Confirming stable new elements?

In summary: The isotopes that are stable are typically those that do not have any interesting nuclear properties. For example, element 118 has a half-life of just under 10 minutes, which is fast enough that it does not have any interesting nuclear properties. However, because it was found using a special method, it is considered a new element.
  • #1
Loren Booda
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4
Trans-uranium element production is more often confirmed from decay products. But would such a new atom be overlooked if stable? Recently, element 118 occurred in one out of 1019 collisions, and was most readily detected by its signature radiation.
 
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  • #2
Your question is academic in that elements with atomic no. >82 have no stable isotopes (Bi was recently discovered to be radioactive).
 
  • #3
How many elements have, or beyond what weight have they, been observed by methods other than decay (by eyesight, say)? Have there not been rumors of comparatively stable trans-uranium elements?
 
  • #4
mathman said:
Your question is academic in that elements with atomic no. >82 have no stable isotopes (Bi was recently discovered to be radioactive).
I may misunderstand your objection, but you may also be unaware of the timescales involved. Take 1 fm as a typical nuclear size. Take the speed of light as a typical velocity (we are only interested in the odrer of scales involved). You will find that, the time it takes for a nucleon to go from on side of the nucleus to the other is of the order [tex]10^{-24}[/tex] s. Here we are talking about nuclei with halflives above 1 ms. This is a huge time at the nuclear scale. Besides, it could very well be that, in the island of stability, there are elements with halflives of the order of days.

So I find the question is not academic at all. The key is that, there are several facilities around the world and several experiments at each facility. The different experiments are dedicated to look at a given scale in lifetime. In particular, very stable elements are easy to detect by "eyesight", just by using Wien filters which, for a given energy, select the ratio of the mass to the charge. Combined with regular dipoles, you can get rid of huge backgrounds and keep only the elements you search for.

Even though I am not an expert in superheavy ions research, I am pretty certain that too much stability is not an issue.
 

1. How are new elements confirmed to be stable?

New elements are confirmed to be stable through a process called nuclear spectroscopy. This involves bombarding the element with high energy particles and analyzing the resulting emissions to determine the element's properties and stability.

2. What is the criteria for determining stability of new elements?

The criteria for determining stability of new elements includes having a sufficiently long half-life, not spontaneously decaying or emitting radiation, and having enough binding energy to maintain its structure.

3. How long does it take to confirm the stability of a new element?

The process of confirming the stability of a new element can take many years, as it involves multiple experiments and analysis to gather enough evidence and data to support its stability.

4. What techniques are used to identify new elements?

Some techniques used to identify new elements include mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and X-ray crystallography. These techniques help to determine the atomic structure and properties of the element.

5. How many stable elements have been confirmed so far?

As of 2021, there are 118 confirmed elements, with 94 of them being naturally occurring and the rest being artificially created in laboratories. However, not all of these elements are considered stable, with only a small portion meeting the criteria for stability.

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