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27th August 2013

Existence of new element confirmed

A new chemical element with atomic number 115 has been discovered by researchers in Sweden.

 

new chemical element discovered

 

Remember the periodic table from chemistry class in school? Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have presented fresh evidence that confirms the existence of a previously unknown chemical element. This new, super-heavy element with atomic number 115 has yet to be named. Experiments were conducted at the GSI research facility in Germany and the results confirm earlier measurements performed by research groups in Russia.

“This was a very successful experiment and is one of the most important in the field in recent years”, said Dirk Rudolph, Professor at the Division of Nuclear Physics at Lund University.

Besides the observations of the new chemical element, the researchers have also gained access to data that gives them a deeper insight into the structure and properties of super-heavy atomic nuclei. By bombarding a thin film of americium with calcium ions, the team was able to measure photons in connection with the new element’s alpha decay. Certain energies of the photons agreed with the expected energies for X-ray radiation, which is a ‘fingerprint’ of a given element.

A committee comprising members of the international unions of pure and applied physics and chemistry will review the findings to decide whether to recommend further experiments before the discovery is officially acknowledged. The study is presented today in the scientific journal The Physical Review Letters.

 

periodic table

 

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