Researchers ready to reach a historic milestone by creating the heaviest element in the world!

© Shubham Dhage/Unsplash

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are set to push the boundaries of the periodic table, a universal repository of chemical elements in ascending order of atomic number. Their goal is to create unbinilium, an element so heavy that it defies imagination with 120 protons, compared to gold with 79 and lead with 82. A quest that takes us to the heart of matter and physics. Their study was published on October 21 in the journal Physical Letters.

The weight of atoms, a matter of nucleus

The heavier an element, the more protons and neutrons its atomic nucleus concentrates, these particles that make up the mass of the atom, this is one of the fundamental characteristics of chemical elements. This accumulation of particles creates increasing instability: imagine a pyramid that is ever higher and threatens to collapse. This is why the heaviest natural elements, such as uranium (used in nuclear fission) with its 92 protons, are already radioactive. Beyond that, each new element represents a colossal challenge to maintain even for a fraction of a second this complex atomic architecture.

Radioactivity is the phenomenon by which unstable atomic nuclei spontaneously disintegrate, emitting radiation. This is why it is very difficult to create stable heavy elements, because the larger an atomic nucleus is, the more protons and neutrons it contains that must remain glued together.

This cohesion weakens in very large nuclei, since the forces that hold them together are exceeded by the repulsive forces between the protons, which are all positive, and therefore continually repel each other. This makes these heavy nuclei extremely unstable, and they often end up disintegrating by releasing energy, that is to say by becoming radioactive.

A revolutionary method at the service of an excessive ambition

The Berkeley researchers have therefore come up with a novel approach to creating this superheavy element: transforming titanium-50 into vapor at 1,650°C. The resulting titanium-50 vapor is then used to bombard other atomic elements. In this way, they attempt to cause collisions with enough energy to fuse the nuclei of the atoms and form a new, even heavier element. This technique has already allowed to create livermorium (116 protons), a first decisive step.

By projecting this titanium beam onto californium-249, they now hope to reach the mythical number of 120 protons, the ultimate goal of nuclear physicists. A titanic undertaking: while it took 22 days to obtain two atoms of livermorium, the creation of unbinilium could take ten times longer.

The race towards the “island of stability”

This quest goes beyond simple technical prowess or scientific fantasy. Physicists are chasing a theoretical Holy Grail: the “island of stability.” In this predicted region of the periodic table, some superheavy elements (with approximately 120 protons) may exhibit unexpected stability due to special configurations of their protons and neutrons, making the element less susceptible to radioactive decay.

However, creating an element with 120 protons is an immense challenge. This process will require fusing very heavy atomic nuclei using particle accelerators, under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. The Russians attempted the adventure in 2006, followed by the Germans between 2007 and 2012. Today, the Americans and the Chinese are joining this scientific competition that could completely overturn our understanding of the fundamental laws of matter.

The discovery of an element as heavy as element 120 could confirm or refute our theoretical models explaining the structure of matter, reveal new unknown physical phenomena or help us better understand the mechanisms of formation of elements in the universe and trace the history of our cosmos. Element 120 ultimately resembles the final boss of Elden Ring, it is the ultimate enemy located at the end of the periodic table, terribly unstable and complex to master.

• Berkeley scientists are trying to create unbinilium, an element with 120 protons, using a titanium-50 bombardment technique.
• The research aims to reach the “island of stability,” where superheavy elements may be more stable than previously thought.
• Creating element 120 could revolutionize our understanding of matter and test the limits of our current theoretical models.

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