Table for two.Chemistry class just got more complex. Thanks to U.S. and Russian scientists, the periodic table has two more squares. The periodic table is a systematic list of Earth's elements--substances made of just one atom. "In chemistry, you can't get any simpler than an element," says Ken Moody, a nuclear chemist Noun 1. nuclear chemist - a chemist who specializes in nuclear chemistry radiochemist chemist - a scientist who specializes in chemistry at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: see Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (body) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - (LLNL) A research organaisatin operated by the University of California under a contract with the US Department of Energy. in California. Moody helped make two new elements, for now called ununtrium and ununpentium. The new elements are superheavy (elements with an atomic number atomic number, often represented by the symbol Z, the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, as well as the number of electrons in the neutral atom. Atoms with the same atomic number make up a chemical element. greater than 112) and don't occur naturally. To create them, scientists slammed atoms of calcium and americium americium (ămərĭ`shēəm), artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Am; at. no. 95; mass no. of most stable isotope 243; m.p. about 1,175°C;; b.p. about 2,600°C;; sp. gr. 13. together at about 32,000 kilometers per second (20,000 miles per second) using a particle accelerator particle accelerator, apparatus used in nuclear physics to produce beams of energetic charged particles and to direct them against various targets. Such machines, popularly called atom smashers, are needed to observe objects as small as the atomic nucleus in studies machine. Unfortunately, superheavies are unstable. Both new elements disintegrated in 1.2 seconds. But scientists hope the elements will lead them to a superheavy element that's stable enough to study. With that, chemists could make materials unlike anything ever seen. Says Moody: "That's the Holy Grail." Lesson Plans Find out which scientists discovered the other elements on the periodic table, and even play "Element Hangman HANGMAN. The name usually given to a man employed by the sheriff to put a man to death, according to law, in pursuance of a judgment of a competent court, and lawful warrant. The same as executioner. (q.v.) " at this Department of Energy Web site: http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/index.html Learn more about elements at the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Web site: http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/default.htm Here's a great news article about the two new elements: www.nature.com/nsu/040202/040202-4.html |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion