If you are looking for high-quality products, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email: brad@ihpa.net
A Japanese team of scientists has created a third atom of element 113, bringing them closer to being able to add it to the periodic table. The success is important, as it marks the first time a synthetic element has been produced in East Asia. The RIKEN team’s work may also help them be granted the privilege of naming the new element, a process that is typically delayed until another lab independently confirms the discovery.
Element 113 is the second heaviest of the superheavy elements, a category that contains the most chemically inert and physically toxic substances known to man. Unlike lighter elements like carbon and oxygen, these heavy metals cannot exist in nature and must be made artificially, most often by bombarding a target with neutrons at high energies. The creation of these isotopes is laborious and expensive, and their short half-lives make it difficult to study their properties.
RIKEN’s research on superheavy elements is particularly important, as its accelerators enable the production of isotopes with longer half-lives than those produced by US and Russian teams. The longer isotopes can be used to study the atomic structure and chemical properties of these exotic particles.
The discovery of the element nihonium – symbol Nh, atomic number 113 – is the result of nine years of painstaking experiment. The RIKEN team led by Kosuke Morita was the first in the world to produce atoms of this new element, and last year IUPAC officially recognized their work. The element has now been named nihonium, after the Japanese word for Japan, and will join moscovium (element 116), tennessine (element 117) and oganesson (element 118) on the periodic table.
