element (2006), please click here.
C Guevara
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