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1.8 MB movie
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Movie: An accelerated calcium-48 ion from a cyclotron bombards an americium-243 target to create a superheavy element. |
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A calcium-48 ion that will be accelerated to a high velocity in a cyclotron and directed at an americium-243 target. |
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One of the numerous americium-243 target atoms with a nucleus of protons and neutrons surrounded by an electron cloud. |
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An accelerated calcium-48 ion and an americium-243 target atom just before they collide. |
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The moment of collision between an accelerated calcium-48 ion and an americium-243 target atom. |
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The residue of the target/ion collision, the new superheavy element, decaying with the emission of alpha particles. |
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The spontaneous fission decay of the decay descendant of the new superheavy element into two separate atoms. |
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Periodic table of elements, which includes the newly discovered elements 113 and 115. |
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Schematic of the Dubna Gas-filled Recoil Separator, which was used in isotope studies of elements 113 and 115. |
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Schematic diagram of the electromagnetic part of the Mass Analyzer of Super Heavy Atoms (MASHA). Reaction products with masses near those expected for heavy-ion fusion products will be mass-analyzed by MASHA and delivered to the focal plane at well-defined positions. |
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Map of the voyage to the island of stability. Protons and neutrons are in analogous shells within the nucleus. The proton shells of helium, oxygen, calcium, nickel, tin, and lead are completely filled and arranged such that the nucleus has achieved extra stability. The atomic numbers of these elements—2, 8, 20, 28, 50, and 82—are known as “magic numbers.” These same numbers plus 126 are magic numbers for neutrons.
In the mid-1960s, a physicist in the U.S. predicted that the next magic proton number above 82 would be 114, not 126, and that an atom with a doubly magic nucleus of 114 protons and 184 neutrons should be the peak of an island of stability. Russian scientists had come to the same conclusion at about the same time.
The recent discovery of elements 113 and 115 supports this theory.
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Nuclear theory in the U.S. in about 1969. |
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Nuclear theory in Russia in about 1969. |
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Members of the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate's Heavy-Elements Research Team in January 2004 (l-r): Jerry Landrum (retired), Dawn Shaughnessy, Joshua Patin, Philip Wilk, and Kenton Moody. Not pictured: John Wild, Mark Stoyer, Nancy Stoyer, Jackie Kenneally, and Ron Lougheed (retired). |
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John Wild at the controls of MASHA at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia in 2003. |
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Alexandr Yeremin, Dawn Shaughnessy, and John Wild at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia near MASHA in 2003. |
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Element 115 decay chains |
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Element 115 decay chains |
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Chart history |
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Yuri Oganessian at the Director's Distinguished Lecture Series at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), California, in 2002. His talk demonstrated the deviations of certain elements from liquid-drop theory and illustrated the presence of spherical magic numbers, or closed nuclear shells, which is the basis for the nuclear shell model. LLNL and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research collaborators are attempting to find another strong deviation from the liquid-drop model that has been predicted for more than 40 years, namely the "island of stability" of superheavy elements. The heavy elements studied by this collaboration (Z = 113-116, 118) lie near one predicted location of the island of stability and represent the closest approach to this island to date.
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Heavy-Elements Research Team showing Mark and Nancy Stoyer, Ken Moody, and John Wild (seated). This photo was taken when the group was sending 243Am to Russia for the element 115/113 experiment. |
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John Wild and Mattias Sch del from GSI at the Second International Symposium on Advanced Science Research, Advances in Heavy Element Research, Tokai, Japan, in 2001. |
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Mark Stoyer, Adam Sobiczewski, and John Wild at the Second International Symposium on Advanced Science Research, Advances in Heavy Element Research, Tokai, Japan, in 2001. |
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Mark Stoyer and Andreas Tuerler at the Second International Symposium on Advanced Science Research, Advances in Heavy Element Research, Tokai, Japan, in 2001. |
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Attendees at the Second International Symposium on Advanced Science Research, Advances in Heavy Element Research, Tokai, Japan, in 2001. |
