All articles tagged with #isotope
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have successfully produced an isotope of the superheavy element livermorium using the 88-Inch Cyclotron, potentially paving the way for the discovery of new elements.
An international team of scientists may have discovered an exotic nitrogen-9 isotope, which features seven protons and two neutrons, making it the first known example of a nucleus that decays by releasing five protons. The team's experiments at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory detected nitrogen-9 nuclei, and the energy produced during its decay matched existing theoretical predictions. If confirmed, this discovery could provide new insights into the behavior of atoms with different numbers of protons and neutrons.
A new atomic nucleus, 190-Astatine, consisting of 85 protons and 105 neutrons, has been discovered by a researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. The isotope was produced in the fusion of 84Sr beam particles and silver target atoms and detected using a RITU recoil separator. The new nuclei decay via alpha decay towards more stable isotopes. The discovery is important for understanding the structure of atomic nuclei and the limits of known matter.
Scientists have discovered and synthesized a new isotope of uranium, uranium-241, which has 92 protons and 149 neutrons, making it the first new neutron-rich isotope of uranium discovered since 1979. The half-life of uranium-241 is estimated to be around 40 minutes. The isotope was created by firing a sample of uranium-238 at platinum-198 nuclei at Japan's RIKEN accelerator. The discovery is unlikely to have any practical or scientific applications due to the small numbers in which it is created.
A team of nuclear physicists from Japan and Korea has discovered a previously unknown uranium isotope with atomic number 92 and mass 241. The researchers used a new approach to synthesize the isotope under lab conditions by firing a sample of uranium-238 nuclei at a sample of platinum-198 nuclei using an isotope separation system. The technique used by the team represents a pathway to better understanding the shapes of large nuclei associated with the heavy elements, which could yield changes to models used to build nuclear power plants and weapons and to theories describing the behavior of exploding stars.