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From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas) Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 22:49:29 -0700 |
Here are two articles concerning heavy elements close to Lazar's
hypothetical "Element 115" (aka unobtainium).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 7 JUN 1999 17:50:12 PDT
Subject: Scientists Advance Search for ``Island of Stability''
[Source unknown]
BERKELEY (BCN)
An international team of scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory announced today the discovery of two ``superheavy''
elements, Element 118 and Element 116.
The team believes its discovery, and the technique used to achieve
its results, has advanced the quest for a longtime goal of nuclear
science, an ``island of stability'' in the unstable nucleii of
superheavy elements.
The new superheavy elements were discovered at Berkeley Lab's 88-
inch Cyclotron, where the team of scientists bombarded targets of lead
with an intense beam of high-energy krypton ions.
Superheavy elements, those extending beyond uranium on the periodic
table and created only in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators,
disappear quickly, typically within a fraction of a second. Theories
predict the unstable nucleii will rest easier when they contain 114
protons and 184 neutrons.
Scientists could then perform chemistry experiments with the
nucleii. A spokesman for the Berkeley National Lab noted that
presently, no one knows the properties or potential applications of
the theoretical nucleii.
Robert Smolanczuk, a visiting Fulbright scholar from Poland,
predicted the reaction used to produce elements 118 and 116 could
``open up a whole world of possibilities using similar reactions: new
elements and isotopes, tests of nuclear stability and mass models, and
a new understanding of nuclear reactions for the production of heavy
elements.''
The pattern of decay from Element 118 to Element 116 to seborgium
(Element 106) agrees with the long-standing theoretical predictions of
the island of stability's existence, according to a spokesman for the
lab.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson said, ``This stunning
discovery opens the door to further insights into the structure of the
atomic nucleus.''
The lab is run by the U.S. Department of Energy.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Steve Wingate"
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 23:30:48 -0700
Subject: IUFO: New superheavy elements created
-> IUFO Mailing List
Sci/Tech
New superheavy elements created
BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
Two new "superheavy" elements have been made by bombarding lead atoms
with energy-packed krypton atoms at the rate of two trillion per
second.
After 11 days, the scientists working at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, US, had produced just three atoms of element 118.
These contained 118 protons and 175 neutrons each in their nucleii.
The new elements decayed almost instantly to element 116, which itself
was short-lived. But, for that brief moment, they were the only three
atoms of these elements ever to have existed on Earth.
Ken Gregorich, the nuclear chemist who led the discovery team, said:
"Our unexpected success in producing these superheavy elements opens
up a whole world of possibilities using similar reactions: new
elements and isotopes."
US Secretary of Energy, Bill Richardson, commented: "This stunning
discovery opens the door to further insights into the structure of the
atomic nucleus."
Unstable combination
Atoms consist of a central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons.
The nucleus consists of protons and neutrons.
But not all combinations of neutrons and protons are stable. In
nature, no element heavier than uranium, with 92 protons and 146
neutrons, can normally be found.
Scientists can make heavier ones by colliding two large nuclei
together and hoping that they will form a new, heavier nucleus for a
short time.
One of the most significant aspects of the new elements is that their
decay sequence is consistent with theories that predict an "island of
stability" for atoms containing approximately 114 protons and 184
neutrons.
"We jumped over a sea of instability onto an island of stability that
theories have been predicting since the 1970s," said nuclear physicist
Victor Ninov. He is the first author of a paper on the discovery
submitted to Physical Review Letters journal.
Atomic structure
Synthetic elements are often short-lived, but provide scientists with
valuable insights into the structure of atomic nuclei. They also offer
opportunities to study the chemical properties of the elements heavier
than uranium.
I-Yang Lee, scientific director of the atom smasher at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, said "From the discovery of these two
new superheavy elements, it is now clear that the island of stability
can be reached.
"Additionally, similar reactions can be used to produce other elements
and isotopes, providing a rich new region for the study of nuclear
properties."
Fast work
Element 118 takes less than a thousandth of a second to decay by
emitting an alpha particle. This leaves behind an isotope of element
116 which contains 116 protons and 173 neutrons.
This daughter is also radioactive, alpha-decaying to an isotope of
element 114.
The chain of successive alpha decays continues until at least element
106.
---- End Forwarded Messages ----
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RELEVANCE OF THIS MESSAGE: Claims of Bob Lazar
Index: Element 115 (#2)
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Created: Jun 10, 1999